The very fact of having nothing definite upon which to work was getting on Carroll's usually equable nerves. He had little to say to Leverage regarding the case, for the simple reason that there was very little which could be said. Leverage, on his part, watched the detective with keen interest, sympathizing with him, and exhibiting implicit confidence, but the men didn't agree upon the correct procedure. Leverage was all for arresting Barker and charging him with the murder.
"You'll learn some facts then, Carroll," he insisted.
But Carroll shook his head.
"It wouldn't get us anywhere, Eric. We couldn't prove him guilty."
"No-o, but that don't make no difference. Of course the law says a man is innocent until you prove he ain't, but that ain't what the law does. If we arrest this here Mr. William Barker, everybody's going to believe he's guilty until he proves himself innocent."
"And you think he can't do that?"
"No! At least I'm gambling on this—Barker can't prove himself innocent without telling who is guilty!"
But Carroll refused to arrest the man. He knew that Leverage disapproved, but he also knew that Leverage was sportsman enough to let him handle the case in his own way.
On one of his long strolls through the downtown section of the city—daily walks which helped him to think connectedly—David Carroll felt a hand on his arm and heard an eager feminine voice in his ear:
"Gracious goodness! If it isn't the perfectly marvelous Mr. DavidCarroll!"
Carroll bowed instinctively. Then his lips expanded into the first wholesome smile he had experienced in forty-eight hours.
"Miss Evelyn Rogers!"
"You did recognize me, didn't you? How simply splendiferous! I'm awfully glad we met!"
"So am I, Miss Rogers."
She dropped her voice confidentially.
"Will you do me agreatfavor—anenormousfavor?"
"Certainly. What is it?"
"It's this." She looked around carefully. "I told some of my friends that you are a friend of mine, and they don't believe it. They're over yonder in that ice-cream place. Now, what I want you to do for me is to show 'em. I want you to take me over there and buy me an ice-cream soda!"
Carroll laughed aloud as he took her by the arm and piloted her through the traffic. He asked only one question:
"What flavor?"
If Evelyn Rogers, amply clad as to fur around the neck but somewhat under-dressed as to lace stockings about the legs, had desired to create a sensation among her friends, she more than succeeded. She preceded Carroll into the place, her eyes glowing pridefully, skirted the table at which her friends sat, then stopped abruptly, forcing Carroll to do likewise.
"Mr. Carroll," she said sweetly, "I want to introduce you to my friends." She called them by name. "Girls, this is Mr. Carroll, the famous detective!"
Carroll bowed in his most courtly manner, and assured them that he was delighted to make their acquaintance. He insisted that it was always a pleasure to meet any friends of his very dear friend, Miss Rogers. The girls at the table giggled with embarrassment, and one or two of them made rather pallid attempts at repartee. Then Carroll and the seventeen-year-old found a table in the very center of the floor, even as a boy, recognizing Carroll, appeared at their elbow.
The detective studied the list intently. Apparently there was no subject in the world more vital at that moment than the selection of just the proper concoction. Finally he looked up and shook his head.
"I can't decide," he announced gravely. "They all sound so good! Walnut banana sundae; strawberry glory; peach Melba; chocolate parfait, with whipped cream and cracked walnuts; elegantine fizz—Help me out, please."
She, too, plunged into the labyrinth of toothsome titles. Finally she emerged smiling.
"Have you ever tasted a chocolate fudge-sundae?"
"No-o, I'm afraid not."
"Well, it's just theelegantestthing—vanilla ice-cream with hot fudge poured over it, and as soon as they pour the fudge—it's steaming hot, you know—simply scalding—it forms into a sort of candy, and then when they serve it—"
"I fancy you want one, too, don't you?"
"Oh, goodness me, yes! Ialwayseat chocolate fudge sundaes. They're simply scrumptious—but they do take the edge off one's dinner appetite. Personally, I don't care so very much. I believe we eat too much anyway, don't you, Mr. Carroll? I read in a book once that after you reach a certain point in eating—that is, after you've swallowed just the right number of calories—the rest don't do you a single particle of good. And besides, ice-cream is healthy, and certainly there's nothing with more nourishment in it than chocolate—unless it is raisins. I like raisins well enough—"
Carroll turned to the boy.
"Two chocolate fudge sundaes," he ordered; "and put a few raisins on one of them."
He found the large eyes of the girl turned upon him adoringly.
"Do you know," she said, "that when I said the other day that you were the most wonderful, the most marvelous man in the world, I didn't even know half how wonderful or marvelous you really were?"
"Thanks! And what caused the discovery?"
"The way you acted just now. Why, I'm sure those girls think that you've known me all your life—or that we're engaged, or something!"
Carroll was a trifle startled.
"Engaged?"
"Why not? You don'tlooklike an old man."
The detective chuckled.
"Nor do I feel like one when I'm with you. You're deliciously refreshing."
"And you are—are—exquisite! Do you know, when I'm with you, I feel inspired to great deeds—to noble—er—attainments."
"Really?"
"Uh-huh! Honest to goodness. And did I really help you by what I told you the other day?"
"You certainly did, Miss Rogers. There isn't a doubt of it."
She lowered her voice and leaned confidentially across the table.
"Will you tell me something?"
"Surely?"
"Who really killed Mr. Warren?"
"Eh?"
"Who really did kill him?"
"Why, I'm sure I don't know. I'm trying to find out."
"Oh, pshaw! You can't pull the wool overmyeyes! You couldn't have been working on the case this long and not have discovered the—the—malefactor."
"But that's exactly what I have done. Also it's why I rather hoped that you might have a little more information for me."
