After Phineas and Bonteen engage in a fierce public quarrel at their club, Bonteen is murdered later that night, and suspicion quickly falls upon Phineas because he had openly threatened and argued with the victim only hours before, while circumstantial evidence and uncertain eyewitness testimony make the case against him appear increasingly strong. Bonteen had also been investigating evidence that Mr. Emilius's marriage to Lizzie Eustace was bigamous, giving Emilius a powerful motive for murder, but his apparently convincing alibi initially turns attention away from him and toward Phineas. The Duchess and Madame Goesler remain convinced of Phineas's innocence and begin seeking a way to save him, but the combination of political hostility, coincidence, and public suspicion gradually traps him in a case that threatens both his freedom and his life.
