“All right, in that case, and I’ll do all I can to help you,” Paulding said more agreeably. “I saw him in the Waldmere Chambers about fifteen minutes ago. He still is there, perhaps, if you care to seek him.”
“In the rooms of one of the tenants, or——”
“No. He was in the second-floor corridor,” Paulding interrupted. “He appeared to be waiting for some one. I passed him when I came out.”
“Did you speak to him?”
“Not by a long chalk. I speak to Todd only under protest and when it cannot be avoided. That’s all I can tell you. You may find him there, perhaps.”
Nick Carter had accomplished his object. He was a keen physiognomist and could read faces and characters much less frank and outspoken than those of this lawyer. He now was absolutely sure, in fact, that Paulding knew nothing about Todd’s death, nor had even heard of it. He smiled and replied:
“Much obliged. Sorry to have troubled you.”
“No trouble at all, sir.”
“May I ask, Mr. Paulding, what took you to the Waldmere Chambers?”
“I went there to confer with a client who——” Paulding broke off abruptly, gazing more sharply at the detective, then frowningly added: “But why do you ask why I went there? What is it to you? It strikes me that you are deucedly inquisitive.”