One of them he sent back to guard the back door of the flat and prevent escape by that exit. Then he knocked on the front door, which was opened by a tall, comely, gray-haired woman. Within he heard voices. “What do you want?” the woman asked, as Carter and his aid shoved past her. The detective made no reply. He and his companion darted into the parlor. Rich and Darwin and three women were there. All sprang to their feet. The women screamed. Carter covered the men with his revolver and exclaimed: “Rich, there is no chance for you to escape. The house is surrounded by my men. You may as well submit quietly.” “What does this intrusion mean?” Rich demanded. “It means that I arrest you for the murder of Alfred Lawrence, and these others”--looking around the room at the others and pausing for a moment--“I arrest them as your accomplices.” In a short time the two men were manacled. They offered no resistance, because they saw that it would be of no avail. The two detectives guarded the prisoners while Carter made a search of the flat. In a trunk belonging to Rich he found a Moorish dagger, the blade and hilt of which were stained with blood. He also found an old pocketbook with papers belonging to the murdered man in it. On this were marks of bloody fingers. The woman who admitted Carter was the wife of the murdered man, and the third woman in the parlor was Lawrence’s daughter. She was a beautiful young woman, but at a glance the detective saw that she had been leading a life of dissipation. The prisoners were taken to police headquarters. When Rich was led into the chief inspector’s office and he beheld the witnesses congregated there all his bravado fled. “The game is up!” he ejaculated, and he sank into a chair, his handsome face the color of death. “You cornered me, Mr. Carter. I killed Lawrence. There is no use for me to deny anything. When I learned that he was about to be released from Sing Sing I made up my mind to kill him. I feared him, and so did his wife. I knew there was evidence in existence to prove that we had conspired against him. “I suppose you have received statements from all these people and there is no use for me to make a long confession. “All I’ll say will be that I tracked Lawrence to the Red Dragon Inn, and when the bartender’s back was turned I slipped upstairs and hid in the parlor. “Then I waited until the house was quiet, when I stole up to Lawrence’s room and killed him. “I escaped through the window and then down the ladder to the back yard. “I solemnly swear that Mrs. Lawrence and her daughter had nothing to do with the crime.” The mystery of the Red Dragon Inn was solved at last, and when the newspapers published the facts in regard to the work done by Carter a sensation was created. Nick had little time to bask in the glow of journalistic applause, even had he cared to do so. He was soon plunged in the case to which his assistants had been paving his way by their investigations.