“Then I can only thank you for the help you have given; and assure you that everything possible shall be done to expedite your client’s release. And, by the way, you had better say nothing to any one else of what you have just told me.” And thereupon, with the skill born of long practice, the superintendent bowed his visitors out of the room. To Inspector Blaikie he spoke a word, asking him to remain for a few minutes’ discussion. Joan’s indignation burst forth as soon as she was outside the building. She was particularly angry with Thomas. “I call it abominable. We have just succeeded in clearing one innocent man, whom an hour or two ago you believed to be guilty: and now you are wantonly throwing suspicion on some one else. What business is it of yours? I know Winter had nothing to do with it.” “That is all very well, Miss Cowper; but it was my duty to tell the police, and, moreover, by doing so, I probably speeded up Mr. Brooklyn’s release by at least twenty-four hours. It is always wise to have the police on your side—when you can.” “If it was your duty, why didn’t you tell the police when you first found it out?” “I will be quite frank with you, Miss Cowper. I did not, because, until your very smart work in proving Mr. Brooklyn’s _alibi_, my best chance of getting him off was to be able to throw unexpected suspicion on some one else at the trial.” “I call it beastly—even to think of using methods like that.” Thomas was very suave. “But I suppose, Miss Cowper, you would not have liked to see your stepfather condemned. I had to do the best I could.” “I don’t care. It can’t be right to throw suspicion on an innocent man like that. Do you—yourself—believe Winter did it? Why didn’t you do what he did—clear my stepfather by proving the truth of what he said?” “Perhaps, Miss Cowper, it was because I am not so clever as you are. I have already congratulated you on the way you have managed this affair.” “I don’t want your congratulations. Do you believe Winter did it?” “As to that, Miss Cowper, I do not pretend to know. It is for the police, and not for me, to find out.” Joan, on hearing this, simply turned her back on him, and walked away. Thomas very politely raised his hat to her back, told Ellery that he must be off, and hailed a passing taxi. Ellery hurried after Joan. For a minute after he came up with her, she strode on fast, saying nothing. Then, “Don’t you think it’s beastly?” she said. “I agree with you that Thomas is a cad, and I don’t believe old Winter had anything to do with it. And I don’t think there was any need for him to tell the police. But he probably did it, as he said, in order to get the police on our side.” “And now they’ll all be off full cry after Winter. I suppose they will want to arrest him next.” Ellery shook his head. “Hardly, without more evidence than they possess. But they will probably have him watched.”