"He is alone in his private office, sir," said the boy, who regarded the detective with admiration and awe. After Farland's other visit, the youth had decided to be a detective when he grew up.
"I am to go right in--important business," Farland said. "Never mind announcing me."
The willing boy opened the gate, and Farland hurried across to the door of the private office. He paused there a moment and seemed to pull himself together, as if making sure before entering the room of questions he wanted to ask and information he wanted to gather. Then he threw the door open, stepped quickly inside, closed the door, and turned the key.
Lerton was sitting at his desk with his back to the door. He made no move until he heard the key turned. Then he whirled around in his desk chair.
"I--Great Scott, Farland, how you startled me!" he exclaimed. "I thought it was my secretary."
"Pardon me for butting in this way, but I am in a deuce of a hurry and told the boy it was all right," Farland said.
"You'll smash my office discipline doing things like this. But, sit down, man! What is it now? Has that cousin of mine been acting up again, or are you going to pester me with a lot of fool questions about things I don't know anything about?"
Farland had seated himself in the chair at the end of the desk, within four feet of George Lerton. He had tossed his hat to a table and twisted the cigar into one corner of his mouth. Now he stared Lerton straight in the eyes.
"You look like a madman!" Lerton said. "Why on earth are you looking at me like that? You look as if you were ill----"
The expression in Farland's face made him stop, and he appeared to be a bit disconcerted.
"Why did you kill Rufus Shepley?" Jim Farland demanded suddenly in a voice that seemed to sting.
Lerton's face went white for an instant. His jaw dropped and his eyes bulged.
"Are--are you insane?" he gasped. "What on earth do you mean by this? I'll call a clerk and----"
"The door is locked," Farland said, taking the automatic from his pocket. "You raise your voice, touch a button or make any move that I do not like, and I'll plug you and say afterward that I had placed you under arrest and had to shoot when you tried to escape. Answer my question, Lerton! You are at the end of your rope! Why did you kill Rufus Shepley and then try to hang the crime on your cousin, Sidney Prale?"