k up the case it would look as if he
believed Fred had nothing to do with the murder. It would be bound to
make a good impression on the jury."

"Wouldn't he be very expensive?" asked the girl.

"Not so expensive as getting hanged," said Kemp grimly. "You take my
advice and have him if you can get him. Never mind what he costs, if you
can raise the money. You've got some money saved up, haven't you?"

"Yes, I've nearly L200. Sir Horace put L100 in the Savings Bank for me on
my last birthday. And the furniture at the flat is mine. I'd sell that
and everything I've got, for Fred's sake."

"That is the way to talk," said Kemp. "You go to this solicitor you had
at the police court, and tell him you want Holymead to defend Fred. Tell
him he must brief Holymead--have nobody else but Holymead. Tell him that
Holymead was a friend of Sir Horace Fewbanks's and that if he appears for
Fred the jury will never believe that Fred had anything to do with the
murder. And I don't think he had, though he did lie to me and swear he
hadn't been up there that night," he added after a moment's reflection.

CHAPTER XIV

"There is one link in the chain missing," said Rolfe, who was discussing
with Inspector Chippenfield, in the latter's room at Scotland Yard, the
strength of the case against Birchill.

"And what is that?" asked his superior.

"The piece of woman's handkerchief that I found in the dead man's hand.
You remember we agreed that it showed there was a woman in the case."

"Well, what do you call this girl Fanning? Isn't she in the case? Surely,
you don't want any better explanation of the murder than a quarrel
between her and Sir Horace over this man Birchill?"

"Yes, I see that plain enough," replied Rolfe. "There is ample motive for
the crime, but how that piece of handkerchief got into the dead man's
hand is still a mystery to me. It would be easily explained if this girl
was present in the room or the house when the murder was committed. But
she wasn't. Hill's story is that she was at the flat with him."

"When you have had as much experience in investigating crime as I have,
you won't worry over little points that at first don't seem to fit in
with what we know to be facts," responded the inspector in a patronising
tone. "I noticed from the first, Rolfe, that you were inclined to make
too much of this handkerchief business, but I said nothing. Of course, it
was your own discovery, and I have found during my ca