"Me? Information for you? How wonderful! As if you'd be interested in anything I might know! Although I'm not an absolute fool. Gerald says I am, of course—he's my brother-in-law—but then Gerald isn't anything but an old crab, anyway. Hateful thing! Butyoudon't think I am, do you?"
"No, indeed. Ah, here we are!"
The chocolate fudge sundaes were served, and for a few moments they gave themselves over to the task of enjoying them. It was Evelyn who spoke first.
"What do you want me to tell you?"
"Almost anything. For instance—you knew Roland Warren pretty well, didn't you?"
"Oh, yes, indeed! I've known him forever and ever. He was an awfully nice boy, and crazy about me—simply wild! That is, he was before he died."
"H-m! And you saw a good deal of him?"
"Oceans! He used to call at the house all the time. Itwasfunny, too. Gerald used to think he was the one Roland was coming to see, and Naomi—she's my sister—used to think that he was coming to see her; and all the time I knew that I was the person he was calling on. It's funny, isn't it, how old folks will get those queer ideas?"
"Your sister is so very old?"
"Terribly. She was thirty on her last birthday."
"Horrors! Sheisancient, isn't she?"
"Awfully! Although Naomi isn't so bad looking—"
"Yoursister couldn't be."
"Aw, quit kidding! But she isn't bad-looking, really. Lord knows she deserves a better husband than she drew. Honestly, when the divine providence was handing out shrubbery, they planted a lemon-tree in his yard just before he was born."
"Probably your sister doesn't agree with your opinion."
"Oh, yes, she does! Of course, she doesn't talk to me about it, but I know she ain't wild about Gerald. How could she be? He's old enough to be her father—forty-two, if he's a minute. Don't think of anything but business and making money. And he'sterriblyjealous!"
"A very complimentary picture you draw of him."
"If I wrote what I thought about him, I could be arrested for sending it through the mails. Goodness knows, no husband at all is a hundred per cent better than a man like that. Not that he beats Naomi. Fact is, I'd think he was more human if he did. Only time I ever like him is when he flies up in a rage. He swears simplyelegantly!"
"Indeed?"
"I love it. And I don't think it's wicked to love swearing, do you? I was reading in a book once something about swearing being a perfectly natural mental reaction, or something—like a safety-valve on a steam-engine. If the engine didn't have the safety-valve, it would blow up. So if it's true that swearing is like that, then there can't be any harm in it; because anything that keeps a person from blowing up must be pretty good, don't you think?"
"It does sound reasonable."
"Not that I swear myself—not out loud, anyway, but sometimes, when I'm right peeved at Gerald or Naomi or somebody, I get in my room and say swear-words right out loud. And I feel ever so much better for it!"
The conversation languished while she again attacked the sundae.Carroll spoke:
"Have you seen your friend, Miss Gresham, lately?"
"Hazel? I'll say I have—although she's horribly weepy since poor Roland was killed. Of course, I'm not heartless or anything like that; but what's the use of crying all the time when there are just as good fish in the sea as ever were caught? I told her that, but it don't seem to do a single bit of good. She just keeps saying, 'Poor Roland is dead,' just as if I didn't know it as well as she does—him having been crazy about me even before he was about her. I'm sort of afraid it's gone to the poor girl's head. She's simplyhorriblyupset!"
"That's not unnatural, is it?"
"No-o, I suppose not; but it's terribly old-fashioned."
"Does she—discuss the affair much?"
"All the time."
"What does she think about the woman in the taxicab?"
"You mean the woman who killed him?"
"Yes."
"Well!" positively. "If I was that woman, I'd hate to meet HazelGresham—if Hazel knew it!"
"But she has no suspicion of any certain person?"
"Goodness, no! How could she have? Of course, we agreed that it was some vampire; but we can't decide which one. Most of the women we know don't go in for killing men; and a heap of them are married, anyway."
"Anyway?"
"Yes. You wouldn't expect a nice chap like Roland to be eloping with amarriedwoman, would you? Not in real life?"
Carroll with difficulty concealed a smile. The girl was a refreshing mixture of world-old wisdom and almost childish innocence. She was a type new to him, and, as such, absorbingly interesting.
"How about Miss Gresham's brother?" he inquired idly. "How does he take it?"
"Oh, Garry seems all upset, too; but then the more I talk to people, the more I think I'm the only level-headed one in the world. I haven't got a bit excited over it, have I?"
"Not a bit. And now"—Carroll rose and reached for the check—"suppose we go?"
"Where?" she asked naively.
The opening was too obvious.
"Where do you usually go with young gentlemen who meet you down-town in the afternoons?"
"Picture show," she answered frankly. "Wouldn't you justadoreto see that picture at the Trianon to-day? They say it'sstupendous!"
"Perhaps."
They walked up the street together. On the way they passed Eric Leverage. That gentleman bowed heavily and stood aside in surprise, while an exclamation, rather profane, issued from his lips. David Carroll and a seventeen-year-old girl headed for a picture show! The thing was unbelievable. Leverage shook his head sadly and passed on as Carroll and Evelyn disappeared behind the din of an orchestrion.
The picture proved not at all bad, although Evelyn excited adverse comment from spectators unfortunate enough to be sitting within range of her constant chatter. Apparently there was no stopping her. She talked and talked and talked.
The picture ended eventually, and they left the theater. Night had descended upon the city, and the busy thoroughfare was studded with thousands of lights, which glared coldly through the December chill. Principally because he did not know what else to do, Carroll requested permission to take her home in his car. She accepted with rather disarming alacrity.
Carroll had about run out of conversation, and his ears were tired by the incessant din of the girl's talk. He followed her directions mechanically, and eventually they rounded a corner in the heart of the city's best residential district. Evelyn designated a white house which stood back in a large yard.
"That's it," said she. "You'd better turn first, so you can park against the curb."
