“How long has he conducted this place?”
“Ten years.”
“Do you know the name of the man from whom he purchased it?”
“I do not.”
“Has any one been upstairs to the murdered man’s room since you made the discovery?”
“No one has been near it. Everything is undisturbed. I did not enter.”
“I will speak to the proprietor.”
Carter approached Mr. Lancaster, who was a middle-aged man of affable manners.
“The bartender informs me that you have conducted this place for about ten years,” the detective said, as he came up to Mr. Lancaster.
“I have owned it for nearly eleven years,” Mr. Lancaster replied.