There was a further silence, during which Joan continued to walk fast, staring straight in front of her. At last she said, “I’ve been thinking, and I’m sure I see what we ought to do. So far we have only been trying to prove that my stepfather did not do it. We’ve succeeded. But at this rate we shall all of us be suspected in turn. There’s only one thing for it. There will be no peace and quietness till some one finds the criminal. I don’t believe the police will ever find him. Why shouldn’t you and I find him ourselves? We haven’t done badly so far.” Ellery whistled. “That’s a much taller order than proving your stepfather’s _alibi_,” he said. “But I’m game. There certainly won’t be much peace for any of us till somebody finds out who did do it. But I’m dashed if I know how to begin.” “Neither do I, at present. We have to think it all out, and make a fresh start. Come home with me, and we’ll start planning it at once.” “They say two heads are better than one, and I’m prepared to be your very faithful follower. But you’ll have to be Sherlock Holmes, I’m afraid.” “Come along then, Watson. But try not to be as stupid as your namesake.” Chapter XXIV A Fresh Start “Well, where do we stand now?” said Superintendent Wilson, as he turned back into the room after showing his visitors out. “Nowhere at all, sir, I should say,” was the inspector’s discontented reply. “You have let the bird in the hand go, and all the other birds are safer than ever in the bush. Are you so sure there’s no doubt about that _alibi_?” “Still harping on that, are you, inspector? Come, put the idea of Walter Brooklyn’s guilt out of your head. It’s not often I take much stock in _alibis_; but this one is absolutely convincing.” “I’m not so sure, sir, all the same. At least, I’d have kept hold of the man we had got till we could lay some one else by the heels.” The superintendent shrugged his shoulders impatiently. “That’s the worst of you, inspector,” he said, “you are impervious to evidence. You never will give up an idea when you’ve once been at the trouble of forming it. And therefore you don’t see how this morning’s business really helps us.” “Helps us? No, I’m jiggered if I see that. If you’re in the right we are in a worse hole than ever.” “No, my dear inspector, it does help us.” And the superintendent rubbed his hands with satisfaction. He smiled to himself as he reflected that he could see further than most people through a brick wall. “How do you mean?” asked the inspector. “Well, if Walter Brooklyn was not in the house, it is clear that he did not send that telephone message. But some one did send it. Who was that some one? Find him, and you find the murderer. It was clearly sent with the deliberate intention of throwing suspicion on Walter Brooklyn.” “Yes, if you’re right about the _alibi_, I see that. But I don’t see that we’re any nearer to finding out who did send it.”