Page:The Viaduct Murder (1926).pdf/115

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A BOOK AND A LADY
101

are not being frank with me. I am sorry to say that I cannot help you."

"May I say something? I am afraid you feel that you are being left in the dark because I am not telling you everything, all the suspicions we have formed as well as the facts which have come to our notice. I can quite understand that, if that is what you mean, but———"

"I mean nothing of the kind. I mean that the statements which you have made to me are, to my certain knowledge, untrue."

Reeves gave a rather ghastly smile. "Would you mind telling me exactly which statement of mine it is that you call in question?"

"Really, Mr. Reeves, you seem to expect a great deal of me. You come to me, a complete stranger, asking for private information. You ask for it on the ground that you are conducting a private investigation, and you tell me your story. I do not know whether there is a word of truth in your story. I only know that one detail in it is demonstrably false. You now expect me to tell you which that detail is, so that you can correct the only part of your story which I know to be false; is that reasonable? Come now, Mr. Reeves, tell me the whole story again, exactly as it happened, and I will see if I can help you."

"I'm really very sorry, but I have already told you the truth to the best of my ability. I am afraid I could not alter my 'story,' as you call it, without falsification."

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