His account books and his business correspondence, such as it was, lay accessible to the curious.

There was nothing intricate or secret about the running of the Lazy A ranch; nothing that should interest any one save the owner.
It occurred to Lite that incriminating evidence is sometimes placed surreptitiously in a suspected man's desk.

He had heard of such things being done.

He could not imagine what evidence might be placed here by any one, but he made a thorough search.

He did not find anything that remotely concerned the murder.
He looked through the living-room, and even opened the door which led from the kitchen into Jean's room, which had been built on to the rest of the house a few years before.