Carroll. But just the same there ain't no such animal."

Carroll turned to the dazed Walters.

"Understand what we've just discovered, son?" he inquired mildly.

Spike's teeth were chattering with cold.

"I don't hardly understand none of it, sir. 'Cording to what I make out,
that suit-case belongs to the body and not to the woman."

"Right! Now what I want to know is how that could be."

Spike shook his head dazedly.

"Lordy, Mr. Carroll, I couldn't be knowing that."

"You're sure the woman got into your cab alone?"

"Absolutely, sir. She came through the waiting-room alone, carrying that
very same suit-case--"

"You're positive it was _that_ suit-case?"

"Yes, sir--that is, as positive as I can be. You see I was on the lookout
for a fare, but wasn't expecting one, on account of the fact that this
here train was an accommodation, and folks that usually come in on it
take street-cars and not a taxi. Well, the minute I seen a good-lookin',
well-dressed woman comin' out the door, I sort of noticed. It surprised
me first off, because I asked myself what she was doing on that train."

"You thought it was peculiar?"

"Not peculiar, exactly; but sort of--of--interesting."

"I see. Go ahead!"

"Well, she was carrying that suit-case, and she seemed in a sort of a
hurry. She walked straight out of the door and toward the curb, and--"

"Did she appear to be expecting some one?"

"No, sir. I noticed that particularly. Sort of thought a fine lady like
her would have some one to meet her, which is how I happened to notice
that she didn't seem to expect nobody. She come right to the curb and
called me. I was parked along the curb on the right side of Atlantic
Avenue--headin' north, that is--and I rolled up. She handed me the
suit-case and told me to drive her to No. 981 East End Avenue. I stuck
the suit-case right where you got it from just now; and while I ain't
sayin' nothin' about what happened back yonder in the cab, Mr. Carroll,
I'll bet anything in the world that that there suit-case is the same one
she carried through the waitin'-room and handed to me."

"H-m! Peculiar. You drove straight out here, Walters?"

"Straight as a bee-line, sir. Frozen stiff, I was, drivin' right into the
wind eastward along East End Avenue, and I had to raise the windshield a
bit because there was ice on it and I couldn't see nothin'--an' my
headlights ain't any too strong."

"You didn't stop anywhere?"

"No, sir. Wait a mi