“We’ve spoken of that before, Maida, and I think I said I believed you would be capable, in a moment of sudden, intense anger and excitement——”
“Well, then, why do you doubt my word? I told the detectives—I tell you, that the moment came—I saw my father, under stress of terrible anger—in immediate, desperate danger from Samuel Appleby. I—I shot—to kill——” the girl broke down and Jeffrey took the slender, quivering form in his arms.
“All right, sweetheart,” he whispered, “don’t say another word—I understand. I don’t blame you—how could you think I would! I just want to help you. How can I best do that?”
But Maida could not tell him. Her tears, once started, came in torrents. Her whole frame shook with the intensity of her sobs, and, unable to control herself at all, she ran from him into the house and up to her own room.
“What did you find out?” Burdon asked, coming out from behind a nearby clump of shrubbery.
“You sneak, you cad!” Allen cried, but the detective stopped him.
“Now, look here, Mr. Allen,” he said, “we’re here to do our duty, said duty being to discover the perpetrator of a pretty awful crime. You may be so minded as to let the murderer go scot-free, even help him or her to make a getaway, but I can’t indulge in any such philanthropic scheme. Mr. Appleby’s been foully murdered, and it’s up to the law to find out the killer and see justice done. My job is not a pleasant one, but I’ve got to see it through, and that’s all there is about that! Now, this case is what we call open-and-shut. The murderer is sure and positively one of three people—said three people being known to us. So, I’ve just got to use all my powers to discover which of the three I’m really after, and when I find that out, then make my arrest. But I’ve no desire to nab the wrong one.”
“Which one do you think it is?” demanded Allen, angrily.
“I’ve got no right nor reason to think it’s either one. I’ve got to find out for sure, not just think it. So, I ask you what you learned just now from Miss Wheeler, and why did she run to the house, weeping like a willow tree?”
“I found out nothing that would throw any light on your quest, and she wept because her nerves are strained to the breaking point with worry and exhaustion.”