Chapter 25‘Well,’ said Crisp when the door had closed behind him, ‘there you have it. The man was drunk when he was killed, and the way he got drunk was drinking Mr. Jacob Taverner’s champagne along with his manager after everyone else had gone upstairs to bed. Nice work, I must say! Not put it on the bill, indeed!’ He made a sound that was more like a snort than a laugh.
Miss Silver said mildly, ‘What is your theory, Inspector, as to how Luke White came to be lying in the position in which he was found? There was not more than eighteen inches between his feet and the bottom step. To fall in such a position he must have been standing either on the step itself or just below it with his back to the stairs, and the murderer must have been on the step behind him.’
Crisp stared.
‘You mean th