Carroll slowed down and swung around. He was tired of the loquacious girl, and anxious to be rid of her; but as he swung his car across the street on the turn, something happened which riveted his attention.
The door of Evelyn's home opened. A man and woman stood framed in the doorway. Then the door closed, and the man descended the steps, moved down the walk to the street, and strode swiftly away. For perhaps three seconds he had been held clearly in the glare of Carroll's headlights.
When the detective spoke, it was with an effort to control his tone, to make his question casual.
"Did you see that man, Miss Rogers?"
"Yes."
"Do you know him?"
"Goodness me, no! He's been here before, though."
Carroll stopped his car at the curb. He assisted Evelyn to the ground.Then he made a strange request.
"I wonder, Miss Rogers, whether you'd allow me to call on you some evening?"
Evelyn's eyes popped open with the marvel of it.
"You mean you want to come and call onme? Someevening?"
"If you will allow me."
"Allow you? Why, David Carroll—I think you're simply—simply—grandiloquent! When will you come?"
"If your sister will permit—"
"Bother Sis! To-morrow night?"
"Yes, to-morrow night."
She executed a few exuberant dance steps.
"Oh, what'll the girls say when I tell 'em?"
Carroll climbed thoughtfully back into his car. He saw Evelyn enter the house, but his thoughts were not with her. He was thinking of the man who had just left.
Carroll never forgot faces, and he had recognized the visitor.
The man was William Barker, former valet to Roland Warren!
Carroll's forehead was seamed with thought as he turned his car townward and sent it hurtling through the frosty air. He drove mechanically, scarcely knowing what he was doing.
He was frankly puzzled, enormously surprised and not a little startled. The afternoon had been at first amusing, then interesting—then utterly boring. Evelyn's chatter had put him in a state of mental coma—a lethargy from which he had been rudely aroused at sight of William Barker leaving the residence of Evelyn Rogers' sister.
There was something sinisterly significant in what he had seen. Not for a moment did he entertain the idea that Barker had been seeking employment. Negativing that possibility was the cold statement of the disinterested young girl that Barker had been there before, and, too, the fact that Barker was leaving from the front door instead of through the servant's door.
Obviously, then, Barker's mission had little to do with the matter of domestic employment. And now that he had stumbled upon something tangible—something definite—certain salient facts which had come to him through the haze of girlish chatter began to stand out and assume proper significance.
For instance there was her constant repetition of the fact that Roland Warren had been a frequent visitor at the Lawrence home. That might mean nothing: it might mean a great deal. Certainly it was indicative of a close friendship between the dead man and the members of that household. He paid little heed to the girl's protestations that Warren had been in love with her. No expert in the ways of the rising generation, Carroll yet knew that no man of Warren's maturity had unleashed his affections on a girl who yet lacked several years of womanhood. The dead man had been too much of an epicure in femininity for such as that.
But Carroll knew that in that house there was another woman: Naomi Lawrence—Evelyn's sister. And while Evelyn had dismissed the sister with a few words, Carroll remembered that the girl had described her as being "not so bad looking" and had also said that Mrs. Lawrence fancied that when Warren called at the house, he was calling on her.
There, too, was the matter of Gerald Lawrence to be considered. Evelyn insisted that Gerald was "an old crab" and also that he was of an exceedingly jealous disposition. If that were true, then his jealousy, coupled with a possible intimacy between Mrs. Lawrence and Warren might have been ample motive for the taxicab tragedy.
It was all rather puzzling. Carroll's mind leaped nimbly from one mental trail to another. He held himself in check, afraid that his deductions were proceeding too swiftly. He was acutely conscious of the danger of jumping too avidly on this single tangible clue which had come to him after four days of fruitless search. There was danger, and he knew it, of attaching untoward importance to a combination of circumstances which under other conditions might not have excited him in the slightest degree.
It was there that the case bewildered him—and he was not slow in confessing his bewilderment. Up to this moment there had been an appalling dearth of physical clues—of things upon which a line of investigation could be intelligently based. And he knew that now something had turned up, he must watch himself lest the circumstance assume unreasonable and unwarranted proportions.
The somber outline of police headquarters bulked in the night. Carroll swung down the alley, shut off his motor and entered. He found Leverage in his office and settled at once to a discussion of developments. But when he would have spoken Leverage cut him off. Leverage had news—and Leverage was frankly proud of the fact that he had news.
"Just got an interesting report from Cartwright," he announced.
"Regarding Barker?" Carroll hitched his chair forward eagerly.
"Yes."
"What is it?"
"Yesterday afternoon at five o'clock William Barker went to the residence of Mr. and Mrs. Gerald Lawrence. He was in the house eighteen minutes."
"Why wasn't this told me last night?"
"Cartwright didn't think anything of it. He included it in his report which was turned in to me this morning."
"Why did he think it was unimportant?"
"Said he thought Barker was probably looking for a job."
"And he doesn't think so now?"
"No-o. That is: he thinks circumstances make an investigation worth while. You see, just a few minutes ago Barker went to the Lawrence home again. This time he was there four minutes."
"Does Cartwright know who was at home at that time?"
"He thinks so. He says a maid let Barker in and that apparently Mrs. Lawrence let him out. A young girl—whom Cartwright believes to be Mrs. Lawrence's sister—drove up just as Barker was leaving. She was in the car with some man—but he didn't get out. Then, just a minute ago, Gerald Lawrence reached home. So the idea is that Mrs. Lawrence was alone with the servants when Barker called."
"And yet he only remained four minutes?"
"That's what Cartwright 'phoned." Leverage paused. "What do you make of it, Carroll?"
"Off-hand," answered the youthful-appearing detective, "I'd say thatBarker had called to seeMr. Lawrence."
