“It’s perfectly true, sir,” said Frank. “It’s blackmail, pure and simple.”
“Yes, of course,” said Colonel Julyan, “the trouble is that blackmail is not very pure, nor is it particularly simple. It can make a lot of unpleasantness for a great many people, even if the blackmailer finds himself in jail at the end of it. Sometimes innocent people find themselves in jail as well. We want to avoid that, in this case. I don’t know whether you are sufficiently sober, Favell, to answer my questions, and if you keep off irrelevant personalities we may get through with the business quicker. You have just made a serious accusation against de Winter. Have you any proof to back that accusation?”
“Proof?” said Favell. “What the hell do you want with proof? Aren’t those holes in the boat proof enough?”
“Certainly not,” said Colonel Julyan, “unless you can bring a witness who saw him do it. Where’s your witness?”
“Witness be damned,” said Favell. “Of course de Winter did it. Who else would kill Rebecca?”
“Kerrith has a large population,” said Colonel Julyan. “Why not go from door to door making inquiries? I might have done it myself. You appear to have no more proof against de Winter there than you would have against me.”
“Oh, I see,” said Favell, “you’re going to hold his hand through this. You’re going to back de Winter. You won’t let him down because you’ve dined with him, and he’s dined with you. He’s a big name down here. He’s the owner of Manderley. You poor bloody little snob.”
“Take care, Favell, take care.”
“You think you can get the better of me, don’t you? You think I’ve got no case to bring to a court of law. I’ll get my proof for you all right. I tell you de Winter killed Rebecca because of me. He knew I was her lover; he was jealous, madly jealous. He knew she was waiting for me at the cottage on the beach, and he went down that night and killed her. Then he put her body in the boat and sank her.”
“Quite a clever story, Favell, in its way, but I repeat again you have no proof. Produce your witness who saw it happen and I might begin to take you seriously. I know that cottage on the beach. A sort of picnic place, isn’t it? Mrs. de Winter used to keep the gear there for the boat. It would help your story if you could turn it into a bungalow with fifty replicas alongside of it. There would be a chance then that one of the inhabitants might have seen the whole affair.”
“Hold on,” said Favell slowly, “hold on… There is a chance de Winter might have been seen that night. Quite a good chance too. It’s worth finding out. What would you say if I did produce a witness?”
Colonel Julyan shrugged his shoulders. I saw Frank glance inquiringly at Maxim. Maxim did not say anything. He was watching Favell. I suddenly knew what Favell meant. I knew who he was talking about. And in a flash of fear and horror I knew that he was right. There had been a witness that night. Little sentences came back to me. Words I had not understood, phrases I believed to be the fragments of a poor idiot’s mind. “She’s down there isn’t she? She won’t come back again.” “I didn’t tell no one.” “They’ll find her there, won’t they? The fishes have eaten her, haven’t they?” “She’ll not come back no more.” Ben knew. Ben had seen. Ben, with his queer crazed brain, had been a witness all the time. He had been hiding in the woods that night. He had seen Maxim take the boat from the moorings, and pull back in the dinghy, alone. I knew all the color was draining away from my face. I leaned back against the cushion of the chair.
“There’s a local halfwit who spends his time on the beach,” said Favell. “He was always hanging about, when I used to come down and meet Rebecca. I’ve often seen him. He used to sleep in the woods, or on the beach when the nights were hot. The fellow’s cracked, he would never have come forward on his own. But I could make him talk if he did see anything that night. And there’s a bloody big chance he did.”
“Who is this? What’s he talking about?” said Colonel Julyan.
“He must mean Ben,” said Frank, with another glance at Maxim. “He’s the son of one of our tenants. But the man’s not responsible for what he says or does. He’s been an idiot since birth.”
“What the hell does that matter?” said Favell. “He’s got eyes, hasn’t he? He knows what he sees. He’s only got to answer yes or no. You’re getting windy now, aren’t you? Not so mighty confident?”