gh with what you
know, or you'll sure get in trouble. There's a witness against you.
When he tells what he saw--"

"Shibo?" The word burst from the man's lips in spite of him.

Kirby did not bat a surprised eye. He went on quietly. "I'll not say
who. Except this. Shibo is not the only one who can tell enough to
put you on trial for your life. If you didn't kill my uncle you'd
better take my tip, Hull. Tell what you know. It'll be better for
you."

Mrs. Hull stood in the doorway, thin and sinister. The eyes in her
yellow face took in the cattleman and passed to her husband. "What's
_he_ doing here?" she asked, biting off her words sharply.

"I was askin' Mr. Hull if he knew who killed my uncle," explained Kirby.

Her eyes narrowed. "Maybe _you_ know," she retorted.

"Not yet. I'm tryin' to find out. Can you give me any help, Mrs.
Hull?"

Their eyes crossed and fought it out.

"What do you want to know?" she demanded.

"I'd like to know what happened in my uncle's rooms when Mr. Hull was
up there--say about half-past nine, mebbe a little before or a little
after."

"He claims to have a witness," Hull managed to get out from a dry
throat.

"A witness of what?" snapped the woman.

"That--that I--was in Cunningham's rooms."

For an instant the woman quailed. A spasm of fear flashed over her
face and was gone.

"He'll claim anything to get outa the hole he's in," she said dryly.
Then, swiftly, her anger pounced on the Wyoming man. "You get outa my
house. We don't have to stand yore impudence--an' what's more, we
won't. Do you hear? Get out, or I'll send for the police. I ain't
scared any of you."

The amateur detective got out. He had had the worst of the bout. But
he had discovered one or two things. If he could get Olson to talk,
and could separate the fat, flabby man from his flinty wife, it would
not be hard to frighten a confession from Hull of all he knew.
Moreover, in his fear Hull had let slip one admission. Shibo, the
little janitor, had some evidence against him. Hull knew it. Why was
Shibo holding it back? The fat man had practically said that Shibo had
seen him come out of Cunningham's rooms, or at least that he was a
witness he had been in the apartment. Yet he had withheld the fact
when he had been questioned by the police. Had Hull bribed him to keep
quiet?

The cattleman found Shibo watering the lawn of the parking in front of
the Paradox. According to his c