“We must clinch it, therefore, by learning positively whether Cora Cavendish had a hand in this crime. We must discover the identity of her confederates, and round them up in such a way as to fix the crime upon them.”
“That’s the proper caper, chief, for fair.”
“Have you any suspicions, Nick, as to their identity?” Chick inquired.
“Aside from Cora Cavendish?”
“Certainly.”
“Yes.”
“On what do you base it, and whom have you in mind?”
“To begin with, Chick, I base it on the probable existence of the Madison letters, and the fact that they were missing this morning from Tilly Lancey’s desk. Bear in mind that she told Gordon about them and invited him to her flat to read them. She may have told Cora Cavendish about them, also, and if double-crossed by the latter, as I suspect, she certainly had no apprehension of being murdered when she invited Gordon to her flat.”
“Surely not.”
“It is a safe assumption, then, that the package of letters was in her desk last evening, as she told him.”