"After that," he commented, "I'm almost tempted to throw away what I had to show you; its importance dwindles."
"What is it?"
"A confession by Lucy Thomas that Perry went to Number Five the night, rather the morning, of the murder."
"You got that—from her!" exclaimed Greenleaf.
"Yes—signed."
"Mr. Bristow, you're a wonder! By cripes, you are! My men couldn't get anything out of her. Neither could I."
"Here it is. I wrote out her story and read it back to her, and she signed it."
Greenleaf took the paper and read it:
"I know Perry Carpenter went to Mrs. Withers' house Monday night. He and I had been drinking together, and I was nearly drunk, but he was only about half-drunk. He told me he knew where he could get a lot of money, or 'something just as good as money,' because he had seen 'that white woman' with it. He and I had a fight because he wanted me to give him the key to Mrs. Withers' house, to her kitchen door.
"He broke the ribbon on which I used to hang the key around my neck, and he went out. That was pretty late in the night. Before daylight, he came back and flung the key on the floor, and he cursed me and hit me. I had two keys on the ribbon, one to Number Five, Manniston Road, and one to the house where I worked before I went to Mrs. Withers. He had taken the wrong one. When he hit me, he said: 'You think you're damn smart, giving me the wrong key; but that didn't stop me.' He seemed to be drunker then than he was when he went out earlier in the night.