What deviltry was afoot? How dared the twins take such risks—to bear false witness was a grave criminal offense. He, alone, among all the spectators, had realized that in testifying before the inquest, the twins had swapped identities.
CHAPTER IX. “B-B-B”
The return of the morgue master to the platform caused Coroner Penfield to break off his whispered conversation with Dr. Mayo.
“Colonel McIntyre just telephoned that his car had a blow-out on the way here,” explained the morgue master. “He will arrive shortly.”
Penfield consulted a list of names. “Call Grimes, the McIntyre butler,” he said. “We will hear him while waiting for the Colonel.”
Grimes, small and thin, with the stolid countenance of the well-trained servant, was exceedingly short in his replies to the coroner's questions. Yes, he had lived with the McIntyre during their residence in Washington, something like five years, he couldn't quite remember the exact dates. No, there was never any quarreling, upstairs or down; it was a well-ordered household until this.
“Exactly,” remarked the coroner dryly. “What about Monday night? Tell us, Grimes, what occurred in that house between midnight Monday and five o'clock Tuesday morning.”
“Haven't much to tell,” was the grumpy response. “I went upstairs about half-past eleven and got down the next morning at the usual hour, seven o'clock.”
“And you heard no disturbing sounds in the night?”