“ I am a guide at the Caves of Perama.”“ How long have you been a guide there?”“ Ten years.”“ Is business good?”“ Very good. Thousands of tourists come to see the caves every year.”
“ Would you please look at the man sitting over in that box. Have you ever seen Mr. Douglas before?”
“ Yes, sir. He came to the caves in August.”“ Are you sure?”“ Positive.”
“ Well now, I’ m sure that puzzles all of us, Mr. Cocyannis. Out of all the thousands of people who come to the caves, you can remember one individual?”
“ I’ m not likely to forget him.”“ Why is that, Mr. Cocyannis?”“ First of all he wouldn’ t take a guide.”“ Do all of your visitors take guides?”“ The Germans and the French are too stingy, but all the Americans do.” Laughter.“ I see. Was there any other reason you remembered Mr. Douglas?”
“ You bet there was. I wouldn’ t have noticed him especially except for the guide thing, and the woman with him seemed kind of embarrassed when he said no. Then about an hour later, I saw him hurry out of the entrance, and he was alone and he seemed awfully upset, and I thought maybe the woman had had an accident or something. I went up to him and asked if the lady was all right and he stared at me kind of funny and said,‘ What lady?’ and I said,‘ The lady you took in the caves with you.’ And he turned kind of white and I thought he was going to hit me. Then he started yelling,‘ I’ ve lost her. I need help,’ and he began carrying on like a crazy man.”
“ But he didn’ t call for help until you asked where the missing woman was?”“ That’ s right.”“ What happened next?”
“ Well, I organized the other guides and we began a search. Some damned fool had moved the Danger sign from the new section. That’ s not open to the public. That’ s where we finally found her about three hours later. She was in pretty bad shape.”
“ One last question. And answer this very carefully. When Mr. Douglas first came out of the cave, was he looking around for someone to help him, or did you get the impression