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scene to that we had enjoyed on the third floor. Holmes headed towards the door of the office and turned to face us. “You will note how similar the two floors are. I have no doubt that when Miss Trelawney approached this entrance yesterday, accompanied by her very chatty employer, she was convinced that she was on the third floor.”
    We followed him into the outer room of the office. It was sparsely but expensively furnished and my eye was drawn immediately to a large panelled door on the far wall. Holmes followed my gaze.
    â€œYes, Watson - that is the door through to the room which Mr Cartwright occupied for most of yesterday morning. Had it been his regular room on the third floor, he would have had no means of reaching the stairwell or lift without being observed by his secretary. The only exit from that office is through the door in the outer room. But here on the fourth floor, he could take advantage of the one architectural feature that distinguishes this office from those on the lower floors.”
    At last, I understood what Holmes was alluding to. The four of us filed in to the back room where we could see to our left another panelled door - one that provided an alternative exit to the lift and stairwell.
    â€œVery ingenious, Mr Holmes!” cried Lestrade, pointing to the door. “So that is how chummy here managed to reach the stairwell without being seen. It was then a simple matter of making his way down the stairs for the encounter with Edward Flanagan.”
    â€œThat is correct. Violet Trelawney was unaware of the door because she was convinced that they were on the third floor. The careful positioning of the plants and stands outside the office has disguised the second exit - a task that was commissioned just before she began her new role.”
    â€œAnd yet, she knew instinctively that something was amiss,” said I, unable to curb my excitement. “Holmes, you may remember that she confessed to feeling somewhat giddy while she sat in the room and imagined that the walls were closing in on her. It was less than twenty years ago that a medical colleague of mine, Dr Benjamin Ball, first coined the term claustrophobia which is now used to describe this feeling of anxiety. But in Miss Trelawney’s case there was a particular reason for her discomfort. With the additional space taken up by the hidden corridor, the room in which she found herself was genuinely smaller than that on the third floor.”
    â€œQuite so!” agreed my colleague.
    Inspector Lestrade moved a little closer towards Cartwright, who was looking considerably less composed than he had earlier. “But what about the gun and the coat and hat?” he queried.
    â€œWhere he left them yesterday, Inspector. I apologise for having badgered you earlier, about which areas of the building you had searched, but was fairly certain that our killer could not have disposed of the weapon or his disguise before your arrival yesterday. I took the liberty on my previous tour, but if you care to take a look in the large desk drawer to your left, you will see all of the offending items, including the revolver, tucked away at the bottom.”
    Lestrade stepped across to the desk. His face lit up as he opened the drawer and saw the evidence. “Well I never!” he uttered, retaining a keen eye on the increasingly fretful Cartwright. “I did think it was odd that our friend here should have made so much fuss about hearing the shot and insisting that he and Miss Trelawney trek down to the ground floor to speak to the concierge - especially when the young lady herself was minded to ignore it.”
    â€œYes,” agreed Holmes, “all part of his plan to create the illusion that he had been working in the back room all morning. Having shot Flanagan, I imagine it took him a few minutes to run up the three flights of stairs to the fourth floor, remove his disguise and hide both it and the revolver in the