at large--and as a matter of duty--"

"Duty to whom? I am content to let the matter rest where it is. All of
your investigation isn't going to restore Roland to life. You can only
cause more misery, more suffering, more heartbreak--"

"It is a duty to the State, Miss Gresham. And, frankly, I cannot
understand your attitude--"

"She has had enough--" broke in Garry Gresham. "She's been through hell
since--that night."

"I'm afraid, though--"

"Mr. Carroll--you _can_ call it off, if you will." Hazel Gresham rose
and paced the room. "The case is in your hands. You can gain nothing by
finding the person who committed the--the--deed. Let's drop it. Do me
that favor, won't you? Let's consider the whole thing at an end!"

David Carroll was puzzled. But he was honest--"I'm afraid I cannot, Miss
Gresham. I must, at least, try to solve it."

She paused before him: figure tensed--

"Then let me say, Mr. Carroll--that I hope you fail!"

CHAPTER XVI

THE WOMAN IN THE TAXI

From the Gresham home, David Carroll went straight to headquarters.
Developments had been tumbling over each other so fast that he found
himself unable to sort them properly. He wanted to talk the thing over
with someone, to place each new lead in the investigation under the
microscope in an attempt to discern its true value in relation to the
killing of Roland Warren.

Eric Leverage was the one man to whom he could talk. And, locked in the
Chief's office, he told all that he knew about the case, detailing
conversations, explaining the situation as he understood it, reserving
his suspicions and watching keenly for the reaction on the stolid mind of
the plodding, practical Chief.

Carroll placed an exceedingly high valuation on Leverage's opinion--even
though the minds of the two men were as far apart as the poles. But
Leverage was a magnificent man for the office he held: competent,
methodical, intensely orthodox--but typical of the modern police in
contradistinction to the modern detective.

Carroll knew that modern police methods have received a great deal more
than their share of unjust criticism. He knew that the entire theory of
national policing is based on an exhaustive system of records and
statistics. It operates by brute force and all-pervading power rather
than by any attempt at sublety or keen deduction. The former is so much
safer as a method. And the combination of the two--keen analysis, logical
deduction and plodding inves