"You'll find how cheap it is. James had been speculatin'. He was down
an' out. Another week, an' he'd have been a bankrupt. Uncle discovers
how he's been tricked by him an' Miss Harriman. He serves notice that
he's cuttin' James out of his will an' he sends for a lawyer to draw up
a new one. James an' his wife go to the old man's rooms to beg off.
There's a quarrel, maybe. Anyhow, this point sticks up like a sore
thumb: if uncle hadn't died that night your brother would 'a' been a
beggar. Now he's a millionaire. And James was in his room the very
hour in which he was killed."

"You can't prove that!" Jack cried, his voice low and hoarse. "How do
you know he was there? What evidence have you?"

Kirby smiled, easily and confidently. "The evidence will be produced
at the right time." He rose and turned to go.

Jack also got up, white to the lips. "Hold on! Don't--don't do
anything in a hurry! I'll--talk with you to-morrow--here--in the
forenoon. Or say in a day or two. I'll let you know then."

His cousin nodded grimly.

The hard look passed from his eyes as he reached the corridor. "Had to
throw a scare into him to make him come through," he murmured in
apology to himself.

CHAPTER XXX

KIRBY MAKES A CALL

Kirby had been bluffing when he said he had evidence to prove that
James was in his uncle's rooms the very hour of the murder. But he was
now convinced that he had told the truth. James had been there, and
his brother Jack knew it. The confession had been written in his
shocked face when Kirby flung out the charge.

But James might have been there and still be innocent, just as was the
case with him and Rose. The cattleman wanted to find the murderer, but
he wanted almost as much to find that James had nothing to do with the
crime. He eliminated Jack, except perhaps as an accessory after the
fact. Jack had a telltale face, but he might be cognizant of guilt
without being deeply a party to it. He could be insolent, but faults
of manner are not a crime. Besides, all Jack's interests lay in the
other direction. If his uncle had lived a day longer, he would have
been sole heir to the estate.

As he wandered through the streets Kirby's mind was busy with the
problem. Automatically his legs carried him to the Paradox Apartments.
He found himself there before he even knew he had been heading in that
direction. Mrs. Hull came out and passed him. She was without a hat,
and pro