IV

Inspector Colgate said:

“I’ve got those times worked out. From the hotel to the ladder down to Pixy Cove threeminutes. That’s walking till you are out of sight of the hotel and then running like hell.”

Weston raised his eyebrows. He said:

“That’s quicker than I thought.”

“Down ladder to beach one minute and three quarters. Up same two minutes. That’s P.C. Flint.

He’s a bit of an athlete. Walking and taking the ladder in the normal way, the whole business takesclose on a quarter of an hour.”

Weston nodded. He said:

“There’s another thing we must go into, the pipe question.”

Colgate said:

“Blatt smokes a pipe, so does Marshall, so does the parson. Redfern smokes cigarettes, theAmerican prefers a cigar. Major Barry doesn’t smoke at all. There’s one pipe in Marshall’s room,two in Blatt’s, and one in the parson’s. Chambermaid says Marshall has two pipes. The otherchambermaid isn’t a very bright girl. Doesn’t know how many pipes the other two have. Saysvaguely she’s noticed two or three about in their rooms.”

Weston nodded.

“Anything else?”

“I’ve checked up on the staff. They all seem quite O.K. Henry, in the bar, checks Marshall’sstatement about seeing him at ten to eleven. William, the beach attendant, was down repairing theladder on the rocks by the hotel most of the morning. He seems all right. George marked the tenniscourt and then bedded out some plants round by the dining room. Neither of them would haveseen anyone who came across the causeway to the island.”

“When was the causeway uncovered?”

“Round about 9:30, sir.”

Weston pulled at his moustache.

“It’s possible somebody did come that way. We’ve got a new angle, Colgate.”

He told of the discovery of the sandwich box in the cave.