softly, reassuringly.

"I'm sorry I've come this way, Mrs. Lawrence. I've come--"

"I know why you have come, Mr. Carroll. You need not mince matters."

He drew a long breath. "Isn't it true, Mrs. Lawrence, that _you_ were the
woman in the taxi-cab the night Mr. Warren was killed?"

She inclined her head. "Yes."

Carroll fidgeted nervously. "I must warn you to be careful in what you
say to me, my friend. I am the detective in charge of this case, and--"

"There is no use in concealment, Mr. Carroll. I have been driven almost
crazy since that night. I have almost reached the end of my rope. It was
the scandal I have been fighting to avoid--not so much for my own sake as
for Evelyn and my husband. Publicity--of this kind--would be
very--very--awkward--for both of them."

"I'm sorry--" Carroll hesitated. "If you don't care to talk to me--"

She shrugged slightly. "It makes no difference--now. I'd rather talk to
you than someone who might understand less readily--or more harshly."

"I may question you?"

"Yes."

"I regret it--and rest assured that I am trying to find--a way
out--for you."

"There is no way out--from the scandal. But that is my own fault--"

Somewhere down the block an auto horn shrieked: in another room of the
house an old grandfather's clock chimed sonorously.

"You admit that you were the woman in the taxicab?"

"Yes. Certainly."

"Do you admit that you killed Roland Warren?"

Her startled eyes flashed to his. The color drained from her cheeks. Her
answer was almost inaudible--

"No!"

"You did not kill him?" Carroll was impressed with the nuance of truth in
her answer.

"No--I did not kill him."

"But when you got into the taxicab--isn't it a fact that he was
already there?"

"Yes--he was there, Mr. Carroll. _But he was already dead_!"

CHAPTER XX

A CONFESSION

"--Already dead!" Carroll did not know if his lips framed the words or if
the walls of the room had echoed. He was startled at a time when he
fancied that there could be no further surprise in store for him. He
found himself eyeing the woman and he wondered that he gave credence to
her statement.

Naomi was sitting straight, large black eyes dilated, hands gripping the
arms of the chair tightly, lips slightly parted. Even under the stress of
the moment Carroll was actually conscious of her feminine allure; unable
to free himself of her hypnotic personality. She spoke--but he scarcely
heard her words thr