He stepped back, and would have closed the door, but:
“Mr. Camber,” said Paul Harley, and the tone of his voice was arresting.
Colin Camber paused.
“My name is evidently unfamiliar to you,” Harley continued. “You regard myself and Mr. Knox as friends of the late Colonel Menendez—”
At that Colin Camber started forward.
“The late Colonel Menendez?” he echoed, speaking almost in a whisper.
But as if he had not heard him Harley continued:
“As a matter of fact, I am a criminal investigator, and Mr. Knox is assisting me in my present case.”
Colin Camber clenched his hands and seemed to be fighting with some emotion which possessed him, then:
“Do you mean,” he said, hoarsely—“do you mean that Menendez is—dead?”