"Why?"
"We'll suppose Lawrence was home on the occasion of Barker's first visit—do you know whether he was?"
"No. I asked. Cartwright doesn't know. Couldn't stay, you know—because he was under orders to follow Barker. Tonight he sent Reed after Barker and he watched the Lawrence house."
"Good. If it is so that Lawrence was at home when Barker called yesterday evening and Barker then remained eighteen minutes; whereas this afternoon, when we know that no one but Mrs. Lawrence was there—and he remained but four minutes—it is fairly reasonable to suppose that he was calling to see Mr. Lawrence."
"I think you're right, Carroll."
"I'm not at all convinced about that. But if we're proceeding along lines of pure logic, that is the answer."
"How about the man who drove up with the kid sister?"
Carroll smiled. "I'm sure he had nothing whatever to do with the murder."
"Good Lord! I didn't think he had. But still he may have been a friend, and—"
"That man was all right. I know that."
"Youknow?" Leverage was incredulous.
"Yes." Carroll grinned. "I was the man!"
"You—? Holy sufferin' mackerel! Sa-a-ay! Was that chicken I seen you with downtown, Lawrence's sister-in-law?"
"Yes. Miss Evelyn Rogers. And Good Lord! Leverage, how that girl can talk! She holds all records for conversational distance and speed. She talked me dumb."
Leverage was staring respectfully at Carroll. "If you were the man who was with her, David—you must have seen Barker when he left the house."
"I did."
The face of the chief showed his disappointment: "That's what I get for thinking I had a real surprise up my sleeve. You sit back with that innocent kid face of yours and let me spill all the dope—and then tell me perfectly matter-of-factly that you knew it all the time. How'd you ever get wise to the thing, anyway?"
Carroll was honest. "No thanks to my sagacity, Leverage. One of those pieces of bull luck which I have always contended play an enormous part in solving crime. In the first place Evelyn Rogers came to me the day after Warren was killed to assure me that Miss Gresham had a perfect alibi. This afternoon she lassoed me and dragged me into an ice cream place because she wanted to prove to some of her school companions that we were really friends." Carroll chuckled. "I quaffed freely from the fountain of youth—and enjoyed it awhile. Then I got bored stiff. Took her to the movies—she invited me—and did it only because I've passed beyond the years of adolescence and didn't know how to crawfish out of it. After which—because it seemed the proper thing to do—I volunteered to ride her home in my car. And it was then that I saw Barker leaving the Lawrence home. So you see, Leverage, my knowledge is the result of pure accident—and not at all the fruit of keen perception."
"Well, anyway—Carroll: you knew! And that takes the edge off what I told you."
"Not at all," returned Carroll seriously. "For while what I discovered is perhaps valuable—that combined with the fact that Barker has been there once before: and that on his first visit when Lawrence was probably at home he stayed nearly five times as long as he did when we know that Lawrence was not there—that is of help—or ought to be."
"What do you think of it?"
Carroll hesitated. "I don't know what to think, Eric. I'm afraid I'm thinking about it more than I have any right. We've been so long without anything to work on, that we're liable to let this bit of information throw us off our balance. But of course we'll look more deeply into it."
"How?"
Again Carroll chuckled. "Our little friend, Miss Rogers, is suffering from a large case of hero-worship. I'm it! And so—when I saw Barker leaving her home—I immediately made an engagement to call upon her to-morrow night!"
"Youcall on that kid—" Suddenly Leverage lay back in his swivel chair and gave vent to a peal of raucous laughter. He banged his fist on the arm of the chair: "Oh!Boy! That's the snappiest yet. David Carroll paying a social call on a seventeen-year-old kid! Mama! Ain't that the richest—"
Carroll made a wry face. "Needn't rub it in. It's bad enough anyway. And"—growing serious—"I'm hoping to meet Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence. They ought to prove interesting."
But Leverage could not tear himself away from the sheer humor of the situation: "What the devil you and her going to talk about? Foxtrot steps? Is the camel walk vulgar? Frat dance? Next week's basketball game? Sa-a-ay! David—I'd give my chances of Heaven to be hidden behind the door."
"So would I," said Carroll wryly.
"Above all things," counseled Leverage with mock severity: "Don't you go making love to her."
Carroll reached a muscular hand across the table. His sinewy fingers closed around a glass paperweight. He held this poised steadily. "One more crack out of you, Eric, and I'll slam this against your head. You're a pretty good chief of police—but you're a rotten humorist."
"Just the same," grinned the chief, "I can see that this joke is on you!And now—what?"
"For one thing," and Carroll's manner was all business again, "I want every bit of dope I can get on Gerald Lawrence and his wife. I know that Warren was very intimate at the house: friendly with both wife and husband, according to what Miss Rogers says. That connects them up. What I want to find out now is where both of 'em were the night Warren was killed. Put a couple of your best men out to gather this dope—there isn't any of it too minor to interest me. Meanwhile, I'll pump the kid. I have a hunch that this isn't going to be a cold trail."
"It better not be—or Mr. David Carroll is going to find himself with one unsolved case on his hands. Yes, sir—if this is a blind lead, we're up against it for fair."
"It isn't going to be entirely blind," postulated Carroll. "Barker assures us of that!"
At four o'clock the following afternoon Carroll received from ChiefLeverage a detailed report on Gerald Lawrence:
"He's a manufacturer," said Leverage. "President of the Capitol City Woolen Mills. Rated about a hundred thousand—maybe a little more. He's on the Board of Directors of the Second National. Has the reputation of being hard, fearless—and considerable of a grouch. Age forty-two.
