Seeing is Believing by E.X. Ferrars

was he who tried to shoot whoever it was who'd come in, and that the person grabbed it and there was a struggle and it was Peter who got killed. But the inspector said there were no signs of a struggle.’
    ‘It could have happened like that though, couldn't it?’
    ‘Oh yes, I understood they haven't ruled it out.’
    ‘But it would change the motive they have to look for. If someone came there, perhaps assuming Peter would be in London with Avril and meaning to steal what he could, then got caught by Peter who threatened him with a gun, we needn't look for someone with any real relationship with Peter. For instance, it could be …’ I paused. I had nearly said it could be Fred Dyer, only I no longer felt at all sure that the man I had seen at the gate had been Fred.
    ‘I like your theory,’ Hugh said with a grim sort of smile. ‘It lets me off the hook. I had a quite close relationshipwith Peter, and, as it happens, with Avril too. Some kind neighbour had been telling the police about that.’
    ‘About you and Avril?’ I said with embarrassment.
    ‘Yes, the inspector put it to me — was I in love with Avril? He almost stated it as a fact that I was. And so I disguised myself as Dyer and went into the house and somehow got hold of Peter's gun and shot him.’ He gave a brief laugh. ‘I don't think he actually believed it for a minute. He was trying it out to see if he could get me to talk.’
    ‘And did it?’
    ‘No, it didn't! But tell me something, Frances. Have you come across a lot of people in the neighbourhood who believe that?’
    I could feel my cheeks flushing. I knew that they had turned red, and I could see that Hugh had noticed it.
    ‘So that's what you really came in for this morning,’ I said. ‘To ask me that.’
    ‘Well, don't you want to answer it?’
    I shrank from doing so, but said, ‘I'll try to tell you the truth, Hugh. I've come across a few people in the neighbourhood who, so far as I know, believe it. And I've been inclined to believe it myself, and I've talked about it to Malcolm. That's all.’
    ‘I see.’
    I was not sure what he saw, so I said nothing.
    He gave another harsh little laugh. ‘I may as well tell you the truth too, I suppose. You're quite right. If Avril hadn't been married, I'd have done my best to get her to marry me. But that doesn't mean I was ready to murder her husband to get her. I don't even know if she'd have wanted me. I've never tried to talk to her about it. And now I don't know what to do. It can't be the right time to speak of such a thing to her, and yet you never know, it might be consoling for her to know that there's someone who wants her.’
    ‘Don't you think she knows that already?’
    ‘Do you think so?’
    ‘Well, if a mere observer like me stumbled on the truth, don't you think it's probable that she's known it from the first?’
    ‘Yes. Yes, I see what you mean. All the same, I think it would be a mistake to bring it into the open now.’
    ‘Oh, if you're thinking what the police would make of it, it would certainly be a mistake.’
    ‘You don't mean to tell them about it yourself then?’
    ‘Hugh, what do you take me for?’
    ‘I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that. I'll be off home now. Thank you for listening to me. I hope the police don't give you a bad time. You and Mrs Henderson are the only witnesses who have anything significant to tell them. Goodbye, my dear.’
    He stooped and gave me a light kiss on my forehead, then went out of the room.
    I left him to let himself out of the house, then went back to peeling the potatoes.
    When Malcolm, Brian and Avril returned, I set off for Otterswell myself. But before I left, I heard Brian take possession of the telephone and from the odd bits of what he was saying that I overheard, I knew that he was talking to Judy, telling her all that had been happening to him in the place to which he had come for peace and quiet. He was still talking as I left the house, and I reflected that it