"Graham and I had thought of that," Bobby said.
"Howells was a sharp one," Robinson mused, "but he must have gone wrong on this fellow. He 'phoned me the man knew nothing. Spoke of him as a foreigner who lolled around smoking cigarettes and trying to make a fool of him with a lot of talk about ghosts."
"Howells," Graham said, "misjudged the case from the start. He wasn't to blame, but his mistake cost him his life."
Robinson didn't answer. Bobby saw that the man had discarded his intolerant temper. From that change he drew a new hope. He accepted it as the beginning of fulfilment of his prophecy last night that an accident to Howells and the entrance of a new man into the case would give him a fighting chance. It was clearly Paredes at the moment who filled the district attorney's mind.
"Go after him," he said shortly to Rawlins. "If you can get away with it bring him back and whoever you find with him."
Rawlins hesitated.
"I'm no coward, but I know what's happened to Howells. This isn't an ordinary case. I don't want to walk into an ambush. It would be safer not to run him down alone."
"All right," Robinson agreed, "I don't care to leave the Cedars for the present. Perhaps Mr. Graham—"
But Graham wasn't enthusiastic. It never occurred to Bobby that he was afraid. Graham, he guessed, desired to remain near Katherine.
"I'll go, if you like," Doctor Groom rumbled.