"And is it also a coincidence that they happened to resemble one another?"
"I suppose it must have been. I never thought of them as resembling one another."
"What about Mr. Thomas Davis and Mr. Thomas Daniels? Does the same coincidence apply to them?" "What do you mean?"
"The names are similar."
"Yes. I suppose they are."
"And the photograph of Mr. Davis was identified by members of the hotel staff as that of Mr. Daniels."
"Well, I suppose they were similar types, but I personally don't think they looked very much alike."
"Yours appears to be the minority opinion. You've met Mr. Davis, then?"
"I met him once in the company of Mr. Larson. I didn't really know him very well, which is to say, not at all, actually. He was Mr. Larson's friend."
“Then where is Mr. Thomas Daniels?"
"I don't know."
"Were they not, in fact, the same person?"
"Of course not, Inspector, I really do not see what you are driving at." she said. "You are browbeating me as if I were a common criminal. I am guilty of no offense! I have done nothing! I was in the company of a gentleman friend and we were brutally attacked. My poor friend was killed. I might have been killed myself, and set you are interrogating me as if I were the one who had committed the assault. I don't understand you! Why are you doing this to me?"
"Because. madame. I intend to get at the truth." said Grayson. "And we shall remain here until I start to hear some of it."
There was a knock at the door of his office.
"Yes?"
A policeman came in and handed him a wire. Grayson read it, nodded to himself, then held it up so that she could read it.
"This is a wire I have just received from the Boston Police Department in answer to my inquiry." he said. "There is no record of the existence of a Foundation for Educational Research in Boston, Massachusetts. You still maintain that you were employed by this fictional organization?"
"I don't understand," she said. "There must be some mistake."
"You maintain that there is such an organization?"
"Yes, of course! I am employed by them. What else would I be doing here?"
"Where are their offices?"
"I don't know," she said. "I was taken on by Dr. Steiger. I was hired through the mail, in response to a newspaper advertisement."
"Indeed? And where is Dr. Steiger?"
"I don't know.”
"Where is Professor Delaney?"
"I don't know that, either."
"Where is Mr. Nelson?"
"I don't know."
"But you expected to find him at the crime lab?"