minutes. He said through his white teeth:

“Putney Stephney was murdered last night!”

The girl swayed. She reached blindly for the arms of the chair.

“Murdered by an unknown method!”

A gasping sob racked the air. The beat of a powerful engine throbbed the garage. It was like the roll of a muffled drum.

“Foully murdered! Done to death between the steamship dock and Poughkeepsie, where he was found with skull crushed and his lungs empty of air. He was last seen getting into your taxicab!”

“Oh, don’t! It isn’t true!”

Fay leaned until his eyes compelled hers to waver. “It’s true,” he whispered. “Now, tell me what happened to Putney Stephney? The matter is going to do the Gray Brotherhood and the Gray Taxi Company considerable harm.”

“Do with him?”

“Certainly! What did you do with him? The truth, and nothing but the truth. It’s bound to come out!”

“See here!” The girl braced her shoulders and stared back defiantly. “See here!” she flashed with sudden anger. “I can give you no information except—”

“Except what?”

“The record of the call. That is all that I will ever give you or anybody else. My personal affairs are not to be dragged about by an amateur investigator.”

“That’s all I want.” Fay turned and motioned for Rake to leave the office. He waited until the door closed with a click.

“We’re going to be frank,” he said. “I’m here to help you out. You met Stephney at the dock, after waiting around for hours. I’d judge by this action that you knew him. He perhaps wirelessed or telegraphed you from Quarantine.”

The girl brushed her hair from her eyes with the back of her right hand. She stared at the rug, then into Fay’s keen face.

“I met him by his own appointment.”

“Ah! Now we’re getting on, Miss Elsie. You met him—after waiting a long time. He had an enormous sum of money. You alone knew that he was coming. He trusted in you so as 

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