Lawrence rose nervously and paced the room.  “You asked me a little while ago if I was in this city at the hour when the crime was committed.  I answered that it was for me to know and you to find out.  I’ll answer direct now—­just to stop this absurd suspicion which has been directed against me:  I was not in the city at that hour—­or within six hours of midnight.  I was in Nashville.”

“At what hotel?”

“At the—­” Lawrence paused.  “Matter of fact, I wasn’t at any hotel.”

“You had registered at the Hermitage, hadn’t you?”

“Yes, but—­”

“When did you check out?” Carroll’s voice was snapping out with staccato insistence.

“About four o’clock in the afternoon.”

“Where did you go?  Where did you spend the night?”

Lawrence shook his head helplessly.  “I’ll be honest, Carroll—­I took several drinks—­”

“Alone?”

“Yes.  And at two o’clock in the morning when my train left I was at the station.  I don’t know what I did in the meantime—­I don’t remember anything much about anything.”

“In other words,” said Carroll coldly, “You have no alibi except your own word.  On the other hand we know that you checked out of the Hermitage Hotel in Nashville at four o’clock.  You could have caught the 4:25 train and reached this city at ten minutes after eleven o’clock.  You have not the slightest proof that you didn’t.”

“I—­I came down on the train which left there a little after two in the morning.”

“Prove it.”

There was a hunted look about Lawrence.  “I can’t prove it—­a man can’t prove that he came on a certain train—­”

“Was there nobody on board who knew you?”

“I—­don’t know.  I was feeling badly when I got in—­the berths were all made up—­I went right to sleep and when the porter woke me we were in the yards.  I dressed and came right home.”

“And yet—­” Carroll was merciless “—­you have no substantiation for your statements.”  He switched his line of attack suddenly:  “What made you think I was coming here to discuss Roland Warren’s death?”

It was plain that Lawrence did not want to answer—­yet there was something in Carroll’s mesmeric eyes which wrung words unwillingly from his lips—­

“Just logic,” he answered weakly.  “I knew that you weren’t calling to see Evelyn because you were interested in her.  You knew Warren had been pretty friendly in this house—­so you came to talk to us about it.  Isn’t that reasonable?”

“I don’t believe I am here to answer questions, Mr. Lawrence.  You invited me to ask them.”

Naomi broke in, her voice choked with hysteria—­“What are you leading to, Mr. Carroll?  It is absurd to think that Gerald had anything to do with Mr. Warren’s death.”

Carroll swung on her, biting off his words shortly:  “Do you know that he didn’t?”

“Yes—­I—­”

“I didn’t ask what you thought, Mrs. Lawrence.  I am asking what you know!”