"Married Naomi Rogers about five years ago. She was twenty-five then—thirty now. Supposed to be beautiful—and would be a society light except that Lawrence doesn't care for the soup-and-fish stuff. Report has it that they're not very happy together. His parents and hers all dead. Evelyn, her kid sister, lives with them.
"They employ a cook and two maids. No man-servant at all. Roland Warren was pretty intimate at the house, but so far as I can discover there was no scandal linking the names of Warren and Mrs. Lawrence. Of course, him knowing her pretty intimately and being friendly at the house, you could probably find a good many folks who would say nasty things. But there hasn't been the real gossip about her and him that there was about a heap of other women in this town.
"Warren and Lawrence were pretty good friends. Warren was a stockholder in the woolen mills. On the other hand it seems as though Warren was at the house a good deal more than just ordinary friendship would have indicated. But that's just an idea. And there's your dope—"
"And on the night of the murder?" questioned Carroll. "Where were they?"
"Mrs. Lawrence was at home. Lawrence—if you're thinking of him in connection with it—seems to have an iron-clad alibi. He went to Nashville on a business trip and didn't get back until the following morning."
"Alibi, eh?" Carroll's eyes narrowed speculatively, "are yousurehe was in Nashville all that time?"
"Hm-m!" Leverage shook his head. "I don't know—but I can find out."
Carroll rose. "Do it please. And get the dope straight."
Carroll went to his apartment where he reluctantly commenced dressing for the ordeal of the night. He felt himself rather ridiculous—a man of his age calling on a girl not yet out of high school. The thing was funny—of course—but just at the moment the joke was too entirely on him for the full measure of amusement.
At that, he dressed carefully, selecting a new gray suit, a white jersey-silk shirt and a blue necktie for the occasion. At six-thirty Freda served his dinner and at fifteen minutes after eight o'clock he rang the bell of the Lawrence home.
The door was opened by Evelyn: palpitant with excitement, and garbed attractively in the demi-toilette of very-young-ladyhood.
"Mr. Carroll—so good of you to come. I'm simply tickled to death. Let me have your hat and coat. Come right into the living room—I want you to meet my brother-in-law and my sister—"
Sheepishly, Carroll followed the girl into the room. Mr. and Mrs.Lawrence rose politely to greet him.
At the sight of the man he had really come to see, Carroll was conscious of an instinctive dislike. Lawrence was of medium height, slightly stooped and not unpleasing to the eye. But his brows were inclined to lower and the eyes themselves were set too closely together. He was dressed plainly—almost harshly, and he stared at Carroll in a manner bordering on the hostile.
The detective acknowledged the introduction and then turned his gaze upon the woman of the family. There he met with a surprise as pleasant as his first glance at Lawrence had been unpleasant.
There was no gainsaying the fact that Naomi Lawrence was a beautiful woman. Dressed simply for an evening at home in a strikingly plain gown of a rich black material, and with her magnificent neck and shoulders rising above the midnight hue—she caused a spontaneous thrill of masculine admiration to surge through the ordinarily immune visitor in the gray suit.
Her face was almost classic in its contour: her coloring a rich brunette, her hair blue-black. No jewelry, save an engagement ring, adorned her perfect beauty, and Carroll felt a loathing at the idea that this magnificent creature was the wife of the stoop-shouldered, sour-faced man who stood scowling by the living room table.
He gravely acknowledged the introduction of the young lady upon whom he had called: feeling a faint sense of amusement at Lawrence's overt disdain—and a considerable embarrassment under Naomi's questioning, level gaze. For a few moments they talked casually—but that did not satisfy Evelyn, and she dragged him into the parlor—
"—just the eleganest jazz piece—" Carroll heard as through a haze "—just got it—feet can't keep still—play it for you—"
He found himself standing by the piano, the door between the music room and the living room unaccountably closed. Evelyn banging out the opening measures of the "elegant jazz piece."
He was still staring moodily at the closed door when the din ceased and he again heard Evelyn's voice. "A penny for your thoughts, Mr. Carroll. A real honest-to-goodness-spendable penny!"
"I was thinking," he remarked quietly, "that your sister is a very beautiful woman."
"Naomi? Shucks! She isn't bad looking—but she'sold. Abominably old! Thirty!"
He glanced down on the girl and smiled. "That does seem old to you, doesn't it?"
"Treacherously! I don't know what I'd ever do if I was to get that old.Take up crocheting, probably."
The conversation died of dry-rot. Carroll was not at all pleased. His excuse—the plea that he had come to call upon Evelyn—had been taken too literally. He had fancied—in his blithe ignorance of the seventeen-year-old ladies of the present day—that he could engineer himself into a worthwhile conversation with the Lawrences. Since meeting them, he was doubly anxious. There was a thinly veiled hostility about the man which demanded investigation. And about the woman there was a subtle atmosphere of tragedy which appealed to the masculine protectiveness which surged strong in his bachelor breast.
But Carroll was a sportsman. The girl had carried things her own way—and he was too game to spoil her evening. Therefore, he temporarily gave over all thought of a chat with the Lawrences and devoted himself to her amusement. He informed her that the jazz music she had strummed was simply "glorious" and that he regretted he knew very little popular stuff. She leaped upon his remark—
"Oh! doyouplay:really?"
He was in again. "I have—a little."
"I wonder if you would? Here's thegrandestlittle old song I bought downtown—" and she placed on the piano a gaudy thing with the modest title—"All Babies Need Daddies to Kiss 'Em." Its cover exposed a tender love scene wherein a gentleman in evening clothes was engaged in an act of violent osculation with a young lady whose dress was as short as her modesty. Carroll shrugged, placed his long, slender fingers on the keys—shook his head—and went to it.
