“This morning, however, I have made other discoveries,” Brady added. “They shed still a worse light on the case.”
“Did the circumstances last night differ materially from those of the three other cases about which Gleason informed me?” the detective inquired.
“No, they were almost identical.”
“You need not state them, then. What more have you discovered?”
Brady told him what Donovan had seen and heard, nevertheless, and he then added, replying:
“Doctor Devoll asked the girl for her name and address in this case. She said it was Mabel Smith and that she boarded at No. 81 Flint Street. I have been there this morning. The house is occupied by a man with whom I am well acquainted, and who is entirely reliable. He knows no girl named Mabel Smith. She gave Doctor Devoll a fictitious name.”
“I see,” Carter nodded. “That is somewhat significant.”
“I also learned from Donovan, who was present when the girl revived, that she claimed to have had a small leather bag. I happen to know that she had, for I picked it up from the ground near the seat on which she was found. I placed it on the litter on which she was taken into the hospital, and I know it was there when she was taken into the ward.”
“Couldn’t it be found?”
“No. Since learning that she gave a false name, and, thinking the bag might contain something that would reveal her identity, I have been to the hospital in search of it.”