"That's for you to find out. I did not come to accuse—but to liberate. Search! Find! Let their own words convict them," she said wildly. "I cannot. I only know that Monsieur Horton did not kill my husband. That is impossible."
Monsieur Matthieu, who had listened for most of the while in silence, now rose and took a pace or two before her, tapping his glasses quickly against his palm.
"Madame Horton, let us confine ourselves to the physical evidence that confronts us. No one could have been in that studio between the moment when Monsieur Jim Horton and Madame Morin say they left it until they say they returned some moments later. That is the fact. I know. It is my business to neglect nothing. I have neglected nothing. Therefore I tell you that no matter whom you suspect to have committed this murder, no matter whom Monsieur Simon or I might believe to have had a motive in committing it, the fact remains that he could not have entered the studio or departed from it during the short period in which this crime was committed. And I say to you now that no human being except Monsieur Horton could have been present to commit this murder."
"And yet," said Moira desperately, "a human being other than Monsieur Horton killed my husband."
Monsieur Matthieu shrugged and smiled.
"You have not investigated as I have done, Madame," he said.
"No, Monsieur. But I am right," she said firmly.
"You are persistent."
"It is my duty to find the truth of this matter."
"And mine—but not to achieve the impossible——"