"Why go outside for that?"
Paredes started.
"You never mean—"
"You bet we do," Rawlins said. "If what I've doped out hadn't been so we'd have caught her long before. We're not blind, and we haven't missed the nerve with which she helped the doctor fix you up. We haven't caught her before because her headquarters have been right in this house all the time. You remember the other night, Mr. Robinson. You'd just questioned her in the court and had threatened to question him, too, when she came in here ahead of us and slipped out the back way. She must have told him to follow because they had to talk, undisturbed by us. They went by different roads to the deserted house where a light had been seen before. We happened to hit his trail first and followed it. I'll guarantee you didn't see her when you first came in."
Robinson shook his head.
"Mr. Graham kept me busy, and I rather waited for your report before pushing things. I didn't see her or question her until after Mr. Graham and Mr. Blackburn had started for New York."
"And she could have sneaked in the back way any time before that,"
Rawlins said.
"It's utter nonsense!" Graham cried.
Rawlins turned on him.
"See here, Mr. Graham, you've been trying to fight me off this way all afternoon. It won't do."