"What's the matter with him, anyhow?" "A bad nervous spell. He gets them once in a while." "Just like that?" asked Guido. "No," said Yamamura. "It looks like a sudden collapse, but it isn't. He worked hard through the academic year. It brought him close to the edge, he needed a vacation badly. Instead, all this strain and--He feels morbidly responsible. There are reasons for it. They lie in his past and don't concern us." "How about a psychiatrist?" inquired Harries. "He hasn't got that kind of money. And we all have some such curse--don't we now? Some people have dizzy spells. Some people are hypochondriacs. Once every couple of years, Kintyre spends a few days in hell." "But what made him realize Miss Towne was--?" "He answered the riddle, of course. He knew who had hired the killers, and why. From that, it followed she was next." Harries caught his arm so tightly he winced. "What?" "Uh-huh," said Yamamura. "Wait, though. He didn't tell me." "But he's in there now and--come on!" Yamamura caught Harries by the shoulder and spun him around. "No," he said. "It isn't right. Leave him alone." "Leave the murderers alone, too!" snapped Harries. Yamamura rubbed his chin. They could see how he slumped. "There is that," he agreed. "Let me go in by myself, then, and talk to him." * * * * * Kintyre thought he had carried it off very well. He had spoken coherently with Moffat. The policeman told him in a sick voice that blood had soaked through her mattress until the floor was clotted beneath her bed. Guido swayed on his feet. Kintyre's face had remained like carved bone. * * * * * "Was jewelry lifted this time?" he asked. "Oh, yes, it was a professional job, all the earmarks," said Moffat. "But did you see two long gray cardboard boxes with files of papers? They'd be in plain sight in the living room if they're there at all," said Kintyre. "No, no such thing, the burglars must have taken them in the hope of finding stowed cash," said Moffat. "The jewelry was only to make you think that. Had she simply been murdered, or was she tied down first?" asked Kintyre. "Yes, tied down, blindfolded, mouth full of towel," said Moffat. "The burglars came in and grabbed her while she slept, secured her so there would be no chance she could identify them," said Kintyre. "That's not unheard of, but then why did they kill her afterward?" asked Moffat. "Because the letter boxes were still open on the coffee table," said Kintyre. "What?" said Moffat. "It proved she had been reading Bruce Lombardi's mail; the burglars' orders were to get rid of her if that was the case," said Kintyre. "Hey, how do you know all this?" asked Moffat. But then Kintyre felt his control begin to crack, so he turned about and went back to his car with Guido. * * * * *