“I went to see Clayton this morning,” Lowry explained. “I was just going along on a hunch, trying to see if he could be made to realize that his testimony would send McKay to the lethal chamber. I didn’t even begin to suspect him of being the man, then. I just wanted him to reconsider his testimony. I, too, was impressed with that doubt which Clayton seemed to have about McKay. I thought perhaps he really was being sincere about not being sure it was McKay he saw. Maybe, I figured, I could get him to back down and not seem so positive on the witness stand. I didn’t know yet that his hesitation was part of his plan to make it seem authentic. On the other hand, there’s always the likelihood to be considered that he did feel a little sorry to be sending an innocent man to the gas chamber for his crime. Perhaps he thought McKay might get off and he still wouldn’t be involved. I don’t know what he was thinking. But anyway, I went to talk to him, and after I left I met his child and his wife in the garden, and just for no reason at all I smiled and said hello. Cutest little child you want to see. Anyway, I was talking to the child. She said something about there being a summer house at Laguna. If the suspicions that began to pop into my mind were at all correct, then that would neatly take care of the problem of where Doris and her lover had been going. As it happens, I was right. The earring that Carrol found was probably lost there the last time they were there together. That was the time Doris’ landlady was telling you about.”

Brady was silent, lost in deep thought. The traffic was growing rapidly heavier now, and the police car in front of them was using the siren and speeding past the other cars. Lowry followed it closely.

In a little while they were back in town. They pulled up in front of headquarters.

Lowry looked at Terry. The hectic hours had taken their toll.

“You look tired again, Terry,” he said. “I’ll take you home now.”

She shook her head. “I’m not as tired as all that. Could I possibly see Bob now, do you think?”

“Pretty soon,” Brady said. There was the beginning of a faint smile on his granite physiognomy. “Take her home,” he said to Lowry. “I’ll call you in a little while. We’re going to be wanting you some more before this is done, you know.”

“I know,” Lowry said cheerfully. He glanced at Terry. “You’d better go home and get some rest. Okay?”

25

25

In her apartment, half an hour later, Terry stretched out luxuriously on the divan while Lowry sat in a chair enjoying a stiff highball.