It was the fact that the burglary Hill had arranged with Birchill took
place on the night Sir Horace was killed that had given rise to the false
clues which had misled the police. Crewe, as he himself modestly put it,
was so fortunate as to get on the right track from the start His
suspicions were directed to Holymead when he saw the latter carrying away
a walking-stick from Riversbrook after his visit of condolence to Miss
Fewbanks. Crewe explained what tactics he had adopted to obtain a brief
inspection of the stick in order to ascertain for his own satisfaction if
it had belonged to Holymead. His suspicions against Holymead were
strengthened when he discovered that the latter, when driving to his
hotel on the night of the tragedy, had thrown away a glove which was the
fellow of the one found by the police in Sir Horace's library.
"The next point to settle was whether Holymead had had anything to do
with your father's sudden return from Scotland," said Crewe, continuing
his story. "If that proved to be the case, and if evidence could be
obtained on which to justify the conclusion that these two old friends
had had a deadly quarrel, the circumstantial evidence against Holymead as
the man who killed your father was very strong.
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