entity of the woman in the taxicab, have
you, Gresham?"

"No. Have you?"

"None whatever; though I fancy something ought to develop in the near
future. The city is discussing it pretty freely?"

"The town's wild about it. They don't understand anything. It's tough on
my sister. Hazel is only a kid, and I think she was in love with Warren.
Well, good day, Carroll." He extended a firm hand. "Any time I can be of
any help--"

"Thanks, Gresham."

Five minutes after Gresham's departure, Carroll was in his car, headed
for the police-station. He turned the case over and over in a keen,
analytic mind which had been refreshed by a night of untroubled sleep.

There were a good many features about it which puzzled him considerably.
While he had not expected that the trail of the mysterious midnight woman
would lead to the fiancee of the dead man, the sudden dissipation of that
as a clue rather threw him off his balance. He had reached the end of a
trail almost before setting foot upon it.

Thus far he had refused to allow himself to be worried by the strangest
feature of the case--the appearance of the dead body in a taxicab which,
according to its driver's story, could not have been other than empty. It
was always easy to explain the disappearance of a person from an
automobile; but, he figured, it was patently impossible to enter one
without the driver's knowledge.

He reached headquarters and closeted himself with Leverage. They plunged
at once into a discussion of that phase of the case.

"There are only two things which could have happened," said the chief of
police slowly. "One is that some one croaked that bird Warren and shoved
him into the cab while the woman was ridin' in it. The other is that he
slipped into the cab and she killed him. While I ain't jumpin' on no set
ideas, I have a hunch that the last one is right."

"Why?"

"Because the other--that idea of puttin' a dead body into a cab without
the driver knowing it--it just naturally ain't possible."

"Then you are quite convinced, Leverage, that Walters did _not_ know
anything about it?"

"Now, say, Carroll, that's putting it up to me rather strong; but since
you're asking, I'm here to say that I believe the kid. Of course it's
possible that he was in on the deal--but I'm betting Liberty bonds
against Russian rubles that he'd have slipped somewhere if that had been
the case. Nobody that's in on a murder deal is going to frame a lie that
sticks his b