"I can answer it, even if Haskins didn't; it was a man come out of the room, and it was Haskins himself. Whatcha trying to do now--hang it onto the Sheridan girl? Think it would make a better story for you, huh? Aw, forget it! Why would she have done it?" The question came in a triumphant tone. "Oh, I've got you an answer for that, Tish," Wiggly replied. "So you demand a motive; all right, I'll furnish that, too. The strongest and most unreasoning of motives, the most deadly--jealousy!" "Huh?" "Joan Sheridan is in love with her stepbrother. I got that from the constable's daughter this morning." "A woman's gossip!" snorted Tish. "I wouldn't go two cents on no kind of talk like that." "And verified it by the butler," Wiggly added doggedly. "The constable's daughter is a great little gabber, and I wouldn't take her unsupported word; so I felt out Bates, and he admitted that the household had rather hoped for a match between Gilmore and Miss Sheridan. Yes, she's in love with her stepbrother; used to help him with his work and that sort of thing. The butler told me that it was a great shock to Miss Sheridan when she returned home from Europe and found that he had married during her absence. "There's another little point; it might not seem so much, but I can imagine how it must have added to the blow. Miss Sheridan also returned home to find this strange woman--Gilmore's bride--had taken possession of her own room, a room that she had occupied for years and had formed a deep attachment for. I gather that a very strained situation resulted; even the servants took a dislike to the new Mrs. Gilmore. "Man, I tell you there's something under the surface; I tell you that we've only scratched the surface, so to speak, of the Gilmore mystery. If Miss Sheridan would talk, we might learn something interesting." He tossed up his hands in a helpless gesture. "It would be silly to try and quiz her until we've got something to face her with; that would only spoil whatever chances we may have of getting to the bottom of it." Sergeant Tish frowned and puffed out his plump cheeks; he was thinking things over now; then he shook his head. "Don't take much stock in it," he declared. "Jealousy is a primitive passion," argued Wiggly. "I'd consider it a stronger motive than revenge. Between Sarbella and the girl----" "No," Tish corrected himself, "I don't take any stock in it at all. Haskins did the murder; Haskins is dead, and the case is closed. Don't bother me with any more of this stuff." "There's one more thing that I haven't told you," said the newspaper man. "You remember the color of the murdered woman's hair?" "Sort of a dull gold, isn't it?" grunted Tish, interested in spite of himself. "What's the color of her hair got to do with it?"