set between
the two closets, in those eleven inches of unaccounted for space!

"I take off my hat to Roger Crain!" Dundee reflected. "No burglar in the
world would ever have thought of pressing upon a short piece of board in
a foyer closet, in search of a safe.... But how did Judge Marshall know
of its existence?"

The only answer Dundee could think of was that Crain, overseeing the
building of his house, had suddenly conceived this brilliant and simple
plan, and had tipped one of the carpenters to carry it out for him.
Possibly, or probably, he had bragged to Clive or Ralph Hammond, his
architects, of his clever invention. And the Hammond boys had passed on
the information to Judge Marshall, when, after Crain's failure and
flight, the house had become the property of the ex-judge.

These thoughts rushed through his mind as his flashlight explored the
shelf through the tilted opening. The gun and silencer _must_ be here,
since they could be no place else!... But the shelf was bare except for
a small brass box, fastened only by a clasp. In his acute disappointment
Dundee took little interest in the collection of pretty but inexpensive
jewelry--Nita's trinkets, undoubtedly--which the brass box
contained.... No wedding ring among them....

In spite of his chagrin at not finding the gun, Dundee studied the
simple mechanism which Roger Crain's ingenuity had conceived. From the
outside, the eight-inch length of board fitted smoothly, giving no
indication whatever that it was otherwise than what it seemed--part of a
cheaply built wall. But Dundee's flashlight played upon the beveled
edges of both the short board and the two neighboring planks between
which it was fitted. The pivoting arrangement was of the simplest, the
small nickel-plated pieces being set into the short board and the other
two planks with small screws which did not pierce the painted outside
surface.

His curiosity satisfied, Dundee stepped out of the closet into the tiny
foyer. He was about to leave when a terrific truth crashed through his
mind and froze his feet to the floor.

_Of course the gun and silencer were not there!_

This was the _guest closet_! In it had hung the hat of every person who
had been Nita's guest, either for bridge or cocktails, that fatal
Saturday afternoon!

_And to this closet, to retrieve hat, stick or--in the case of the
women, summer coat and hat--had come every person who had been
questioned and then searched by the