and Captain Strawn for not arresting him.... He was
the first to leave--just walked straight out; wouldn't even stop to talk
with Janet Raymond, who was trying to get a word with him. I saw him
start toward Sheridan Road--walking. He had no car, you know."

"Did you observe the others?" Dundee demanded eagerly. "Do you know who
went _alone_ to the guest closet?"

Penny shook her head. "Everybody was milling around in the hall, and I
paid no attention. Lois said she would drive me home, and then I went in
to ask you to let me stay behind with you--"

"I remember.... Listen, Penny! I'm going to tell you something else that
nobody knows yet but Sanderson, Lydia and me. I don't have to ask you
not to tell any of your friends. You know well enough that anything you
learn from either Sanderson or me is strictly confidential."

Penny nodded, her face very white and her brown eyes big with misery.

"I have every reason to believe that Nita Selim was a blackmailer, that
she came to Hamilton for the express purpose of bleeding someone she had
known before, or someone on whom she had 'the goods' from some
underworld source or other.... At any rate, Nita banked ten thousand
mysterious dollars--$5,000 on April 28, and $5,000 on May 5. I talked to
Drake last night, and I have his word for it that the money was in bills
of varying denomination--none large--when Nita presented it for deposit.
Therefore it seems clear to me that Nita got the money right here in
Hamilton; otherwise it would have come to her in the form of checks or
drafts or money orders. And it seems equally clear to me that she did
not bring that large amount of cash from New York with her, or she would
have deposited it in a lump sum in the bank immediately after her
arrival."

"Yes," Penny agreed. "But why are you telling _me_?... Of course I'm
interested--"

"Because I want you to tell me the financial status of each of your
friends," Dundee said gently. "I know how hard it is for you--"

"You could find out from others, so I might as well tell you," Penny
interrupted, with a weary shrug. "Judge Marshall is well-to-do, and
Karen's father--her mother is dead--settled $100,000 on her when she
married. She has complete control of her own money.... The Dunlaps are
the richest people in Hamilton, and have been for two or three
generations. Lois was 'first-family' but poor when she married Peter,
but he's been giving her an allowance of $20,000 a year for several