instant at the corpse of the unfortunate young man.

'I don't know,' said Rocco. 'I don't mind informing you that I objected
to that part of the business. I wasn't made aware of it till after it
was done, and then I tell you it got my dander up considerable.'

'You mean to say you don't know why Dimmock was done to death?'

'I mean to say I couldn't see the sense of it. Of course he--er--died,
because he sort of cried off the scheme, having previously taken a share
of it. I don't mind saying that much, because you probably guessed it
for yourself. But I solemnly state that I have a conscientious objection
to murder.'

'Then it was murder?'

'It was a kind of murder,' Rocco admitted. Who did it?'

'Unfair question,' said Rocco.

'Who else is in this precious scheme besides Jules and yourself?'

'Don't know, on my honour.'

'Well, then, tell me this. What have you been doing to Dimmock's body?'

'How long were you in that bathroom?' Rocco parried with sublime
impudence.

'Don't question me, Mr Rucker,' said Theodore Racksole. 'I feel very
much inclined to break your back across my knee. Therefore I advise you
not to irritate me. What have you been doing to Dimmock's body?'

'I've been embalming it.'

'Em--balming it.'

'Certainly; Richardson's system of arterial fluid injection, as improved
by myself. You weren't aware that I included the art of embalming among
my accomplishments. Nevertheless, it is so.'

'But why?' asked Racksole, more mystified than ever. 'Why should you
trouble to embalm the poor chap's corpse?'

'Can't you see? Doesn't it strike you? That corpse has to be taken care
of.

It contains, or rather, it did contain, very serious evidence against
some person or persons unknown to the police. It may be necessary to
move it about from place to place. A corpse can't be hidden for long; a
corpse betrays itself. One couldn't throw it in the Thames, for it would
have been found inside twelve hours. One couldn't bury it--it wasn't
safe. The only thing was to keep it handy and movable, ready for
emergencies. I needn't inform you that, without embalming, you can't
keep a corpse handy and movable for more than four or five days. It's
the kind of thing that won't keep. And so it was suggested that I should
embalm it, and I did. Mind you, I still objected to the murder, but I
couldn't go back on a colleague, you understand. You do understand that,
don't you? Well, here you are, and here it is, and