It was a woman's pongee automobile-coat. He held it
up to the light. The pocket on the right-hand side was scorched
and burned, and a hole was torn clean through it. I gasped when
the full significance of it dawned on me.
"How did you get it?" I exclaimed at last in surprise.
"That's where organisation comes in," said Kennedy. "The police
at my request went over every messenger call from Parker's office
that afternoon, and traced every one of them up. At last they
found one that led to Bruce's apartment. None of them led to Mrs.
Parker's home. The rest were all business calls and
satisfactorily accounted for. I reasoned that this was the one
that involved the disappearance of the automobile-coat. It was a
chance worth taking, so I got Downey to call up Bruce's valet.
The valet of course recognised Downey's voice and suspected
nothing. Downey assumed to know all about the coat in the package
received yesterday. He asked to have it sent up here. I see the
scheme worked."
"But, Kennedy, do you think she--" I stopped, speechless, looking
at the scorched coat.
"Nothing to say--yet," he replied laconically. "But if you could
tell me anything about that note Parker received I'd thank you."
I related what our managing editor had said that morning. Kennedy
only raised his eyebrows a fraction of an inch.
Pages:
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38