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Rh Odell looked up and waited for him to speak.

"Sergeant," he began at length with a speculative eye on the glowing tip of his cigar, "from what my young friend Gene Chalmers has told me to-night I believe you to be a man of not only common sense but intelligence; if I did not I should not have sought this interview. As I understand it Mr. Lorne sent for you through the mediation of his attorney to look into the coincidence of the deaths and other recent accidents which have taken place in his home. That of course is no concern of mine; but if in the pursuit of your investigation you should encounter evidence of some—er—irregularity which had no possible bearing on your case, what would you do?"

"Irregularity?" Odell repeated.

"Don't let us waste time by splitting hairs," Drew shrugged. "We will say rather that you might unearth a matter which would in no way interest the homicide department of your organization: a strictly family matter, the probing of which would cause only shame and unhappiness to people already burdened with grief and perplexity. Would you consider it your duty without consulting those most immediately concerned to bring it to the attention "of—er—another branch of the police service?"

"If I discovered evidence of another and separate crime unconnected with the matter now under investigation?" The detective paused in seeming reflection. "That is rather a complex question, Mr. Drew. I fancy it would depend largely upon the nature of the crime and who ultimately benefited by it."

Farley Drew's eyes narrowed, but his tone was still that of one propounding an abstruse and impersonal argument.