and the other primed to kill.” “Then Mrs. Stokes got on to that date,” said Williams, “and broke in on it. And there’s only one person that date could have been with—Stokes.” [Pg 169] [Pg 169] Bassett’s nerves were raw with strain and anxiety. This reiteration of a rendezvous with Stokes maddened him: “But it couldn’t have been. I’ve told you. I knew Miss Saunders well. I know what she felt about the man, and besides I have the evidence of my own eyes that she avoided him in every way she could. Make an appointment to meet him alone! She’d as soon make an appointment with Satan.” Neither of the men answered him for a moment. Williams regarded his sentiment with respect. He had been a friend of the dead girl’s and it was natural he should stand up for her, whether rightly or wrongly Williams was not yet sure. Rawson was impressed; he had formed a high opinion of the director’s candor and truthfulness and his words weighed with him: “I go a good deal by what you say, Mr. Bassett, and as to this meeting of which I’m convinced—whom it was with I don’t know. Williams here has made up his mind and worked out [Pg 170]his case. I don’t agree with him. I believe Mrs. Stokes is telling the truth. What she says hangs together all right. I think her explanation of the passage of time when she was on the shore is entirely plausible. That she may know something is possible, but I don’t think she’s guilty.” [Pg 170] “Then you must think it’s Stokes,” said Williams with some heat. “There’s nobody else it could be.” Rawson considered before he spoke: “I don’t see Stokes as deliberately murdering the woman he was in love with. That’s generally an act of impulse, sudden desperation. And there was no impulse here. Careful premeditation—the stealing of the revolver, luring her to this summer-house, the threats or rage when she got here that made her fly. It’s more like the working out of revenge than the act of blind passion. Stokes doesn’t look to me the kind of man that would kill so carefully. He’s too soft.” “Then who is it?” Williams exclaimed. “Somebody killed her.”
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