leads irresistibly to
the conclusion that one of them shot Whitmore. There is not the
slightest trace of any outside agency having been employed."

"But if they're individually innocent, how can they be collectively
guilty?" demanded the chief.

"You've misconceived my meaning," said Britz. "You know, in a general
way, what has been accomplished in the case. So you must be aware of the
peculiar actions of all four of the suspects. The fact that they engaged
Luckstone to look after their interests argues a guilty knowledge of
Whitmore's death. Then, their silence, their fear of saying something
that might incriminate one or all of them--it is impossible to reconcile
their conduct with innocence! No. When you survey the entire case, you
cannot escape the conviction that Whitmore met his death at the hands of
one of them."

"But man alive," broke in the chief, "what evidence have you? Why,
you're further away from the solution of the crime than when you
started."

"Not at all!" Britz assured him. "We're going to solve the case
to-morrow morning, in this very room."

Manning and Greig looked at each other in blank bewilderment. In the
light of Britz's explanation of the case, his confident assertion could
only be regarded as a vain boast. Or was it the expression of a last,
flickering hope, to which he clung desperately, like a man staking his
last dollar on a thousand-to-one chance?

"What I want you to see clearly," the detective continued, "is the utter
futility of trying to discover the murderer through an investigation
from the outside. Almost from the outset I realized the utter
impossibility of endeavoring to single out the assassin through
following the ordinary clues. That's the reason I directed the entire
investigation along a single line--the only line that could possibly
lead to success."

The faces of Manning and Greig grew more clouded. They could comprehend
the reasoning which cleared the suspects, but they were unable to
understand by what contradiction of logic Britz meant to upset his own
conclusion.

"Let me make myself clear to you," Britz proceeded. "Such evidence as we
have, or such as we might be permitted to present to a jury, all tends
to establish the innocence of Mrs. Collins, Ward and Beard. On the other
hand, it gives a guilty aspect to Collins's conduct. Yet I am convinced
that Collins did NOT do the shooting, while one of the others
did.

"There is only one way in which we can s