bout the time the
table and contents were spilled over. In other words, the shot which
bowled him over brought down with it the telephone transmitter and
receiver. That is the thing which fixes, within minutes--perhaps
seconds--the time of the murder. The telephone girl will have a record
which will help us considerable. Many criminals have been caught--and
convicted by the time element. There is no alibi against truth! A man
can't be in two places at the same time!"

Drew turned toward the door. He hesitated and wheeled.

"You heard nothing fall in this room?" he asked sharply.

"I did not, sir."

"No shot?"

"I cawn't say that I did, sir."

"No telephone bell ringing? Ringing at any time after I left the
house?"

"Not downstairs, sir."

"You did!"

"'Ow, sir?"

"Didn't you tell me the telephone company rang up and wanted you to put
the receiver on the hook in the library?"

"I didn't 'ear it ring. James brought the word, sir."

"Then, what happened upstairs?"

"'Ow do you know, sir? 'Ow'd you know it rang up there!"

"By elimination! It rang then, in Loris' room? You said 'nothing
downstairs' in such a way I presume it rang upstairs."

The butler stroked his chin. It was blue and close-shaved. The purple
of his cheeks and neck had deepened. He glanced about the hallway. His
eyes wandered toward the grand stairway which, coiled upward to the
second story. "I'm 'iding nothing, sir," he said. "Miss Loris often is
called up at night. She's very popular, sir. I 'e'rd 'er telephone
ringing once or twice while I was standing by this door, waiting for
the master to come out--which 'e never did."

Drew hesitated. He plucked out his watch and glanced at the dial. He
turned swiftly. "Stay right there," he said as he parted the portieres
and faced Delaney who wore the puzzled expression of a man baffled and
entirely at sea.

"What did you find?" he snapped to the operative.

"Not a thing, Chief." Delaney mopped his brow with his sleeve. "Nothing
at all!" he added. "Everything regular. Modern--very modern house!
Thick, new, fireproof, soundproof, million-dollar building. No
trapdoors or panels. No loose boards. No hole in the ceiling. No
nothing to hang a ghost on. The gunman who shot Stockbridge went right
up in blue smoke, Chief. I quit!"

Drew glided around the table and kneeled by the magnate's body. His
swift, light-fingered touch went through the trousers and vest. The
pockets he turned inside out.