“The stick. H’m. If Walter Brooklyn didn’t leave it in Prinsep’s room, who did? It was a very remarkable stick, and quite certain to be recognised. Just the thing, in fact, for a false clue. Let me see. Brooklyn said he lost it on the Tuesday afternoon—the day of the murders. That means that somehow or other the murderer got hold of it. H’m, h’m. We’re getting warm, my dear. When we know for certain who got hold of that stick we shall have found the murderer. Yes, we must certainly find out all about that stick. Left in a taxi, was it? I think not. I’m beginning to have a very shrewd idea of where it was left.” The superintendent paused. “Where was it left, dear?” “Wait till I know for certain, darling. I’ll find out, never fear. And then I shall know who the murderer was. But even then I shall be a long way off getting a conviction.” The superintendent laughed. “But surely, if you know——” “Knowing is one thing, and proving a case to a jury quite another. But that’s enough for the present. I want to sleep on this.” And with these words Superintendent Wilson went out into the garden to play with the children. Chapter XXI Don Quixote While Fred Thomas was trying to make a shield for Walter Brooklyn’s guilt by throwing the suspicion upon others whom he himself believed to be innocent, Joan and Ellery were following up their attempt to prove her stepfather’s _alibi_. Two points they had already established, thanks to Ellery’s mingled sagacity and good fortune. Walter Brooklyn had definitely been in Leicester Square at a quarter to eleven, and in Piccadilly Circus at about twenty past eleven. So far his story was confirmed. Moreover, if he had been seen in the Circus at 11.20, it was difficult to believe that he had rung up his club from Prinsep’s room at Liskeard House, after making his way unseen into the building, less than ten minutes later. It was true that the evidence was not absolutely conclusive, as neither time could be fixed, quite certainly, to within a few minutes. But at least the evidence against him was severely shaken, and there seemed to be good reason for urging that the telephone message, round which the case had practically been built up, was a fake. Find out who sent it, the defence could argue, and you would find the real criminal.