Or was it the expression of a last, flickering hope, to which he clung desperately, like a man staking his last dollar on a thousand-to-one chance?
"What I want you to see clearly," the detective continued, "is the utter futility of trying to discover the murderer through an investigation from the outside.

Almost from the outset I realized the utter impossibility of endeavoring to single out the assassin through following the ordinary clues.

That's the reason I directed the entire investigation along a single line--the only line that could possibly lead to success." The faces of Manning and Greig grew more clouded.

They could comprehend the reasoning which cleared the suspects, but they were unable to understand by what contradiction of logic Britz meant to upset his own conclusion.
"Let me make myself clear to you," Britz proceeded.

"Such evidence as we have, or such as we might be permitted to present to a jury, all tends to establish the innocence of Mrs.Collins, Ward and Beard.