夜雨聆风took every precaution. I wiped my fingerprints off the bottle.’
‘Exactly. You also wiped Allerton’s fingerprints off. And when he isfound dead, what happens? They perform the autopsy and it is establishedthat he died of an overdose of Slumberyl. Did he take it by accident or in-tention? Tiens, his fingerprints are not on the bottle. But why not?
Whether accident or suicide he would have no reason to wipe them off.
And then they analyse the remaining tablets and find nearly half of themhave been replaced by aspirin.’
‘Well, practically everyone has aspirin tablets,’ I murmured weakly.
‘Yes, but it is not everyone who has a daughter whom Allerton is pursu-ing with dishonourable intentions – to use an old- fashioned dramaticphrase. And you have had a quarrel with your daughter on the subject theday before. Two people, Boyd Carrington and Norton, can swear to yourviolent feeling against the man. No, Hastings, it would not have looked toogood. Attention would immediately have been focused upon you, and bythat time you would probably have been in such a state of fear – or evenremorse – that some good solid inspector of police would have made uphis mind quite definitely that you were the guilty party. It is quite possible,even, that someone may have seen you tampering with the tablets.’
