"Don't you?" The Chief eyed him steadily. "When you reported to me in the Dumois case, you said you had found one clue that looked promising but that it didn't turn out to be the girl you were after. But you didn't mention, Ross, that the girl whose trail you dropped so quickly, without giving Madame Dumois a chance to identify her, had a scar on her face. Don't try to flim-flam me, the old lady herself has tipped me off to that, and I tell you the whole thing dovetails too well to be a coincidence. Are you shielding that girl?—But no, I should not have asked that, Ross. I have never yet had cause to doubt your professional honor."
The young man flushed darkly.
"Thank you, sir, I'm not going to make a fool of myself and bring ridicule on the office by following a wild goose chase. I hope I am experienced enough to know when to drop a false clue! The girl I located has had a mark upon her face from birth; the one for whom Madame Dumois is searching has no blemish whatever and never had. I have the old lady's word for it and that is conclusive enough. As for the other girl at Mrs. Atterbury's I have nothing to say about her. She may be a daughter, or a dependant for all I know."
"Or a pretty shrewd accomplice!" McCormick banged the desk and swung his chair around to face his operative. "You remember the case J. Todhunter Crane put in my hands? He'd done business with a girl with a scar; Mrs. Haddon Cheever brought a similar affair to my notice, but weakened. She knew the result to her if the police got hold of it, but she, too, described the girl. I've got enough to take her on suspicion now, if I can get her identified, and things are coming to a head. The police will beat me to it, if I don't hustle."
"But what is a scar? If you are going to pull a suspect on a serious charge with no other evidence than that he or she has a birthmark, Chief, you're going to let yourself in for trouble." The young man's tone was a shade too eager and McCormick watched him from beneath lowering brows. "You can't drag a woman of Mrs. Atterbury's position through the mire unless you are mighty sure some of it will cling to her skirts."
"What if I tell you that I've got her already? At least, not enough to tap her on the shoulder with, but a line that connects her in a way she'll find it hard to explain, with a lot that has puzzled us for the past five years. In fact, ever since Brooke Hamilton came to me from Chicago; you remember the case?"
"Great Lord!" Herbert Ross shrank as if he had received a sudden blow, and his voice was a hoarse whisper. "You don't mean that Mrs. Atterbury is mixed up in that—?"
"If I'm not mistaken, she's the brains of the whole outfit. I'll have to prove it, of course, but I'm pretty confident that I can put it over. Oh, it's not just that you spotted Ide outside her gate, or the evidence of the girl—"
"Remember, I'm not certain about Ide. I warned you of that!" The young man broke in, but his superior smiled.
"I am. I could put my hand on him within an hour, but I'm giving him a little more rope. You know that Larne murder out in Denver the other day?"