his friend.

"O' course I don't _know_ every one of the eight was here. I'm
guessin' from facts I do know, makin' inferences, as you might say. To
begin with, I was among those present. So was Rose. We don't need to
guess any about that."

Cole, still almost incredulous at the mention of Rose as a suspect,
opened his lips to speak and closed them again with no word uttered.
He was one of those loyal souls who can trust without asking for
explanations.

"The lady of the violet perfume an' her escort were here," Kirby went
on. "At least she was--most prob'ly he was, too. It's a cinch the
Hulls were in the rooms. They were scared stiff when I saw 'em a
little later. They lied on the witness stand so as to clear themselves
an' get me into trouble in their place. Olson backs up the evidence.
He good as told me he'd seen Hull in my uncle's rooms. If he did he
must 'a' been present himself. Then there's the Jap Horikawa. He'd
beat it before the police went to his room to arrest him at daybreak
the mornin' after the murder. How did he know my uncle had been
killed? It's not likely any one told him between half-past ten an'
half-past five the next mo'nin'. No, sir. He knew it because his eyes
had told him so."

"I'll say he did," agreed Sanborn.

"Good enough. That makes eight of us that came an' went. We don't
need to figure on Rose an' me. I came by the door an' went by the fire
escape. She walked upstairs an' down, too. The violet lady an' the
man with her took the stairs down. We know that. But how about Hull
an' Olson an' the Jap? Here's another point. Say it was 9.50 when
Rose got here. My uncle didn't reach his rooms before nine o'clock.
He changed his shoes, put on a smokin'-jacket, an' lit a cigar. He had
it half smoked before he was tied to the chair. That cuts down to less
than three quarters of an hour the time in which he was chloroformed,
tied up to the chair, an' shot, an' in which at least six people paid a
visit here, one of the six stayin' long enough to go through his desk
an' look over a whole lot o' papers. Some o' these people were sure
enough treadin' close on each other's heels an' I reckon some were
makin' quick getaways."

"Looks reasonable," Cole admitted.

"I'll bet I wasn't the only man in a hurry that night an' not the only
one trapped here. The window of the den was open when I came. Don't
you reckon some one else beat it by the fire escape?"'

"Might've."