e person."

"Of course," criticized Bat, "that's the regular way for 'bulls' to
work. They grab off everything they can."

"Listen to this!" Ashton-Kirk took up one of the newspapers and turned
to the first page. "The head-lines read:

"'CLUE TO STANWICK PUZZLE
A WOMAN FIGURES IN MURDER OF BURTON
_Clever Work by City Sleuth_
_He Finds Evidence Overlooked by Others_'"

"Stuff of that kind is like steam coal to a boiler," spoke Mr. Scanlon.
"It'll keep the reporters going for days."

"The body of the article is shot full of fanciful matter," said the
investigator, as he tossed the paper aside. "It must have been a youth
of considerable imagination who wrote it; the casual reader would take
from his printed remarks that the city authorities have the woman who
made the footprints directly under their eyes--that only an order is
necessary, and she'll be taken into custody."

Scanlon looked at the graying end of the cigarette with uneasy eyes; he
shifted in the big chair and crossed one leg over another.

"That fellow Osborne'll never find out anything unless some one tells
him," said the big athlete. "And no one's going to do that--not yet,
anyway, eh?"

There came a knock upon the door.

"Come in," called Ashton-Kirk.

A short man entered; he had big shoulders and remarkable girth of chest,
and he carried a black, hard hat in his hand.

"Sit down, Burgess," requested the investigator. The man with the
bulging chest nodded to Scanlon and took a seat upon the edge of the
sofa. "I've just been going over that report of yours," went on
Ashton-Kirk. "You have done very well. And I thank you."

Burgess fingered the rim of the black hat, and seemed gratified.

"I never saw a job develop so," said he. "Didn't look like much at
first; but it was all over the place in a day or two. I had to jump
clean to Cleveland almost at once. I guess Fuller told you." And as the
investigator nodded, the big-chested man proceeded: "I squeezed
Cleveland dry, and followed the lead to Milwaukee, then to Nashville,
and finally to New Orleans. I got most of my leads in Cleveland; she was
married there and quite a lot of people knew her."

Ashton-Kirk picked up the typed sheets and glanced through them as
though to refresh his memory.

"They seem to speak very highly of her," said he.

"Couldn't be better," replied Burgess. "But there was one little
drawback. There wasn't any of them that knew her very well--except
professi