"
He spoke carelessly but Desmond noticed that he kept a watchful
eye on the other.
The Chief did not answer. He seemed to have relapsed into the
preoccupied mood in which Desmond had found him that morning.
"I was going to suggest, sir," said Mr. Marigold diffidently, "if
you had the time, you might care to look in at the Yard, and see
the prisoner. I don't mind telling you that he is swearing by all
the tribes of Judah that he's innocent of the murder of old
Mackwayte. He's got an amazing yarn... perhaps you'd like to hear
it!"
Mr. Marigold suddenly began to interest Desmond. His proposal was
put forward so modestly that one would have thought the last
thing he believed possible was that the Chief should acquiesce in
his suggestion. Yet Desmond had the feeling that the detective
was far from being so disinterested as he wished to seem. It
struck Desmond that the case was more complicated than Mr.
Marigold admitted and that the detective knew it. Had Mr.
Marigold discovered that the Chief knew a great deal more about
this mysterious affair than the detective knew himself? And was
not his attitude of having already solved the problem of the
murder, his treatment of the Chief as a dilettante criminologist
simply an elaborate pose, to extract from the Chief information
which had not been proffered?
The Chief glanced at his watch.
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