"Skeel could have done it, Sergeant. And he did do it—without any one knowing it."
"Skeel!—This ain't the age of miracles, Mr. Vance."
Vance swung about and faced Markham.
"Listen! I'm telling you Jessup's innocent." He spoke with a fervor that amazed me. "And I'm going to prove it to you—some way. My theory is pretty complete; it's deficient only in one or two small points; and, I'll confess, I haven't yet been able to put a name to the culprit. But it's the right theory, Markham, and it's diametrically opposed to the Sergeant's. Therefore, you've got to give me an opportunity to demonstrate it before you proceed against Jessup. Now, I can't demonstrate it here; so you and Heath must come with me to the Odell house. It won't take over an hour. But if it took a week, you'd have to come just the same."
He stepped nearer to the desk.
"I know that it was Skeel, and not Jessup, who unbolted that door before the crime, and rebolted it afterward."
Markham was impressed.
"You know this—you know it for a fact?"
"Yes! And I know how he did it!"
