"
"That is natural enough," said the Coroner. "Mr. Bolton, after
his interview with the woman, would of course snib the window,
and pull down the blind. When he went away next morning he would
unlock the door."
"Begging your pardon, sir, but, as we know, he didn't go away
next morning, being in the packing case, nailed down."
The Coroner could have kicked himself for the very natural
mistake he had made, for he saw a derisive grin on the faces
around him, and particularly on that of Inspector Date.
"Then the assassin must have gone out by the door," he said
weakly.
"Then I don't know how he got out," cried Eliza Flight, "for I
was up at six and the front and back doors of the hotel were
locked. And after six I was about in passages and rooms doing my
work, and master and missus and others were all over the place.
How could the murderer walk out, sir, without some of us seeing
him?"
"Perhaps you did, and took no notice?"
"Oh, sir, if a stranger was around we should all have taken
notice."
This concluded the evidence, which was meagre enough. Widow Anne
was indeed recalled to see if Miss Flight could identify her as
the woman who, had been talking to Bolton, but witness failed to
recognize her, and the widow herself proved, by means of three
friends, that she had been imbibing gin at home on the night and
at the hour in question.
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