Coates returned with the Rover, just as the body of the victim was
being removed, and his account of what had occurred was simple enough,
and followed the lines which we had anticipated. He had locked up and
then gone to the garage for the car as I had directed him to do,
returning to the cottage in time to admit Eric Coverly, whom he showed
into the study, having informed him that I should be back in less than
ten minutes. He had then proceeded to Denmark Hill railway station
only to find, as I had found, that the appointment was a hoax and
"the man with a box" a myth.
"You see," said Gatton, "the scheme of the plotter was simply this: to
get Coates out of the way for a long enough time to allow the
substitution of the telephone to be accomplished. The fact that Coates
had closed the windows before leaving the house didn't interfere very
much with the scheme. It's an old-fashioned catch on the ante-room
window, and I have seen the marks upon the brass-work where it was
forced from the outside with the blade of a knife. For the person who
opened the window to take out the real telephone and put the other in
its place was easy; and all that remained was to lift the gas-cylinder
on to the shed and partly reclose the window as we found it. Coates,
even if he had troubled to look, would not have noticed any difference
in the dusk. It is the next move, however, which _I_ find most
interesting.
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