finding anything worth while. "Yes; I'll be ready for
you."

Something else was on Greenleaf's mind.

"This Braceway," he said sarcastically, "the smartest detective in the
South. He'll be here in the morning. What will we do? Work with him?"

"Sure," Bristow replied heartily, as if to fore-stall the other's dislike
of the new-comer. "Even if he were no good, the best thing we could do
would be to work with him. And, as he's something of a world-beater,
we'll get the benefit of his ideas. By all means, let's all keep together
on this thing."

"All right," Greenleaf agreed, his tone a little surly. "Your appointment
to my force is O. K. I fixed that this afternoon. Good night."

"Good night--and don't forget to send that stuff off to the Charlotte
laboratory tonight. If we can find out who scratched somebody last night,
if we can determine who had little bits of foreign skin under the finger
nails today, we've got the answer to this murder mystery. That's one
thing sure."

Bristow turned off the lights in the living room and went to his dressing
room to prepare for bed on the sleeping porch.

"Money," he was thinking as he undressed; "money and fifteen thousand
dollars' worth of jewelry. Where has it all gone? That's the thing that
will settle this case, and I think--I think I've a pretty good idea of
what will be proved about it."

CHAPTER IX

WOMEN'S NERVES

Lucy Thomas in a cell in the Furmville jail sat on the edge of her cot
at midnight, staring into inky darkness while she tried to remember
the events of the night before. She was not of the slow-witted,
stupid-looking type of negro women. The thing against which she struggled
was not poverty of brain but the mist of forgetfulness with which the
fumes of liquor had surrounded her.

Questioned and requestioned by the police during the afternoon and early
evening, she had been able to tell them only that she and Perry had been
drinking together in her little two-room cabin. When he had left her,
what he had said, whether he had returned--these points were as
effectually covered up in her mind as if she had never had cognizance of
them.

She did remember, however, certain things which she had not imparted to
the police. One was that at some time during the night there had been a
struggle between herself and Perry. The other was that at some time,
far into the night or very early in the morning, she had heard the
clank-clank of the iron key falli