lves to Collins's guilt, to bring Collins to
trial, so as to preclude us from proceeding against the real murderer
when we ascertained his identity. In other words, he figured that if we
declared our belief in Collins guilt and forced him to trial, we'd be
glad to drop the case and permit the public to forget it, after Collins
was acquitted.

"Did Collins actually commit the murder?" Britz shook his head gravely.
"You can bet your last dollar he didn't. In the first place, had he
fired the shot, Luckstone would have worked furiously to divert
suspicion from him. Every bit of damaging evidence would have been
destroyed. It was because Luckstone knew that Collins was innocent that
he was willing we should accuse him of the crime.

"Equally convincing is the attitude of the others in the case. You must
remember none of them had any use for Collins. Had he shot Whitmore, a
chorus of accusations would have gone up instantly. His own wife would
have volunteered to become a witness against him. She loved Whitmore and
hated Collins. Ward would have denounced him in unmistakable terms.
Beard would have been shouting his guilt from the housetops. Far from
uniting in a conspiracy to shield him, they would have allied themselves
with us to avenge the death of the merchant."

Manning and Greig were listening with faculties intensely alert, carried
along by the irresistible course of Britz's logic. They were compelled
to acknowledge to themselves that Collins had been effectually
eliminated as the murderer. But on whom would Britz fasten the crime?

"Now let us take up Beard," proceeded the detective as if narrating a
commonplace happening in the routine of police duty. "He is named in
Whitmore's will as one of the executors of the estate. But so is
Luckstone! Surely that is no motive for murder. My men have investigated
Beard's life. There's nothing in it to discredit him in the least.
Moreover, we have ascertained that he was entirely devoted to Whitmore's
interests. There was a great personal tie between the two men. The fact
that he arranged the plot for Whitmore's escape and the substitution of
prisoners, is but additional proof of his loyalty to his employer. We
haven't a scintilla of evidence to connect him with his employer's
murder."

Manning and Greig exchanged significant looks. Evidently the same
question had flashed across their minds. Were Ward and Mrs. Collins in a
conspiracy to kill Whitmore?

As if divining wh