ounced, "but this is my
idea: we'll present all we have against Perry, and have him held for the
grand jury. We've got enough to do that--the buttons evidence, his
failure to present anything like an alibi, the mark of the rubber sole on
the front porch, the inability of the woman, Lucy Thomas, to say whether
or not she gave Perry the kitchen key to Number Five."

"She can't remember that, can she?"

"No; not even when we've got her locked up in jail."

"Chief, do you think Perry killed and robbed Mrs. Withers?"

"I think this," he replied: "it's an even chance he did. If he didn't,
it's a sure thing that his being accused of it and locked up for it may
make the real criminal more careless and give us a better chance to catch
him."

"Yes; you're right. What reports have you had on the mysterious man
Withers says he saw, the fellow with the long-visored cap, long raincoat,
and gold tooth?"

"A little something. Jenkins has scoured the town pretty well in the time
he had, A clerk at Maplewood Inn thinks--_thinks_--he saw such a man in
the lobby there about three weeks ago. And one of our patrolmen, Ashurst,
says he's pretty certain he saw him two months ago near here, in fact
down on Freeman Avenue near where Manniston Road branches off from it. It
was at night, nearly midnight."

"Did Ashurst watch him?"

"Only carelessly. Says he saw him walk on down Freeman Avenue as if he
intended going into the town."

"What did the clerk see? What did this fellow do in the Maplewood Inn
lobby?"

"Nothing--came in, bought a pack of cigarettes, and went out."

"Anybody else seen him?"

"Not so far as we've been able to discover."

"Has he ever registered at any of the hotels here?"

"Not that we can find; no, never."

"Funny," ruminated Bristow, "very funny. Yes, I think you're right,
chief. Put up the case against Perry until we can do something better
or prove it on him absolutely. Of course, if the laboratory test shows
that he had human flesh--a white person's flesh--under his finger nails,
that will settle it in my mind. There couldn't be any other answer."

"Will the test show whether it's a white person's skin or a nigger's?"

"Of course. There's no pigment in a white person's skin."

"Is that so? That's something I never knew before. Anyway, it certainly
will nail him, won't it? But, you don't feel anyways sure Perry's the
guilty man, do you?"

"No, I can't say I do. I'll tell you what we've got to cons