and get me some light on them. I've kept some notes on
what they have 'phoned in to me. The telephone company, the wire-chief
at Gramercy Hill, and an official I know, have been enlisted in getting
to the bottom of these calls. They have made progress. But, Delaney, of
all the devilish inventions of man, a telephone is the most subtle.
It's a wonder to me we have found anything. It's the crook's one best
tool. With it he can play safe, and we can't catch him!"

"What have you found, Chief?"

Drew held up a paper. "The first call, Delaney," he said, "was the one
to the cemetery company's superintendent, notifying him to excavate a
grave in the Stockbridges' family plot. Subtle suggestion, that, in the
light of what followed."

"It was," said Delaney.

"This call has received all of the attention it deserved. It's the
first of the series, and was perhaps made before the crook had time to
cover himself completely. It has been traced to a slot booth in the
Pennsylvania Railroad Station in the Woman's Waiting Room."

"Woman's?"

"Yes, Delaney. That is no criterion that a woman did the calling-up.
The girl there in charge of the pay-booths states that more men than
women use the 'phones in that part of the station."

"Just our luck!"

"The toll collected on this call must have been thirty-five cents,
including the war-tax. The superintendent says that the voice over the
wire was thin and tired. He says he thought it was Dr. Conroy. He never
gave the matter second consideration. Conroy, however, has a voice like
a bull. We checked that up."

"Does the superintendent know Conroy?"

"No! Except by name!"

"Then, Chief, I don't see any use trying that lead. It begins and ends
in air."

"It most certainly does! We'll cross it out. The next call for our
investigation----"

"Which was?" asked Delaney, waking up.

"Which was the one notifying Stockbridge that he had about reached his
span of life on this earth. I was there in that library when the call
came in. Again, from the millionaire's description, this time, we have
the thin, whispering voice on the wire. The man was probably the same.
He mentioned the cemetery letter which would establish that fact."

"I'm following you, Chief. Go on!"

Drew picked out a second sheet of paper from his pile. "We went after
this call at the time, or soon after the time it was sent in," he said,
tapping the sheet with his fingers. "I called the office here and had
Harrigan g