He played! A genuine artist—he tried to enter into the spirit of the thing and succeeded admirably. The itchy syncopation rocked the room. His hostess snapped her fingers deliciously and executed a few movements of a dance which Carroll had heard referred to vaguely as the shimmy. In the midst of the revelry he gave thought to Eric Leverage and chuckled.
He played the chorus a second time—then stopped on a crashing chord.Evelyn's face was beaming—
"Gracious! You can play, can't you?"
"I used to—Suppose we talk awhile."
She agreed—reluctantly. They seated themselves in easy chairs before the gas logs. Evelyn glanced hopefully at the chandelier. "I wish the belt would slip at the power house, don't you?"
"Why?" innocently.
"Oh! just because Bright lights are such a nuisance when a girl has a feller calling on her. And these logs give a perfectly respectable light, don't they?"
"Indeed they do—but perhaps we'd better leave the others on."
She sighed resignedly. "I guess we'd better. Sis is so darned proper andGerald is an old crab—they might say something."
"I suppose they might. By they way, didn't they think it was—er—strange: my coming to see you tonight?"
She turned red. "Suppose they did—what difference does that make? I'm not a child and if a gentleman wants to call on me I guess they haven't got any kick."
"What did they say when you told them I was coming?"
"They didn't believe me at first. Then Sis said you were too old—and you're not old at all—and Gerald said—he said—" she giggled.
"What did Gerald say?"
"He said, 'Damned impertinence!'"
"H'm-m! I wonder just what he meant?"
"Oh! goodness! It doesn't matter what Gerald means. He makes me weary.He's simplyimpossible—and I can't see what Sis ever married him for."
"I suppose she saw more in him than you do. They must be very happy together."
"Happy? Poof! Happy as two dead sardines in a can. They can't get out—so they might as well be happy. Besides, he's away a good deal."
"He is, eh? When was his last out-of-town trip?"
Carroll was interested now—he had steered the conversation back to matters of importance: "Oh! 'bout four days ago—you know—the day dear Roland was killed by that vampire in the taxicab."
"He was away that night: all night?"
"Uh-huh! All night long. And would you believe that Sis—who is scared of her shadow at night—was the one who suggested that I go spend the night with Hazel? And it's certainly fortunate she did, because if she hadn't I wouldn't have been with Hazel all night and you awful detectives would probably not have believed her story that she was at home in bed, and then you would have arrested her for murdering Roland—and she'd have gone to jail and been hanged—or something. Wouldn't she?"
"Hardly that bad. But it was fortunate that you were there. It made the establishing of the alibi a very simple matter. And you say your sister—Mrs. Lawrence—is nervous at night?"
"Oh! fearfully. She's just like all women—scared of rats, scared of the dark, scared of being alone—perfectly disgusting, I call it."
"Quite a few women are that way, though—"
"I'm not. I'm scared of snakes and flying bugs and things like that. ButI don't get scared of the dark—pff! Who's going to hurt you? That's whatI always say. I believe in figuring things out, don't you I read in abook once where—"
"But maybe you do Mrs. Lawrence an injustice. Maybe she isn't as afraid at night as you imagine."
"She is, too."
"Yet you say she let you spend the night at Miss Gresham's house when Mr. Lawrence was out of the city and there wasn't anybody on the place but the servants—"
"Worse than that: the servants don't even live on the place. She spent the night here all alone—!"
"Then all I'll say is that she is a brave woman. When did Mr. Lawrence get back from Nashville?"
"Oh! not until ten o'clock the following morning. And believe me, he was all excited when he read about Roland in the papers. Poor Roland! If you were only a girl, Mr. Carroll—you'd know how terrible it is to have a man who's crazy about you and engaged to your best friend and everything—go and get himself murdered. Why, when I read the papers that morning, I couldn't hardly believe my own eyes. I just said to myself 'it can't be!' I said it over and over again just like that. Having faith, I think they call it. I was reading in a book once about having faith—"
She talked interminably. Carroll ceased to hear the plangent voice. He was thinking of what she had just told him—thinking earnestly. He knew he was desperately anxious to have a talk with the Lawrences, to talk things over in a casual manner. And tonight was his opportunity. He knew he'd never have another like it. He didn't want to be forced to seek them out in his capacity of detective.
From somewhere in the rear of the house he heard the clamor of a doorbell, then the sound of footsteps in the hall, the opening and closing of the front door—and then Naomi Lawrence appeared in the music room. Carroll could have sworn that her eyes were twinkling with amusement as she addressed Evelyn—pointedly ignoring him.
"Evelyn—that Somerville boy is here."
"Oh! bother! What's he doin' here?"
"He says he came to call. He's got a box of candy."
"Piffle! What do I care about candy? He's just a kid!"
Naomi went to the hall door. "Right this way, Charley." And as the slender, overdressed young gentleman of nineteen entered the room, Carroll again glimpsed the light of amusement in Naomi's eyes.
Mr. Charley Somerville expressed himself as being "Pleaset'meetcha" and tried to conceal his vast admiration when Evelyn informed him that this wastheDavid Carroll. Charley was impressed but he was not particular about showing it—Charley fancying himself considerable of a cosmopolite, thanks to a year at Yale. His dignity was excruciatingly funny to Carroll as the very young man seated himself, crossed one elongated and unbelievably skinny leg over the other and arranged the creases so that they were in the very middle.
"A-a-ah! Taking a vacation from your work on the Warren murder case,I presume?"
Carroll nodded. "Yes—for awhile."
"Detective work must be a terrible bore—mustn't it?"
"Sometimes," answered Carroll significantly.
"Charley Somerville!" Evelyn flamed to the defense of her friend's profession. "At least Mr. Carroll ain't—isn't—a college freshman."
"I'm a sophomore," asserted Charley languidly. "Passed all of my exams."
