Percy and Ingrid had to wake up Valtos, in order to be let into the house. Skilton had agreed to sleep the night at Valtos' house, because Valtos had protested that he couldn't bear the thought of a night alone in a house where his wife was so recently murdered.

"Don't wake Skilton," said Percy, as he stepped into the house, "I may have some answers for you soon, but I think we need our sleep first, and Ingrid and I would prefer to have ours here. That way, you will have more protection if the murderer decides that another death in your family would suit his requirements even more so."
Their voices had awoken Skilton.

Valtos showed Ingrid into his spare bedroom, and offered to Percy the room that Skilton sometimes slept in on the occasions that he stayed the night at Valtos's house. He would share that room with Skilton. Percy did not consider it at all wise to allow Skilton to return to his house and confront a frantic Gunfellow.

"I wonder how Gunfellow's going to explain a broken window, which offers a view of a broken door with a desk wedged against its remains," thought Percy.

He went to say goodnight, at half past three in the morning, to Ingrid.

"Percy, you still haven't told me what the files in that study revealed to you about Gunfellow, as you so appropriately named him."

"I cannot be totally sure that my wild theory is correct yet. If I save my idea, your mind might be fresh enough to come up with an even better solution to this complex mystery."

"It's good to see you've got a notion in your thoughts, that I might be useful."

"Oh Ingrid you know you are! You would be useful for all the quiet and  moral support alone, but who got me away with that loot tonight. I can't even reliably drive a car. Without your help, I'd be a hopeless man adventurer."

"He loves me, he needs my car, he loves me, he needs my car," said Ingrid, miming the movements of a person tearing petals from a flower.

"He actually performed several Sneaky Spy missions without a car, before you came back into his life, and he actually loved you years before you got your driver's license, when you were twelve and he was ten," said Percy, and kissed her neck, which was just level with his eyesight.

*          *          *          *

Ashford met Nathan at the corner of Eastern Road and Burnseid Street at a quarter past four in the morning. They drove away from the main road and parked their cars outside 62 Burnseid Street.

"Did you hide it well?" asked Nathan.

"No problems. Now you've got to get into Valtos's house and kill all four of them with this."

Ashford handed a gun with a silencer to Nathan.

"There can't be any witnesses left. If you see anyone from the party, kill them too. I'll give you plenty of ammunition."

"Why don't you help? You must have another one of these."

"Skilton knows me. If you bungle it and get away, it won't matter, but I would be recognised and reported to the police."

"Alright then. What are you going to do?"

"I've got to get home and try to make what that guy did tonight look like an ordinairy burglary, which means moving a few things, ringing the police and telling a few constructive lies. Just don't botch up your end of it, please."

"Don't worry. If I'm going to kill people, I don't plan on letting any witnesses live to spill the beans. I still get half of that loot, don't I?"
"Of course. Now get going before sunup. You'll need this key too. It should open any door in the house."
"How did you get that?"

"Skilton lives with me, but he is also Valtos's butler. I borrowed his key in the night, and had it copied by a locksmith friend of mine. It was back on his key ring before he even woke up and missed it."

The bedrooms in the Valtos residence were all at the back of the house and adjacent to each other. Nathan was able to open the front door without awakening any of his intended victims.

However, there were some things that Nathan did not know. Firstly, he did not know that Percy Dale was  a resident of Burnseid Street. Had he known, he would have been able to see many more options, rather than merely the essential requirement that he break into the Valtos residence and murder everybody inside the house. He could, for example have ambushed Percy in his own house at number 66.

Secondly, Nathan did not know that Percy was a man who took no chances. The Sneaky Spy had instructed Valtos to provide three plastic cups, each filled with coins from Valtos' s petty cash and spare change. Each of them was to close their door and then balance the cup-load of coins on the top of the inner doorhandle.

"But why don't we do it to the outer doors of the house as well?" Ingrid had asked.

Percy's answer had been convincing enough:

"There's no need. I'll hear Gunfellow if he tries to stop us, which I am sure he will. If I'm right about him, he knows the address of this house, and he will be coming back to do away with Skilton and Valtos. What he doesn't know is that I am a friend of Irwin's, rather than a man with the task of recovering a sack of stolen valuables."

Percy had assured them that he would hear any attempt to force a doorlock long before the lock had been forced. Percy had also explained that locking each other inside the rooms would only prevent them from easily capturing the man.

What Percy did not know was that Ashford knew of Percy's involvement, and his return to 98 Burnseid Street, and that Ashford had provided a friend with a key, in order to gain silent entry to Valtos' house. Neither did Percy know of Ashford's recovery of the stolen treasures, but this was of no immediate relevance to the situation at Valtos' house.

