"Nick," said he, "we cleaned pretty well in St. Louis, but we left a mystery behind, all the same."
"It is a matter of money, isn't it?" queried Nick, with a look of understanding.
"Sure. Gabe Leonard saw Cora Reesey put fifteen thousand dollars in bank-notes in her bosom that night on the wharf. Now, when her dead body reached the morgue the money was gone. The coroner, having no idea of the identity of the corpse, and knowing nothing of any relations of a business nature or otherwise between a certain Madame Ree, a palmist, and Gabriel Leonard, manufacturer, did not look for missing money when he searched what was left of the woman's clothing. He found nothing of value. Even the rings on her fingers were gone."
"Yes, I know that."
"Well, what do you think? Did the fishes and the crabs eat the rings and the notes, or——"
"Or was the body robbed before it reached the morgue? It was robbed, beyond the shadow of a doubt."
"Then the Leonard-Dashwood-Reesey case cannot be considered closed until the mystery of that robbery shall have been solved. I have an idea that some day you will bump up against the robber."
Nick laughed. "All sorts of things happen in this curious world," he said.