Patsy Garvan was responsible for it, though not because of any fault on his part. Following the instructions that Nick had given them, Patsy and Chick arrived at the Ashburton Chambers about ten minutes after Nick, separating before entering, Patsy to look up Sheldon and Floyd, while Chick undertook to identify the suspect seen by Danny in company with Kate Crandall that afternoon. Nick had remarked, before leaving home, that, with three strings to their bow, there certainly should be something doing--and there was. Patsy entered the house about ten minutes after Nick went up to Kate Crandall’s suite, and, as luck would have it, he shaped the same course that his chief had taken. He began his work with buying a cigar and interrogating the girl clerk with precisely the same question. “Have you seen Ralph Sheldon here this evening?” The girl laughed while giving Patsy his change. “You’re not alone,” she remarked. “Another man just asked the same question.” “That so?” queried Patsy, knowing it must have been Nick. “How long ago was that?” “Not more than ten minutes,” said the girl. “Sheldon must be in demand this evening. He was talking with the clerk a short time ago. I guess you’ll find him in his suite, third floor, rear corridor, number ninety-four.” “Thanks,” said Patsy, with a smile. “It’s not material.” “That’s just what the other man said,” replied the girl, laughing. “Gee! I must be walking right in the chief’s tracks,” thought Patsy, moving away. “That denotes that I’ve got a long head, at least; but I must cut it out, all the same, or some one may get wise to what we are doing. It’s odds that the chief took the elevator, so I’ll vary the program by hoofing it.” Patsy knew, of course, that Nick had gone to seek an interview with Kate Crandall, as he had stated. “I’ll look up Sheldon’s suite,” he said to himself. “If he still was with the Crandall woman, it’s odds that he left when the chief showed up. He may be with a confederate in his apartments by this time, in which case their conversation might enable me to clinch the chief’s suspicions, if I can contrive to overhear it. I’ll locate the suite, at all events, and find out what’s doing.” Patsy climbed the stairs to the second floor, then sought a corridor leading to the rear of the house. He found it with no great difficulty, but upon entering the corridor adjoining the rear rooms, he turned in the wrong direction to find the main stairway. He brought up in a narrow, dimly lighted hall, instead, and at the narrow stairway already mentioned. “Gee, I’m in wrong!” he muttered, glancing at several doors in the dim, uncarpeted entry. “I ought to have gone the other way. These stairs will take me up to the next floor, however, and the rear corridor must run parallel with one of this floor. These doors must be rear exits from some of the side and back suites. I’ll go up and have a look.” Patsy started up the stairs with the last.