d trouble with Rivers about a crooked deal Rivers had put over on
him. Fortunately, Mr. Gresham has since been cleared of any suspicion,
but--"

"Who says he's been cleared?" Farnsworth snapped. "He's still a suspect."

"Sergeant McKenna says so," Corporal Kavaalen declared. "He has been
cleared. I guess we just didn't get around to telling you about that."
He went on to explain about the long distance call that had furnished
Stephen Gresham's alibi.

"And Gresham was at home from nine twenty-two on," Rand added. "There are
eight witnesses to that: His wife and daughter; myself; Captain Jarrett,
here; and his fiancee, Miss Lawrence; Philip Cabot; Adam Trehearne; Colin
MacBride."

Farnsworth looked bewildered. "Why wasn't I told about that?" he demanded
sulkily.

"Sergeant McKenna's been too busy, and I didn't think of it," Kavaalen
said insolently. "I'm not supposed to report to you, anyhow. Why didn't
your man Olsen tell you; he was with us when we checked with the
telephone company."

Farnsworth tried to ignore that by questioning Pierre about the time of
Gresham's arrival home, then turned to Rand and wanted to know what the
latter's interest in the case was.

Rand told him about his work in connection with the Fleming collection,
producing Humphrey Goode's letter of authorization. Farnsworth seemed
impressed in about the same way as the coroner, Kirchner, but he was
still puzzled.

"But I understood that you had been retained by Stephen Gresham, to
investigate this murder," he said.

"So you did talk to Olsen, after I saw him," Rand pounced. "Odd he didn't
mention this telephone thing.... Why, yes; that's true. My agency handles
all sorts of business. The two operations aren't mutually exclusive; for
a while, I even thought they might be related, but now--" He shrugged.

"Well, you believe, now, that Rivers had nothing to do with the pistols
you say were stolen from the Fleming collection?" Farnsworth asked. Rand
shook his head ambiguously; Farnsworth took that for a negative answer
to his question, as he was intended to. "And you say Mr. Gresham has been
completely cleared of any suspicion of complicity in this murder?"

"Mr. Rand's helping us; we want him to stick around till the case is
closed," Corporal Kavaalen threw in, perceiving the drift of Farnsworth's
questions. "He and Sergeant McKenna have worked together before; he's
given us a lot of good tips."

"You understand," Rand took over, "Mr. G