"I think so, yes, I may say I think so. But that's of little moment. If we can run down the clues we have, if we can follow their pointing fingers, we shall know the criminal, and learn whether or not he had accomplices in his vile work." "Quite so," and with a smile and a nod, the stranger drifted away. Another man came near, then, and frankly introduced himself as Joe Young, from a nearby town, saying he wanted to be allowed to examine the wall-safe said to have been rifled by the murderer. "My father built that safe," he explained his interest, "and I think it might lead to some further enlightenment." Detective Hughes accompanied Young to the closed room that had been Mrs. Pell's sanctum, and they entered alone. "Don't touch things," cautioned Hughes. "I've not really had a chance yet to go over the place with a fine tooth comb. They've taken the poor lady's body away, but otherwise nothing's been touched----" "Oh, I won't touch anything," agreed Young, "but I couldn't help a sort of a notion that my father might have built more than a safe--he was a skilful carpenter and joiner, and Mrs. Pell was a tricky woman. I mean by that, she was mighty fond of tricking people and she easily could have had a secret cupboard, or even an entrance from somewhere behind that safe." But no amount of searching could discover the slightest possibility of such a thing. The open safe was an ordinary, built-in-the-wall affair, not large enough to suggest an entrance for a person. Nor was there any secret compartment behind it or anything other than showed on the surface. The door, when closed, had been covered by a picture, which had been taken down and flung on the floor. The safe was absolutely empty, and no one knew what it had contained. Young was decidedly disappointed. "I had no personal motive in looking this thing up," he said, "I only hoped that my knowledge of my father's clever work might lead to some discovery that would prove helpful to you detectives or to the family. But it's plain to be seen there's no hocus-pocus about this thing. It's as simple a safe as I ever saw. Nothing, in fact, but a concealed cupboard with a combination lock. Wonder who opened it? The murderer?" "I don't think so," rejoined Hughes. "I think the intruder, whoever he was, compelled the old lady to open it for him." "You stick to the masculine gender, I see, in your assumptions." "I do. I don't think for a minute that Miss Clyde is involved." "But her room is just above this----" "Oh, that's what you're after! A secret connection between this room and Miss Clyde's by way of the safe!" "Yes, that's what I had in mind. But there's not the slightest possibility of it, is there?" "No, not any other secret passage of any sort or kind. Oh, I've investigated fully in that respect. I meant, I haven't searched for tiny clues and little scraps of evidence. Straws, in fact, do show which way the wind blows."