“Well?”
“It is possible,” said the crime specialist, “that some sort of demand was made upon the elder Frederic. This was refused and murder followed. Again the demand was made—again upon the head of the house—and again was refused. Once more death made its grisly appearance. For the third time the request was repeated to the person in control of the family’s affairs; for the third time it was denied; and again death followed swiftly.”
“A request,” said Bat Scanlon. “For what?”
Ashton-Kirk shook his head.
“I don’t know,” said he. “And I merely mention this as a thing which might be true, understand me. I do not know that it is. But, supposing it is, perhaps your question can be answered. The business of the Campes, as a family, was money. And as the family seems to have been struck at,