*          *          *          *

The thing that woke the three of them was a clatter of falling coins, and the sound of rapid movement coming from Valtos' own room. Terrified at the unexpected discovery of his presence, Nathan used the silencer once, and a man who might have mourned for many a day would never again concern himself with the death of his wife.

Percy was out of his bed in an instant, with a tranquiliser gun in his hand. He had no time to make deductions about the reason for the man's ability to have entered the house without making any noise. 

One of the other three was dead.

Ingrid?

No.

She was in the room to the right of his own. Skilton was safe in the room with the Sneaky Spy. So it had to be Valtos. This time the killer would be caught. Percy crept silently across the floor and stood straight against the wall, on the side of the door which was nearest to the doorhandle.

"If he comes in here next, I'll get him before he's opened the door far enough to see who is to be shot next. If he goes towards Ingrid's room, I'll have my door open Gunfellow tranquilized before he knows what's happening. It all depends on whether Gunfellow looks for Skilton in this bedroom or the next," thought the Sneaky Spy.

Nathan turned the handle of Percy's door, and prepared to murder the butler within or his friends.

"I had to stay around and finish the job. Somehow, that noise didn't wake them up," thought Nathan, "or even if it did, they won't be expecting this."

It was a somewhat mistaken Nathan, who collapsed on the floor, as the horizontal movement of a tranquilizer dart followed the falling of a cup of coins. Percy turned on the light, and noticed that Skilton was awake.

"Welcome back from the land of dreams," said the Sneaky Spy, "but I'm afraid Valtos is not going to wake up. He's been murdered, and the desperate idiot on the floor must have thought it worth doing you over as well, even after the noise that Valtos' coins must have made."

Percy looked down at his victim, and realised that it was not the man whom he had always called Gunfellow. He searched the man's pockets, and found two things: a supply of ammunition for the gun with the silencer, and a key. To confirm his immediate suspicions, Percy wandered out to the front door, and tried the key in the lock.

*          *          *          *

"Come on, you've had enough sleep," said Percy, slapping the man on the face.

Nine o'clock. Sunday morning.

"Yeah ... what?" said Nathan.

"You work for a man named Ashford, don't you?" said the Sneaky Spy, "I've read the files in his study, and I know all about him.  I've got a more appropriate name for your naughty associate. Where is he, right now?"

"That's my secret."

"Has Gunfellow Ashford told you what it's like to be in hot water? I mean literally, in this case. You're going to stand under a scalding shower until I find out where he is."

Nathan's resistance promptly faded away.

"Well he's gone home to disguise the mess you made, when you and the girl came into his house before."

Percy was not sure whether it would be wise to let Skilton listen in on these discussions yet. So he had asked the man to go out to buy a morning paper and some snacks from the milkbar. Sending him home to Ashford would be the equivalent of murdering Skilton himself, unless Skilton actually turned out to be in on the murder after all.

Ingrid had secretly followed Skilton, just in case Skilton either was one of the guilty parties or ran into trouble initiated by them.

Percy put Nathan through a few more questions, and satisfied himself that the man knew nothing else of any importance. He left Nathan securely bound and gagged, and went to meet Ingrid and Skilton in the street.

"Your girlfriend followed me for no reason, if you think I hadn't noticed," said Skilton, as he returned from the car with Ingrid at his side. He was still angry at the way all of Percy's self-imposed involvement had failed to prevent his master's death, thus destroying his career as the man's butler forever.

"Sorry Anthony, but I wanted to have you watched, possibly for your own safety, until I knew for sure that you had nothing to do with your employer's wife's death. Nate has squealed, and I'll spill the beans to everyone soon enough. Keep an eye on Nathan until we get back, will you? We've just got to go and take care of Nathan's associate, and then we'll be back here with Inspector Higgins, who will have no choice but to accept your innocence."

Percy and Ingrid climbed into Ingrid's car and drove to the nearest public telephone booth. Percy made a brief telephone call.

"Hello. Can I speak to Inspector Higgins, please?.... Good morning, Inspector. Glad to see you're doing the Sunday shift. Well, I have some information for you. Valtos has been murdered in the night by the same person who tried to pop me off as well as the butler. I caught the killer, and he has confirmed my suspicions about the innocence of Anthony Skilton. If you want to catch the man who framed Skilton, just go to the following address and arrest a man named Ashford. He should be the sole resident at the moment. Bring him here, and I'll tell you the whole story. I'll be at Valtos' house."

Percy saw no reason to explain that he had left the house in order to make a private telephone call, just to be on the safe side.

"Alright then," said the Inspector, "but whether you're right or wrong about this, I might have to have a word with you about some of your methods. It would have been better to have an officer of the law present when you were interrogating the man who murdered Valtos."

Percy told Higgins where to find Skilton's address, and naturally refered to it as Ashford's address. He was saving all of the special surprises until he had everybody in Valtos'  house together.