"Where is he?"
"Downstairs."
"Bring him in. You stay here when he comes—send everybody else out."
Cartwright brought Barker into the room and Leverage dismissed the plainclothesman. Barker, eyes wide with fear, face pallid—yet with a certain belligerence in his attitude—confronted the two detectives.
"I say—" he started, "what does this mean?"
"It means," said Carroll coldly, "that you are under arrest for the murder of Roland Warren!"
"That I'm—" Barker fell back a step. It was plain that he was surprised.
"You're arresting me for Warren's murder?"
"Yes."
"But I didn't do it. I'll swear I didn't."
"Of course you'll swear it—" Carroll's steely voice excited a vast admiration in Leverage's breast. Many times before he had seen the transformation in his friend from all too human softness to almost inhuman coldness—yet he never failed of surprise at the phenomenon. "But we know you did do it."