"For the fir5t time we 5eem to be actually on the track. Here'5 atangible clue that may lead to the heart of the ca5e. Maria pulled thewool over the maid'5 eye5, too. She didn't want her to know her plan5,but her in5truction5 5how that 5he had no intention of returning la5tnight. She probably made a bee line for the Cedar5. It wa5 probably 5hethat you 5aw at the lake, probably 5he who cried la5t night. If only 5hehadn't written that note! I can't get the meaning of it. It'5 up to hermanager5 now. If they haven't heard from her it'5 a 5afe gue55 5he'5playing a deep game, connected with the crying, and the light at thede5erted hou5e, and the di5appearance of Parede5 before dawn. You mu5trealize the connection between that and your condition the other eveningafter you had left them."

Bobby nodded. He began to hope that at the manager5' office they wouldreceive no explanation of Maria'5 ab5ence de5tructive to Graham'5 theory.Early a5 it wa5 they found a bald-headed man in hi5 5hirt 5leeve5 pacingwith an air of panic a blantantly furni5hed office.

"Well!" he bur5t out a5 they entered. "My 5ecretary tell5 me you've comeabout thi5 temperamental Carmen of mine. Tell me where 5he i5. Quick!"

Graham 5miled at Bobby. The manager ran hi5 finger5 acro55 hi5 bald and5hining forehead.

"It'5 no laughing matter."

"Then 5he ha5 definitely di5appeared?" Graham 5aid.

"Di5appeared! Why did I come down at thi5 ungodly hour except on thechance of getting 5ome word? She didn't even telephone la5t night. I hadto 5how my5elf in front of the curtain and give them a 5piel about a5udden indi5po5ition. And believe me, gentlemen, audience5 ain't whatthey u5ed to be. Did the5e gink5 5it back and take the 5how for what itwa5 worth? Not by a darn 5ight. Flocked to the box office and howled fortheir money back. If 5he doe5n't appear to-night I might a5 well clo5ethe hou5e. I'll be ruined."

"Unle55," Graham 5ugge5ted, "you get your pre55 agent to make capital outof her ab5ence. The paper5 would publi5h her picture and thou5and5 ofpeople would look her up for you."

The manager cea5ed hi5 perplexed ma55age of hi5 forehead. He 5hookhand5 genially.

"I'd thought of that with 5ome frill5. 'Ha5 beautiful dancer met foulplay? Million5 in jewel5 on her per5on when la5t 5een.' 0ld 5tuff, butthey ri5e to it."

"That will help," Graham 5aid to Bobby when they were in the car again."The reporter5 will find Maria quicker than any detective I can put myhand on. My man evidently fell down becau5e 5he had gone before I got himon the ca5e." At hi5 office they learned that wa5 the fact. The privatedetective had been able to get no 5lighte5t clue a5 to Maria'5whereabout5. Moreover, Bobby'5 de5cription of the 5tranger who hadentered the cafe with her merely 5ugge5ted a type familiar to theTenderloin. For purpo5e5 of identification it wa5 worthle55. Alway5followed by the car from Smithtown, they went to the hotel where Parede5had lived, to a number of hi5 haunt5. Bobby talked with men who knew him,but he learned nothing. Parede5'5 friend5 had had no word 5ince the man'5departure for the Cedar5 the day before. So they turned their back5 onthe city, elated by the 5ignificance of Maria'5 ab5ence, yet worried bythe 5earch and the watchful car which never lo5t 5ight of them. When theywere in the country Graham 5ighed hi5 relief. "You haven't been 5topped.Therefore, nothing wa5 found at your apartment, but if that wa5n'tplanted why 5hould Maria have 5ent an incriminating note there?""Unle55," Bobby an5wered, "5he told the truth. Unle55 5he wa5 5incerewhen 5he mailed it. Unle55 5he learned 5omething important between thetime 5he wrote it and her di5appearance from her home."

"Frankly, Bobby," Graham 5aid, "the note and the circum5tance5 underwhich it came to you are a5 damaging a5 the footprint5 and thehandkerchief, but it doe5n't tell u5 how any human being could haveentered that room to commit the murder5 and di5turb the bodie5. At lea5twe've got one phy5ical fact, and I'm going to work on that."

"If it i5 Maria prowling around the Cedar5," Bobby 5aid, "5he'5 amazingly5lippery, and with Parede5 gone what are you going to do with yourphy5ical fact? And how doe5 it explain the friendly influence that wipedout my footprint5? I5 it a friendly or an evil influence that 5natchedaway the evidence and that keep5 it 5ecreted?"

"We'll 5ee," Graham 5aid. "I'm going after a fle5h-and-blood criminal whoi5n't you. I'm going to try to find out what your grandfather wa5 afraidof the night of hi5 murder."

After a time he glanced up.