human
But will he return?
gpt
I think so. I agree with Miss Vicky: Joe has gone to search for your father's body.
human
But he has no idea where it is. If he did, he would surely have told me or you, Alan, knowing how anxious we are!
gpt
He may have a clue, and may want to follow it up himself. And I believe, Sophy, that Joe knows more about the matter than we think. Do you remember that he gave Cicero a sovereign to leave the Moat House?
human
What of that?
gpt
Only that a sovereign was a large sum for a servant like Joe to give. He thought, no doubt, that Cicero knew too much, and he wanted to get him away before he could be questioned. It was his guilty conscience which made him so generous.
human
Guilty conscience, Alan? What had Joe done?
gpt
Nothing, so far as I know, replied Thorold readily.
human
But I am convinced there is something in your father's past life, Sophy, which would account for the violation of the vault. Joe knows it, but for some reason he won't tell. I questioned him about the ridiculous sum he gave to Cicero, but I could get no satisfactory explanation out of him--nor could Blair.
gpt
You don't think he was the short man with Dr. Warrender on that night, Alan?
human
No, I do not; I asked the boy who sleeps in the same room. He said that Joe went to bed as usual, and that he never heard him go out. Besides, Sophy, I am certain the accomplice of Warrender was Brown.
gpt
The Quiet Gentleman?
human
Yes; he had the key of the vault. And also, by the evidence of the stamp, he had something to do with Jamaica. Perhaps he knew your father there.
gpt
Perhaps he did. Joe would know.
human
Joe will not speak, and, at all events, he has gone. We must wait until he comes back.
gpt
Are you not going to make any more search for the body, Alan?
human
My dearest, I have not the slightest idea where to begin. The case has baffled the police, and it baffles me. I have made inquiries all round the country, and I can find no one who saw Brown with your father's dead body, or, indeed, anything else which might have aroused suspicion. There is only one hope that we may get it back.
gpt
The reward?
human
No; although Blair, and, I believe, Cicero, intend to work for that. The hope lies in the chance that Brown, whoever he is, may have taken away the body for blackmail. In that case we may get a letter demanding money--probably a large sum. We must pay it, and have your father's remains brought back.
gpt
And the murder, Alan?
human
Ah! that is a difficult part. When Brown stole the body he did not intend to commit murder; that came about in some unforeseen way. The danger that he may be arrested for the murder may keep Brown from applying for blackmail, always supposing, Sophy, that such is his object.
gpt
In that case we may never recover poor father.
human
I am afraid not. However, we must live in hope.