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Updated: September 25, 2025
The detective's keen senses were satisfied. "Dollars to doughnuts they're not here. They've probably gone on. I'll have to take a chance and show the light again." Fresh footprints were revealed in the narrow circle of illumination. Testifying to Paredes's continued stealth, they made a straight line to the water's edge. Rawlins exclaimed: "He stepped into the lake. How deep is it?"
Bobby wondered why they went. He caught Robinson's eye. He indicated he would like to speak to him in the library. As he left the hall he saw Paredes, who had not removed his hat or coat, start for the front door. "Where are you going?" he heard Robinson demand. Paredes's reply came glibly. "Only to walk up and down in the court. The house oppresses me more than ever to-night. I feel with Mr.
He resented Paredes's words and attitude which he defined as studied to draw humour out of a tragic and desperate situation. He thought of them in no other way. His tired mind dismissed them. He threw himself on the bed, muttering: "If I run away I'm done for. If I stay I'm done for." He took a fierce twisted joy in one phase of the situation.
The woman at the lake and in the courtyard, the movement of the body and the vanishing of the evidence under his hand, Paredes's odd behaviour, all became in his mind puzzling details that failed to obscure the chief fact. After this something must be done about Paredes's detention. He hadn't dreamed that his weariness could placate even momentarily such reflections, but at last he slept again.
His voice was deep and pleasant, but Bobby had often remarked that it, like Paredes's eyes, was too reserved. It seemed never to call on its obvious powers of expression. Its accent was noticeable only in a pleasant, polished sense. "Hartley," Bobby explained, "is dining with us." Paredes let no disapproval slip, but Graham hastened to explain.
Graham," she said, "but he is our friend, and he is in this house to help us." Paredes bowed. "I regret that the amusement Mr. Graham causes me sometimes finds expression. He is so earnest, so materialistic in his relation to the world. That is why he will see nothing psychic in the situation." Paredes's easy contempt was like a tonic for Katherine. Her fear seemed to drop from her.
"I wish you wouldn't look at me so. It makes me feel queer. You're all crazy." "It's probably Doctor Groom," Bobby said, and stepped to the door, opening it. It was Groom. The huge man walked in, struggling out of his coat. At first the others screened Silas Blackburn from him, but he acknowledged their strained attitudes, the excitement that still animated Paredes's face.
The remainder of the meal, made uncomfortable by Maria's sullenness and Paredes's sneers, his attempt to recapture the earlier gayety of the evening by continuing to drink the wine, his determination to go later to the Cedars in spite of Graham's doubt of all these things no particular lacked. He remembered paying the check, as he usually did when he dined with Paredes.
His failure to find any clue in the private staircase after Paredes's arrest had clearly stimulated his interest in Bobby. The sharp little eyes, surrounded by puffy flesh, held a threat for him. Bobby was glad when the meal ended. Howells's body was taken away that night. It was a relief for all of them to know that the old room was empty again.
What were you up to last night?" There was no accounting for Paredes's daring, he told himself, no accounting for his easy gesture now as he drew again at his cigarette and tossed it in the fireplace. "These gentlemen," he said, "have been asking just that question. I'm honoured. I had no idea my movements were of such interest. I've told them that I took a stroll. The night was over.
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