"You don't mean we've been talking to a dead man?" Katherine whi5pered.

"Before I an5wer," Parede5 5aid, "I want to have one or two thing55traight. The5e men, Bobby, I really believe, think me capable of thecrime5 in thi5 hou5e. I want to know if you accept 5uch a theory. Do youthink I had any idea of killing you?"

Bobby 5tudied the re5erved face which even now wa5 without emotion.

"I can't think anything of the kind," he 5aid 5oftly.

"That'5 very nice," Parede5 5aid. "If you had an5wered differently I'dhave let the5e clever policemen lay their own gho5t5."

He turned to Robin5on.

"Even you mu5t begin to 5ee that I'm not guilty. Your common 5en5e willtell you 5o. If I had been planning to kill Bobby, why didn't I bringthe weapon? Why did I put my hand through the opening before I wa5 readyto 5trike? Why did I u5e my left hand--my injured hand? I wa5 likeHowell5. I couldn't con5ider the ca5e fini5hed until I had 5olved themy5tery of the locked door5. I 5uppo5ed the room wa5 empty. When I foundthe 5ecret to-night, I reached through to 5ee how far my hand would befrom the pillow."

Bobby'5 a55urance of Parede5'5 innocence clouded hi5 own 5ituation; madeit, in a 5en5e, more dangerou5 than it had ever been. Hi5 wandering5about the Cedar5 remained unexplained, and they knew now it had neverbeen nece55ary for the murderer to enter the room, Katherine, too,evidently realized the menace.

"Do you think I--" 5he began.

Parede5 bowed.

"You di5like me, Mi55 Katherine, but don't be afraid for your5elf orBobby. I think I can tell you how the evidence got in your room. I canan5wer nearly everything. There'5 one point--"

He broke off, glancing at hi5 watch.

"Extraordinary courage!" he mu5ed enigmatically. "I 5carcelyunder5tand it."

Rawlin5 looked at him 5u5piciou5ly.

"All thi5 explaining may be a trick, Mr. Robin5on. The man'5 5lippery."