He found nothing at all to reward his search. There absolutely was no secret entrance.
The detective decided that nothing further could be done in that room. He walked toward the other.
To his astonishment he found that the door had been closed while he had been busy with his investigations.
He sprang against it.
The door yielded a little, and yet he could not open it.
Some person stronger than he seemed to be holding it on the other side.
He drew back for a spring. That door would have gone to splinters if it had stood in his way again.
Instead, it swung open the instant he touched it, and the force of his lunge took him nearly to the middle of the room.
In an instant he was on guard, but he saw no one.
The room was quiet, and it was empty.