Barton took his time before replying: “I suppose I deserved that, and it’s true, in a sense. I admit I’d rather he cut his own throat than was hanged, or shoved into Broadmoor.”
Macdonald turned to the door. “Well, you’ve told me what I wanted to know. I suggest you sit down and think things over, and decide where your reasoning has gone astray. If that task is beyond you, I’ll enlighten you next time I see you.”
And with that he was gone before Barton had time for a reply.
4
Macdonald walked back across the park, thinking as hard as he’d ever thought in his life. From the confusion of last night’s happenings two facts had emerged. One was the fact that no one could suggest that Judith Vanstead had been poisoned accidentally. The case was now clearly defined as a criminal case. The sec
