Page:The Viaduct Murder (1926).pdf/112

"I'm afraid it must seem very impertinent of me to be asking questions about it, but the thing is of importance. I think I'd better tell you the whole situation. You'll have heard, of course, this sad news about poor old Brotherhood, at Paston Whitchurch?"

"I read about it, of course, in the paper."

"Well, one or two of his friends, that is, of people who knew him down at the club, aren't quite satisfied with the line the police have taken about it. They think—we think they swallowed the idea of suicide too easily, without examining all the facts; and—well, the thing we can't feel certain of is that there hasn't been foul play."

"Foul play? But why should anybody . . . "

"Oh, we've no suspicion of any motive. We thought, perhaps, that was where you might help us. It was I and some friends of mine who actually found the body, you know, and there were certain indications which suggested to us that Brotherhood had . . . had been murdered. There was the position of his hat, for example—still, we needn't go into all that. We did entertain the suspicion very strongly, only the clues we had at our disposal weren't sufficient to let us follow up our suspicions, if you see what I mean. The only one which we felt might help us to get any further was this photograph. By a mere accident, for which I'm not responsible, it didn't get into the hands of the police."

"The police know nothing about it?"

"We have no reason to think they do. But it