ings moved about," he had explained. "They
would probably call me down if they knew I'd let you in."

"All I want to do is to look the ground over a bit. What the police
don't know won't worry 'em any," the cattleman had suggested.

"All right." James had shrugged his shoulders and turned over the key.
"If you think you can find out anything I don't see any objection to
your going in."

Sanborn applied his shrewd common sense to the problem as he listened
to Kirby.

"Looks to me like you're overlookin' a bet, son," he said. "What about
this Jap fellow? Why did he light out so _pronto_ if he ain't in this
thing?"

"He might 'a' gone because he's a foreigner an' guessed they'd throw it
on him. They would, too, if they could."

"Shucks! He had a better reason than that for cuttin' his stick. Sure
had. He's in this somehow."

"Well, the police are after him. They'll likely run him down one o'
these days. Far as I'm concerned I've got to let his trail go for the
present. There are possibilities right here on the ground that haven't
been run down yet. For instance, Rose met a man an' a woman comin'
down the stairs while she was goin' up. Who were they?"

"Might 'a' been any o' the tenants here."

"Yes, but she smelt a violet perfume that both she an' I noticed in the
apartment. My hunch is that the man an' the woman were comin' from my
uncle's rooms."

"Would she recognize them? Rose, I mean?" asked Sanborn.

"No: it was on the dark stairs."

"Hmp! Queer they didn't come forward an' tell they had met a woman
goin' up. That is, if they hadn't anything to do with the crime."

"Yes. Of course there might be other reasons why they must keep quiet.
Some love affair, for instance."

"Sure. That might be, an' that would explain why they went down the
dark stairs an' didn't take the elevator."

"Just the same I'd like to find out who that man an' woman are," Kirby
said. He lifted his hand in a small gesture. "This is the Paradox
Apartments."

A fat man rolled out of the building just as they reached the steps.
He pulled up and stared down at Kirby.

"What--what--?" His question hung poised.

"What am I doin' out o' jail, Mr. Hull? I'm lookin' for the man that
killed my uncle," Kirby answered quietly, looking straight at him.

"But--"

"Why did you lie about the time when you saw me that night?"

Hull got excited at once. His eyes began to dodge. "I ain't got a
word to say to you--