he
brilliant and exotic dancer with whom he had dined the night of the first
murder. As he stared at her, her features twisted. She burst into
retching sobs. She staggered toward Paredes. As she went the snow melted
from her hat and cloak. She became a black figure again. With an
appearance of having been immersed in water she sank on the hearth,
swaying back and forth, reaching blindly for Paredes's hand.

"Do what you please with me, Carlos," she whimpered with her slight
accent from which all the music had fled. "I couldn't stand it another
minute. I couldn't get to the station, and I--I wanted to know
which--which--"

Paredes watched her curiously.

"Get Jenkins," he said softly to Rawlins.

He faced Maria again.

"I could have told you, I think, when you fought me away out there. No
one wants to arrest you. Jenkins will verify my own knowledge."

"This is dangerous," the doctor rumbled. "This woman shouldn't wait here.
She should have dry clothing at once."

Maria shrank from him. For the first time her wet skirt exposed her
feet, encased in torn stockings. The dancer wore no shoes, and Bobby
guessed why she had been so elusive, why she had left so few traces.

"I won't go," she cried, "until he tells me."

Katherine got a cloak and threw it across the woman's shoulders. Maria
looked up at her with a dumb gratitude. Then Rawlins came back with
Jenkins. The butler was bent and haggard. His surrender to fear was more
pronounced than it had been at the grave or when they had last seen him
in the kitchen. He grasped a chair and, breathing heavily, looked from
one to the other, moistening his lips.

Paredes faced the man, completely master of the situation. Through the
old butler, it became clear, he would make his revelation and announce
that simple fact they all had missed.

"It was Mr. Silas, of course, who came back?"

"Oh my God!" the butler moaned, "What do you mean?"

"I know everything, Jenkins," Paredes said evenly.

The butler collapsed against the chair. Paredes grasped his arm.

"Pull yourself together, man. They won't want you as more than an
accessory."

Maria started to rise. She shrank back again, shivering close to the
fire.

"Is your master hiding," Paredes asked, "or has he left the house?"

Jenkins's answer came through trembling lips.

"He's gone! Mr. Silas is gone! How did you find out? My God! How did you
find out?"

"He said nothing to you?" Paredes asked.

Jenkins sho