midnight
`` If they had been accomplices , '' said Rouletabille , `` they would not have been there at all . When people throw themselves into the arms of justice with the proofs of complicity on them , you can be sure they are not accomplices . I do n't believe there are any accomplices in this affair . '' `` Then , why were they abroad at midnight ? Why do n't they say ? '' `` They have certainly some reason for their silence . What that reason is , has to be found out ; for , even if they are not accomplices , it may be of importance .