“Not likely,” said Wise. “You see he wouldn’t forget and he had no reason to make the thing clear to anybody else.”
“Molly said somebody was in here prowling,” Dorcas reminded, “so somebody knew there was a paper to look for.”
“But all this paper business presupposes the bread or cake people, and they aren’t women,” objected Wise.
“That paper about the women may be misleading,” Zizi said, thoughtfully. “They may have been back of the murder, or, on the other hand, they may have been the tools of men responsible for the murder.”
“But you can’t get away from women’s connection with the crime. Whether directly or indirectly guilty, they are the people to look for,—they are our quarry, and they must be found.”
Dorcas paled and her red lower lip quivered. “Oh, Mr Wise,” she begged, “do be careful! It would be so awful if you suspected innocent women just because of the paper! Even granting it is a genuine dying message, it may mean so many things——”
She broke down and Zizi ran to her and threw her aims around the shaking form.
“Come, dear,” she said; “you’re all unstrung; don’t look around here any more now. If there’s a paper to be found, Penny will find it.”
She led Dorcas away and took her back to her own home, and, urging her to lie down, she soothed the throbbing forehead with her magnetic finger-tips and soon Dorcas fell asleep.
Zizi tiptoed from the girl’s bedroom, and encountered Mrs Everett on her way out.