'Neither the Gazette nor the police,' said Dupin, 'understand much about these murders. The police are puzzled by all the questions which they cannot answer. What was the motive for the murders? Why were the murders so brutal? Whose were the voices? How could these people get out of the house when the neighbours were running up the stairs? Why was everything broken in the room? Why was the girl's body up the chimney? Why did the old lady have so many broken bones?
' I 'm afraid the police are making the mistake that many people make. They think that because the crime is so unusual, they can never explain it. But they are wrong. It is more helpful to have an unusual crime, because that will make us think harder, and ask the right questions, and in the end find the answer. We must not ask the question, "What has happened?"; we must ask, "What has happened that has never happened before?' The answer to this mystery is not really difficult at all - I think I know it already.'
I looked at him, astonished, and could not say a word.
'I am now waiting,' he went on, 'for a person who is probably not the murderer himself, but who certainly knows something about the murders. He will arrive here - in this room - at any moment. I hope, and think, he will. And if he does come, it will be necessary to stop him leaving. Here are four guns, two for you and two for me. We both know how to use them if we have to.'