True, he would have had to find some way of
silencing Hill while he got away from the country. He might have had to
resort to the crude method of tying Hill up, gagging him, and leaving him
in the flat. But even that would have been better than to inform the
police immediately of the murder and place his life at the mercy of Hill,
whom he distrusted."
"Looked at your way, I admit that there are some weak points in our
case," said Rolfe. "But you'll find that our Counsel will be able to
answer most of them in his address to the jury. If Birchill didn't
commit the murder, who did? Do you deny that he went up to Riversbrook
that night?"
"The letter sent to Scotland Yard shows that some one was there besides
the murderer. If Birchill was there and helped to write the letter--and
so much is part of your case--he wasn't the murderer. In short, I believe
Birchill went up there to commit a burglary and found the murdered body
of Sir Horace."
"Do you think that Hill did it?" asked Rolfe.
"That is more than I'd like to say. As a matter of fact I have been so
obtuse as to neglect Hill somewhat in my investigations. In fact, I
didn't know until I got hold of a copy of his statement to the police
that he was an ex-convict.
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