“I think I do, but I don’t care to discuss that point with you.”
“You needn’t, if you don’t want to. But it will be discussed in open court next week.”
Brant’s start was not lost upon the young man, who had apparently missed his vocation in electing to be a journalist rather than a detective.
“Why should it come up at the trial?” Brant demanded.
“Because it is going to have a very considerable bearing on the case,” said Jarvis coolly. “The man who took the pistol from your room gave it back to Harding.”
“How do you know he did?”
Jarvis leered. “He did, or he didn’t; one of the two. I believe he didn’t.”
“More theories,” said Brant, not without sarcasm. “What difference does it make?”
“It makes all the difference in the world when you come to tie it to the fact that Harding was killed with that same weapon.”
This time Brant’s start was visible to the naked eye of the least critical observer, but his rejoinder was well measured and calm: