Page:The Viaduct Murder (1926).pdf/234

"Your alibi was brilliantly thought out beforehand. You went up to London, being careful to tell us all that you were going. You took with you no weapon except a heavy stick. But you had a powerful ally in the grey fog which hung over the railway line that day; the fog which made the movements of the trains slow, their timing uncertain, their carriages almost invisible from each other. You had chosen your day well. You knew, I take it, beforehand that Brotherhood's bankruptcy would soon be public property; you took good care, anyhow, to inform yourself of the fact when you got up to Town. That meant that the way was clear for you; the murder would be interpreted as suicide.

"You went up by the same train as Brotherhood; you took care to come back by the same train. You shadowed him, I suppose⁠—easy work for you to do that unseen in the grey fog. You saw him enter a carriage which was (I think) the last of a coach. That was probably a disappointment to you, because you could not take the one immediately behind. No matter, you took the one immediately in front instead. Each travelled first, and each was alone in his carriage; it was not difficult to secure that in such weather, on such an unfrequented train. The whistle blew, and you went out into the fog.

"You could do nothing on the first stage of your journey; it was necessary for you to reach ground that you knew; you could not be certain, in the fog, that the blow would be fatal if you struck it