streamed past me on my left hand, as I made my way to Worth and the
jailer's office, trying with every mile I put behind me, to bolster my
courage. Why wasn't this shift of the enemy a blessing in disguise? Let
their setting of the hour for the murder stick, and wouldn't Worth's
alibi be better than any we should have been able to dig up for him
before midnight?

From time to time I was troubled by recollection of Barbara's crushed
look from the moment they sprung it on us, but brushed that aside with
the obvious explanation that her efforts in bringing Mrs. Bowman to
speak out had just been of no use; surely enough to depress her.

Worth met me, fit, quiet, not over eager about anything. They let us
talk with a guard outside the door. Once alone, he listened
appreciatively while I told him of our interview with Cummings and
Dykeman as fast as I could pile the words out.

"Nobody on earth like Bobs," was his sole comment. "Never was, never
will be."

"And now," I reminded him nervously, "there's the question of this
alibi. You went straight from the restaurant to your room at the Palace
and to bed there?"

"No-o," he said slowly. "No, I didn't."

"Well--well," I broke in. "If you stopped on the way, you can remember
where. The people you spoke to will be as good as the clerks and
bell-hops at the Palace for your alibi." He sat silent, thoughtful, and
I added, "Where did you go from Tait's, Worth?"

"To a garage--in the Tenderloin--where they keep good cars. I'd hired
machines from them before."

"Oh, they knew you there? Then their testimony will--"

"I don't believe you want it, Jerry. It only accounts for the half
hour--or less--right after I left you; all I did was to hire a car."

"A car," I echoed vaguely. "What kind of a car? Hired it for when?"

"I asked them for the fastest thing they had in the shop. Told 'em to
fill it all round, and see that it was tuned up to the last notch. I
wanted speed."

"My God, Worth! Do you know what you're telling me?"

"The truth, Jerry." His eye met mine unflinchingly. "That's what you
want, isn't it?"

"Where did you go?" I groaned. "You must have seen somebody who could
identify or remember you?"

"Not a solitary human being to identify me. Those I passed--there were
people out of course, late as it was--saw my headlights as I went by.
But I was moving fast, Jerry. I was working off a grouch; I needed
speed."

"Where did you go?"

"Straight down the penin