He hung up, abruptly. I went back to my chair, troubled. He had not asked me about Ricori. That in itself
was disquieting. Mollie? Peters' sister, of course! Was it that she had learned of her brother's death, and
suffered collapse? I recalled that Ricori had said she was soon to be a mother. No, I felt that McCann's
panic had been due to something more than that. I became more and more uneasy. I looked over my
appointments. There were no important ones. Coming to sudden determination, I told my secretary to
call up and postpone them. I ordered my car, and set out for the address McCann had given me.
McCann met me at the door of the apartment. His face was drawn and his eyes haunted. He drew me
within without a word, and led me through the hall. I passed an open door and glimpsed a woman with a
sobbing child in her arms. He took me into a bedroom and pointed to the bed.
There was a man lying on it, covers pulled up to his chin. I went over to him, looked down upon him,