ort of a pleased-with-himself air? I got the
impression that he might already have made up his mind as to who was
the guilty man and considered everything else relatively unimportant."

"It's not impossible that you're right," suggested Creighton. "The
murderer may have left some glaring clue to his identity. Naturally,
the police wouldn't talk about it until they got their hands on him."
He turned to Krech. "You told him about this monk business, didn't
you? How did he take it?"

"His first attitude," said Krech, "was that of a polite but skeptical
child listening to a bedtime story. I soon convinced him of its
importance, though. He says it simplifies things."

"Um. He must be even quicker at inferences than I am!"

"By the way, I told him about you and he said he wanted to see you the
moment you got here."

"Well, this is a nice time to tell me!" laughed Creighton. He stood
up. "I'd better take my place in line."

"I can count on you, then, to help us in the matter of locating that
notebook?" asked Jason Bolt.

"Yes, sir," the detective assured him for the second time. "I can
promise to take a personal as well as a professional interest in this
case. I feel deeply the fact that Mr. Varr should have met death in
such a fashion after he became my client."

"You did what you could to warn him."

"Now, about my headquarters; there's a hotel in the town?"

"Yes, but I've been hoping you would let us put you up." Bolt wrinkled
his brows thoughtfully. "Mr. and Mrs. Krech are staying with us, but
there's always room for one more."

"You're both talking nonsense," interrupted Miss Ocky. "The logical
place for Mr. Creighton is right _here_."

"Kind of you, Miss Copley, but I hardly think I'll add to your
problems. Let us agree that the hotel is the best for the time being.
It is too soon yet to say where my activities will center."

_XIV: Lucy Varr_

There were four men in the living-room when Creighton tapped on the
door and entered in response to a command. Two of them were standing
by a French window which they appeared to be examining and discussing,
and as Creighton knew that the theft of the notebook had been prefaced
by the breaking of one of the windows in this room, he had no
difficulty in deducing that this was the one and that the two men were
plainclothes detectives of the county staff.

The other two were seated at the table in the center of the room, a
litter of papers sc