"Anyway," snapped Evelyn, "he ain't any kid!"
For a time the atmosphere was strained. Then Carroll recalled a particularly good college joke he knew and he told it well. After which Evelyn explained to Charley that Mr. Carroll was the wonderfulest piano player in the world and David Carroll, detective, strummed out several popular airs while the youngsters danced.
Horrible as the situation was, it appealed irresistibly to his sense of humor. He found himself almost enjoying it. And he worked carefully. Eventually his patience was rewarded. He succeeded in getting them together on a lounge with a photograph album between them. And then, very quietly and positively, and with a brief—"Excuse me for a moment," he walked through the hall and into the living room.
Lawrence and his wife were at opposite sides of the library table. At sight of Carroll, Lawrence laid down his paper and rose to his feet.
"Well?" he inquired inhospitably.
Carroll laughed lightly. "It got too much for me. Too much youth. I dropped in here for a chat with you folks."
"I didn't understand that you had come to call on us," saidLawrence coldly.
"Why, I didn't—"
"You did!" snapped Lawrence. "I'm no fool, Carroll. From the minute I heard you were coming, I knew what you had up your sleeve. You wanted to talk about the Warren case! Now suppose you go ahead and talk—then get out!"
Carroll was rarely thrown from a mental balance, but this was one of the exceptions to a rule of conduct where poise was essential. His eyes half-closed in their clash with the coldly antagonistic orbs of his host. His instinctive dislike of the man flamed into open anger and he controlled himself with an effort.
One thing Lawrence had done: he had stripped from Carroll his disguise as a casual caller and settled down ominously to brass tacks. Carroll shrugged, forced a smile—then glanced at Naomi Lawrence.
She had risen and was staring at her husband with wide-eyed indignation. Undoubtedly she was horrified at his brusqueness. For the first time, she, too, had made it plain that Carroll was not welcome—that his ruse of calling upon Evelyn had been seen through plainly—but he could see that even under those circumstances she was not forgetful that he was a guest in her home and, as such, he was entitled to ordinary courtesy.
Carroll was more than a little sorry for her, and also a bit rueful at his own plight. Things had gone wrong for him from the commencement of the evening. And this—well, the gage of battle had been flung in his face and he was no man to refuse the challenge. But his muscles were taut until the soft voice of Naomi broke in on the pregnant stillness—
"Won't you be seated, Mr. Carroll?"
Carroll smiled gratefully at her. With her words the unpleasant tension had lightened. He dropped into an arm chair. Lawrence followed suit, his close-set eyes focused belligerently on Carroll's face, the hostility of his manner being akin to a personal menace. Naomi stood by the table, eyes shifting from one to the other.
"I'd rather," she suggested softly, "that we did not discuss theWarren case."
"It doesn't matter what you prefer," snapped her husband coldly. "Carroll forced himself upon us for that purpose—with a lack of decency which one might have expected. Let him have his say."
Carroll gazed squarely at Lawrence. "I'm sorry," he said, "that you see fit to act as you are doing."
"I asked for no criticism of my conduct."
"Just the same, dear—" started Naomi, when her husband interrupted angrily—
"Nor any apologies to him from you, Naomi. Carroll has placed himself beyond the pale by what he has done in having the impertinence to foist himself upon us as a social equal. Now, Carroll—are you ready with your little catechism?"
"Yes." The detective's voice was quite calm. "I'm quite ready."
"Well—ask." Lawrence paused. "Youdidcome here to inquire aboutWarren, didn't you?"
Carroll could not forbear a dig: "I trust that you are not putting it upon me to deny your statement to that effect."
"I don't give a damn what you deny or affirm."
"Good! Then we know all about each other, don't we. You know that I am a detective in search of information and I know absolutely what you are!" That dart went home—Lawrence squirmed. "So I'll come right to the point. Is it not a fact that you were in this city at the hour Roland Warren is supposed to have been killed?"
He heard a surprised gasp from Naomi and saw that her face had blanched and that she was leaning forward with eyes wide and hands clutching the arms of the chair in which she had seated herself.
Lawrence leered. "As the kids would say, Carroll—that's for me to know and for you—super-detective that you are—to find out."
Carroll was more at ease now. Lawrence's sneering aggressiveness brought him into his own element and he was hitting straight from the shoulder: refusing pointblank to mince matters.
"I fancy I can," he returned calmly. "And now: is it not a fact that you despised Warren even though you pretended to be his friend?"
"That, too, is my business, Carroll. Do you think I'm going to feed pap to you?"
Carroll reflected carefully for a moment. Then suddenly his voice crackled across the room—"You know, of course, that you are suspected of Warren's murder?"
Silence! Then a forced, sickly grin creased Lawrence's lips—but his figure slumped, almost cringed. From Naomi came a choked gasp—
"Mr. Carroll! Not Gerald—"
Carroll paid no heed to the woman. He sat back in his chair, eyes never for one moment leaving Lawrence's pallid face. Nor did Carroll speak again—he waited. It was Lawrence who broke the silence—
"Is—this—what you—detectives—call the third degree?"
"It is not. Now get this straight, Lawrence—I came here to find out what you know about Warren and the circumstances surrounding his death. I wanted to be decent about the thing—to cause you no embarrassment if I was convinced that you were unconnected with the crime. You have forced my hand. You have driven me to methods which I abhor—"
"You haven't a thing on me," said Lawrence and his tone had degenerated into a half whine. "You can't scare me a little bit. I've got an alibi—"
"Certainly you have. So, too, have a good many men who have eventually been proven guilty."
Lawrence rose nervously and paced the room. "You asked me a little while ago if I was in this city at the hour when the crime was committed. I answered that it was for me to know and you to find out. I'll answer direct now—just to stop this absurd suspicion which has been directed against me: I wasnotin the city at that hour—or within six hours of midnight. I was in Nashville."
