look for them without delay.

He paused to ask the driver one more question, whether he could identify
the voice which told him through the speaking tube to stop with that of
the man who had given him the shilling. The man answering affirmatively,
Willis turned to one of the plain clothes men.

"You have heard this driver's statement, Jones," he said. "You might get
away at once and see the men who were on point duty both at the corner
of Great Russell Street where the tall man got out, and in Piccadilly,
where both got in. Try the hotels thereabouts, the Albemarle and any
others you can think of. If you can get any information follow it up and
keep me advised at the Yard of your movements."

The man hurried away and Willis moved over once more to the taxi. The
assistant had by this time finished his flashlight photographs, and the
inspector, picking up the bicycle lamp, looked again into the interior.
A moment's examination showed him there were no raindrops on the
cushions, but his search nevertheless was not unproductive. Looking more
carefully this time than previously, he noticed on the floor of the cab
a dark object almost hidden beneath the seat. He drew it out. It was a
piece of thick black cloth about a yard square.

Considerably mystified, he held it up by two corners, and then his
puzzle became solved. In the cloth were two small holes, and round one
of them the fabric was charred and bore the characteristic smell
of burned powder. It was clear what had been done. With the object
doubtless of hiding the flash as well as of muffling the report, the
murderer had covered his weapon with a double thickness of heavy cloth.
No doubt it had admirably achieved its purpose, and Willis seized it
eagerly in the hope that it might furnish him with a clue as to its
owner.

He folded it and set it aside for further examination, turning back to
the body. Under his direction it was lifted out, placed on an ambulance
stretcher provided by the railwaymen, and taken to a disused office
close by. There the clothes were removed and, while the doctors busied
themselves with the remains, Willis went through the pockets and
arranged their contents on one of the desks.

The clothes themselves revealed but little information. The waterproof
and shoes, it is true, bore the makers' labels, but both these articles
were the ready-made products of large firms, and inquiry at their
premises would be unlikely to lead to any result. No