Norton glanced at Kennedy and raised his eyebrows just the
fraction of an inch, as if to call attention to the neat manner in
which Lockwood had turned the subject.

Inez smiled sadly. "I must," she said, in a forced tone.

I fancied that Lockwood noted and did not relish an air of
restraint in her words.

"It was you, I believe, Mr. Lockwood, who found Senor Mendoza last
night?" queried Kennedy, as if to read the answer into the record,
although he already knew it.

"Yes," replied Lockwood, without hesitation, though with a glance
at the averted head of Inez, and choosing his words very
carefully, as if trying hard not to say more than she could bear.
"Yes. I came up here to report on some financial matters which
interested both of us, very late, perhaps after midnight. I was
about to press the buzzer on the door when I saw that the door was
slightly ajar. I opened it and found lights still burning. The
rest I think you must already know."

Even that tactful reference to the tragedy was too much for Inez.
She suppressed a little convulsive sob, but did not, this time,
try to flee from the room.

"You saw nothing about the den that aroused any suspicions?"
pursued Kennedy. "No bottle, no glass? There wasn't the odour of
any gas or drug?"