"Everything checks," he admitted. "There's no secret room, no way in or out. Logically Groom's right. We're fighting the dead who resent the intrusion of your grandfather and Howells." He laughed mirthlessly. "After all, we can't surrender to that. There must be another answer." "From the first Howells was satisfied with me," Bobby said. Graham flung up his hands. "Then tell me how you got in without disturbing those locks. I grant you, Bobby, you had sufficient motive for both murders, but I don't believe you have two personalities, one decent and lovable, the other cruel and cunning to the point of magic. I don't believe if a man had two such personalities the actions of one would be totally closed to the memory of the other." Bobby smiled wanly. "It isn't pleasant to confess it, Hartley, but I have read of such cases." "Fiction!" "Scientific fact." "I wish to the devil I had shared your room with you to-night," Graham muttered. "I might have furnished you an alibi for this affair at least." "Either that," Bobby answered frankly, "or you might have followed me and learned the whole secret. Honestly, isn't that what you were thinking of, Hartley? And I did go to sleep, telling myself it would help me if something of the sort happened to Howells. Now I'm not so sure that it will. I--I suppose you've got to notify the police." Graham held up his hand. "What's that? In the corridor!" There were quiet footsteps in the corridor. Bobby turned quickly, Paredes strolled slowly through the passage, a cigarette held in his slender, listless fingers. Bobby stared at him, remembering his surprise a few minutes ago that the Panamanian should have sat up so late, should have been, probably, in the court when they had followed Katherine to the discovery of this new crime. Paredes paused in the doorway. He took in the tragic picture framed by the sinister room without displaying the slightest interest. He continued to hold his cigarette until it expired. Then he crossed the threshold. Graham and Bobby watched the expressionless face. Gracefully Paredes raised his finger and pointed to the bed. When he spoke his voice was low and pleasant: "Appalling! I feared something of the kind when I heard you come to this room." He glanced at the broken door. "The same unbelievable circumstance," he drawled. "I see you had to break in." The colour flashed back to Graham's face. "You have taken plenty of time to solve your misgivings." "It hasn't been so long. I fancied everything was all right, and I was immersed in my solitaire. Then I heard a stirring upstairs. As I've told you, the house frightens me. It is not natural or healthy. So I came up to investigate this stirring, and there was Miss Katherine in the hall. She told me." Graham faced him with undisguised enmity. "Immersed in your solitaire! We were attracted by a light in the lower hall at such an hour. We looked down. You were not there. The front door was open."