arms ... I suppose I went a little crazy."

"Now," Kirk said, "we're getting down to cases. You know the evidence
given at the trial--particularly that given by Gilmore's secretary?"

"Of course."

"Then you know this Dakin woman was in the laboratory until a few
minutes before Cordell showed up. You know that nobody could have gone
into that laboratory without her seeing them. You know that Alma Dakin
testified that there were only two people in there: Gilmore and Juanita
Cordell. So, Miss North, how did you get in there after Alma Dakin left
and before Paul Cordell arrived?"

"But I didn't."

The Lieutenant's air of triumph sagged under a sudden frown. "What do
you mean you didn't?"

"I didn't enter the laboratory after Greg's secretary left it. _I was
there all along._"

* * * * *

Kirk's head came up sharply. "You _what_?"

"I was there all the time," the girl repeated. "Since noon, to be exact.
I planned it that way. I knew everybody would be out to lunch between
twelve and one, so I went to the laboratory with the intention of facing
Greg there on his return. When I heard him and Mrs. Cordell coming along
the corridor, I sort of lost my nerve and hid in a coat closet."

Martin Kirk had completely dropped his air of good-humored patience by
this time, "You telling me you were hiding in there for almost five
hours without them knowing it?"

Naia North shrugged her shoulders. "They had no reason to look in the
closet. I'll admit I hadn't intended to--to spy on Greg. But I kept
waiting for him to say or do something that would prove or disprove he
was in love with Juanita Cordell, and not until his secretary left and
he was alone with her did I discover what was between them. I must have
come out of that dark hole like a tiger, Lieutenant. They jumped apart
and two people never looked guiltier. He said something particularly
nasty to me and I grabbed up a short length of shiny metal from the
workbench and hit him across the side of the head before he knew what
was happening. He fell down and the Cordell woman opened her mouth to
scream and--and I hit her too."

She paused as though to permit Kirk to comment. "Go on," he said
hoarsely.

"There's not much left," the girl said. "I was standing there still
holding that piece of metal when the door crashed open and the dead
woman's husband ran in. He started to lunge across the room at me and I
threw the thing I was holding a