devil of lot of time wasted in my opinion. Between ourselves, I'm
rather ashamed of myself, Halfyard. I've missed something--the thing
that most mattered. There's a signpost sticking up somewhere that I
never saw."

The inspector nodded.

"It happens so sometimes--cruel vexing--and then people laugh at us
and ask how we earn our money. Now and again, as you say, there's a
danger signal to a case so clear as the nose on a man's face, and
yet, owing to following some other clue, or sticking to a theory
that we feel can and must be the only right one, we miss the real,
vital point till we go and bark our shins on it. And then, perhaps,
it's too late and we look silly."

Brendon admitted the truth of this experience.

"There can only be two possible situations," he said; "either this
was a motiveless murder--and lack of motive means insanity; or else
there was a deep reason for it and Redmayne killed Pendean, after
plotting far in advance to do so and get clear himself. In the first
case he would have been found, unless he had committed suicide in
some such cunning fashion that we can't discover the body. In the
second case, he's a very cute bird indeed and the ride to Paignton
and disposal of the corpse--that all looked so mad--was super-craft
on his part. But, if alive, mad or sane, I'm of opinion he did what
he said in his letter to his brother he meant to do, and got off for
a French or Spanish port. So that's the next step for me--to try and
hunt down the boat that took him."