"At what hotel?"
"At the—" Lawrence paused. "Matter of fact, I wasn't at any hotel."
"You had registered at the Hermitage, hadn't you?"
"Yes, but—"
"When did you check out?" Carroll's voice was snapping out with staccato insistence.
"About four o'clock in the afternoon."
"Where did you go? Where did you spend the night?"
Lawrence shook his head helplessly. "I'll be honest, Carroll—I took several drinks—"
"Alone?"
"Yes. And at two o'clock in the morning when my train left I was at the station. I don't know what I did in the meantime—I don't remember anything much about anything."
"In other words," said Carroll coldly, "You have no alibi except your own word. On the other hand we know that you checked out of the Hermitage Hotel in Nashville at four o'clock. You could have caught the 4:25 train and reached this city at ten minutes after eleven o'clock. You have not the slightest proof that you didn't."
"I—I came down on the train which left there a little after two in the morning."
"Prove it."
There was a hunted look about Lawrence. "I can't prove it—a man can't prove that he came on a certain train—"
"Was there nobody on board who knew you?"
"I—don't know. I was feeling badly when I got in—the berths were all made up—I went right to sleep and when the porter woke me we were in the yards. I dressed and came right home."
"And yet—" Carroll was merciless "—you have no substantiation for your statements." He switched his line of attack suddenly: "What made you think I was coming here to discuss Roland Warren's death?"
It was plain that Lawrence did not want to answer—yet there was something in Carroll's mesmeric eyes which wrung words unwillingly from his lips—
"Just logic," he answered weakly. "I knew that you weren't calling to see Evelyn because you were interested in her. You knew Warren had been pretty friendly in this house—so you came to talk to us about it. Isn't that reasonable?"
"I don't believe I am here to answer questions, Mr. Lawrence. You invited me to ask them."
Naomi broke in, her voice choked with hysteria—"What are you leading to,Mr. Carroll? It is absurd to think that Gerald had anything to do withMr. Warren's death."
Carroll swung on her, biting off his words shortly: "Do youknowthat he didn't?"
"Yes—I—"
"I didn't ask what youthought, Mrs. Lawrence. I am asking what youknow!"
"But if he was in Nashville—"
"If he was, then he's safe. But he himself cannot prove that he was. And I tell you frankly that the police will investigate his movements very carefully. It strikes me as exceedingly peculiar that he checked out from the Hermitage Hotel at four o'clock in the afternoon when he intended taking a two a.m. train. Remember, I am accusing your husband of nothing. Our conversation could have been pleasant—he refused to allow it to be so. He classified me as a professional detective and put me on that basis in his home. I have merely accepted his invitation to act as one. If I appear discourteous, kindly recall that it was none of my doing."
"I'm sorry, Carroll," said Lawrence pleadingly. "I didn't know—"
"Of course you didn't know how much I knew—or might guess. You saw fit to insult me—"
"I've apologized."
"Your apologies come a trifle late, Lawrence. Entirely too late. Our relations from now on are those of detective and suspect—"
Again the flare of hate in Lawrence's manner: "I don't have to prove an alibi, Carroll. You have to prove my connection with the thing. And you can't do it!"
"Why not?"
"Because I was in Nashville at that time. And while perhaps I can't proveI was there—you certainly cannot prove I was not."
"That remains to be seen. Meanwhile, I'd advise you to establish that fact if you can possibly do so. And by the way: are you in the habit of indulging in these solitary debauches in neighboring cities?"
Lawrence flushed. "Sometimes. I used to be a heavy drinker, and—"
"Is that a fact, Mrs. Lawrence?"
"Yes," she answered eagerly: almost too eagerly Carroll thought—"he has had escapades like this—several times."
"And you are sure that his story is true?"
"Yes. Of course I'm sure. Why should he kill Mr. Warren? There isn't any reason in the world—"
"For your sake and his, I hope not. But meanwhile—"
"Surely, Mr. Carroll—you don't intend publishing what he has told you—about his drinking—alone—in Nashville?"
Carroll smiled. "No indeed. In the first place, I am not at all sure that he has told me the truth. In the second place, if I were sure of it—his alibi would be established and I have no desire whatever to injure a man because of a personal weakness."
Lawrence stared at Carroll peculiarly. "You mean that if I can prove the truth of my story, nothing will be made public about my—the affair—in Nashville?"
"Absolutely. Because you have treated me discourteously, Lawrence—I don't consider myself justified in injuring your reputation. I am after the person or persons responsible for the death of Roland Warren. Your intimate weaknesses have no interest to either me or the public."
Lawrence was silent for awhile, and then—"You're damned white,Carroll. The apologies I extended a moment ago—I repeat. And this timeI'm sincere."
"And this time they are accepted."
"Meanwhile—you are welcome here whenever you wish to call. Perhaps—by talking to me—you yourself may establish the alibi which I know I have, but cannot prove."
Carroll rose and bowed. "Thank you. And now—I'll go. If you will express my regrets to Miss Rogers—"
Naomi accompanied him to the door. She extended her hand—"You're wrong,Mr. Carroll", she murmured. "Quite wrong!"
"You are sure?"
"Iknow! I really believe his story."
"I hope to—soon. But just now, Mrs. Lawrence—" He saw tears in her fine eyes. "You have nothing to fear from me if he is innocent."
She pressed his hand gratefully, and then closed the door. Carroll, inhaling the bracing air of the winter night, proceeded briskly to the curb. Then, standing with one foot on the running board of his car, he stared peculiarly at the big white house standing starkly in the moonlight—
"I wonder," he mused softly—"I wonder—"