You're absolutely right. And I am indeed thinking along your lines, but just contemplating the ifs as a devil's advocate, so to speak. In fact I anticipated some of your counterarguments:
if Margot had taken Swann's latch key thinking it was hers, what had happened to Margot's own key then?
Perhaps she simply misplaced it. She wouldn't have made any attempt to locate it as she didn't know it was missing. How could anyone prove otherwise? Who would have the onus of proof?
You see now how fishy that defense would look to Inspector Hubbard?
Fishy? Sure. Implausible? Yes. I'd go further and say it would look like a blatant lie and a desperate attempt to wriggle his way out of the corner he's just been craftily placed in. And you're right: he is allowing himself to be painted as an insensitive bastard or absent-minded twit, etc. if it means getting off the hook. But unless his defence can be
disproved, I imagine (in this hypothetical alternative-ending scenario), Inspector Hubbard would in his professional capacity be obliged to accept it at face value.
But if Tony kept a key under the stair carpet, then Swann could have let himself in by using that key, which means there is now much less reason to doubt Margot's story that Swann was indeed an intruder who attacked Margot in the middle of the night.
Very true. I can imagine Mark interjecting at this point. Of course this version of events opens up another series of implausibilities (Swann would have
guessed the existence and location of the spare key, Margot would again be probed as to why Swann's key was in her purse), but the mere possibility would likely be enough to save her.
However the point at issue was not the proof of her innocence, but the questionably manufactured 'proof' of Tony's guilt. I'll take the liberty of continuing with the hypothetical dialogue (see above). Feel free to offer corrections:
Tony: What are you people doing here?
Inspector Hubbard: We just proved that you conspired to murder your wife and framed her for murder.
Tony: What?!? How in satan's hairy nutsack have you done that?
Inspector Hubbard: You had the key to unlock that door.
Tony: AND?
Inspector Hubbard: How else did you know where to find the key, and why was it there in the first place, unless you left it there for the murderor to find?
Tony: That was MONTHS ago. Maybe I put the key there as an emergency backup in case I lost my key. Maybe any one of a hundred things could have happened.
Inspector Hubbard: Emergency backup, eh? How could it be that you didn't tell your wife about it?
Tony: I was afraid she'd disapprove on account of the security risk it would pose.
Mark: Do you realise what this means, Inspector? Swann may have used that very key to gain entry to the flat, meaning that Margot's claim that he was an intruder and she killed him in self-defence, stacks up.
Inspector Hubbard: Then for God's sake, Tony, why didn't you tell
us about the key, could you not see that it would save your wife?
Tony: (very coy) As I said, I put it there months ago, subsequently forgot (since I never needed it), and only just now remembered.
Inspector Hubbard: I see...
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