Such a thrilling moment!
Waiting to see if anything might be going to happen."
"You describe the light from the torch as blinding.
Was it turned full on to you?"
"It was right in my eyes.
I couldn't see a thing."
"Did the man hold it still, or did he move it about, from person to person?"
"Oh, I don't really know.
Which did he do, Edmund?"
"It moved rather slowly over us all, so as to see what we were all doing, I suppose, in case we should try and rush him."
"And where exactly in the room were you, Mr. Swettenham?"
"I'd been talking to Julia Simmons.
We were both standing up in the middle of the room - the long room."
"Was everyone in that room, or was there anyone in the far room?"
"Phillipa Haymes had moved in there, I think.
She was over by that far mantelpiece.
I think she was looking for something."
"Have you any idea as to whether the third shot was suicide or an accident?"
"I've no idea at all.
The man seemed to swerve round very suddenly and then crumple up and fall - but it was all very confused. You must realise that you couldn't really see anything.
And then that refugee girl started yelling the place down."
"I understand it was you who unlocked the dining-room door and let her out?"
"Yes."
"The door was definitely locked on the outside?"
Edmund looked at him curiously.
"Certainly it was.
Why, you don't imagine -"
"I just like to get my facts quite clear.
Thank you, Mr. Swettenham."
Inspector Craddock was forced to spend quite a long time with Colonel and Mrs. Easterbrook. He had to listen to a long disquisition on the psychological aspect of the case.
"The psychological approach - that's the only thing nowadays," the Colonel told him.
"You've got to understand your criminal.
Now the whole set-up here is quite plain to a man who's had the wide experience that I have.
Why does this fellow put that advert in?
Psychology.
He wants to advertise himself - to focus attention on himself.
He's been passed over, perhaps despised as a foreigner by the other employees at the Spa Hotel.
A girl has turned him down, perhaps.
He wants to rivet her attention on him.
Who is the idol of the cinema nowadays - the gangster - the tough guy?
Very well, he will be a tough guy.
Robbery with violence.
A mask?
A revolver?
But he wants an audience - he must have an audience.
So he arranges for an audience.
And then, at the supreme moment, his part runs away with him - he's more than a burglar.
He's a killer.
He shoots - blindly -" Inspector Craddock caught gladly at a word:
"You say 'blindly,' Colonel Easterbrook.