“All right, Hansen.” Lieutenant Valcour studied the young man facing him for a curious moment. “You were at sea for a while, weren’t you?”
“Yes, sir. I was with the navy during the war, and after that on merchant ships for a year or two.”
“Would it be possible for a sailor to climb up onto the balcony outside this window from the garden?”
“I couldn’t say offhand, Lieutenant. I didn’t notice much about the balcony when I was down there.”
“Then go down again and see what you think. Let me know whether it would be an easy job, difficult, or impossible.”
“Yes, sir.”
Hansen went out, and Lieutenant Valcour had barely returned his attention to the letter from Marge Myles when there was another rapping on the door. This time it was Cassidy who came in. Lieutenant Valcour dropped the letter back upon the desk and turned to him.
“Did you find Mrs. Endicott all right, Cassidy?”
“No, sir, I didn’t.”
Lieutenant Valcour felt strangely disturbed. He had half expected Cassidy to answer in just that way; the denial was nothing more than a fulfilment of the curious premonitions he had been experiencing of some subtle danger.
“Did you look in all the rooms?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Question anybody?”