“Now, look here, Mr. Allen,” he said, “we’re here to do our duty, said duty being to discover the perpetrator of a pretty awful crime. You may be so minded as to let the murderer go scot-free, even help him or her to make a getaway, but I can’t indulge in any such philanthropic scheme. Mr. Appleby’s been foully murdered, and it’s up to the law to find out the killer and see justice done. My job is not a pleasant one, but I’ve got to see it through, and that’s all there is about that! Now, this case is what we call open-and-shut. The murderer is sure and positively one of three people—said three people being known to us. So, I’ve just got to use all my powers to discover which of the three I’m really after, and when I find that out, then make my arrest. But I’ve no desire to nab the wrong one.” “Which one do you think it is?” demanded Allen, angrily. “I’ve got no right nor reason to _think_ it’s either one. I’ve got to find out for sure, not just think it. So, I ask you what you learned just now from Miss Wheeler, and why did she run to the house, weeping like a willow tree?” “I found out nothing that would throw any light on your quest, and she wept because her nerves are strained to the breaking point with worry and exhaustion.” “And I don’t wonder!” the detective spoke sympathetically. “But all the same, I’m obliged to keep on investigating, and I must ask you what she said to you just now.” Allen thought over the conversation he had had with Maida. Then he said: “I am telling the truth when I say there was no word said between us that would be of any real use to you. Miss Wheeler is my _fiancée_, and I tried to comfort her, and also to assure her anew of my faithfulness and devotion in her trouble.” “And what did she say?” “Without remembering her words exactly, I think I can state that she said nothing more than to reiterate that she had killed Mr. Appleby. But I want to state also, that I believe she said it, as she said it to you, to shield some one else.” “Her parents—or, one of them?” “That is the reasonable supposition. But I do not accuse either of the elder Wheelers. I still suspect an intruder from outside.” “Of course you do. . . . Anybody in your position would. But there was none such. It was one of the three Wheelers, and I’ll proceed to find out which one.” “Just how do you propose to find out?” “Well, the one that did it is very likely to give it away. It’s mighty difficult to be on your guard every minute, and with one guilty, and two shielding, and all three knowing, which is which, as I’ve no doubt they do, why, it’s a cinch that one of the three breaks down through sheer overcarefulness pretty soon.” “That’s true enough,” Allen agreed, ruefully. “Is that your only plan?” “Yes, except to look up the weapon. It’s a great help, always, to find the revolver.” “Hoping to find the criminal’s initials on it?”