made an abrupt departure, her shrill hatred ringing in his ears when
he reached the street. He found it hard, too, to get her out of his
eyes, even now--she had impressed herself so shockingly upon him. The
picture of her floated in front of him, above the shimmering pavement,
as if he still confronted her in all her unloveliness, the smooth, white
face like a travesty on youth, the swift, darting eyes, the hard,
straight lines of the lean figure, the cold deliberation of manner and
movement.

"She's incapable of grief!" he thought. "Terrible! She's terrible!"

Lally drove him to his apartment on Fifteenth street, where the largest
of three rooms served him as a combination library and office. There he
kept his records, in a huge, old-fashioned safe; and there, also, he
held his conferences, from time to time, with police chiefs and
detectives from all parts of the country when they sought his help in
their pursuit of criminals.

The walls were lined with books from floor to ceiling. A large table in
the centre of the room was stacked high with newspapers and magazines.
Dusty papers and books were piled, too, on several chairs set against
the bookcases, and on the floor in one corner was a pyramid of
documents.

"This place is like me," he explained to visitors; "it's loosely
dressed."

He sat down at the table and wrote instructions for one of his two
assistants, his best man, Hendricks. Russell's room must be searched and
Russell interviewed--work for which Hastings felt that he himself could
not spare the time. He gave Hendricks a second task: investigation of
the financial standing of two people: Berne Webster and Mrs. Catherine
Brace.

He noted, with his customary kindness, in his memorandum to Hendricks:

"Sunday's a bad day for this sort of work, but do the best you can.
Report tomorrow morning."

That arranged, he set out for Sloanehurst, to keep his promise to
Lucille--he would be there for the inquest.

On the way he reviewed matters:

"Somehow, I got the idea that the Brace woman _knew_ Russell hadn't
killed her daughter. Funny, that is. How could she have known that? How
can she know it now?

"She's got the pivotal fact in this case. I felt it. I'm willing to bet
she persuaded her daughter to pursue Webster. And things have gone
'bust'--didn't come out as she thought they would. What was she after,
money? That's exactly it! Exactly! Her daughter could hold up Webster,
and Webster could hold u