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Rh much of that kind of work, but I wasn't goin' to lose a chance at that swell trade, so I said 'all right; an' that's all there is to it."

"So you'd never done any work for them before?"

"Nope. Dunno how they come to call me in the first place, but I ain't kickin' at that."

"Was the voice that talked to you over the telephone a man's or a woman's?" Odell inquired casually with a glance toward the door as if preparing to depart.

"Couldn't tell; it might have been either." Kenny straightened himself. "It was gruff-like, and rasping, but not real deep. Say," he added with a touch of anxiety, "that order ain't canceled, is it? The boys was to go back just after the noon hour and do the job."

"Oh, no. Send them along and it will be all right." The detective turned toward the door; and Titheredge, who had taken no part in the questioning, followed, marveling that the other had left the most important point untouched upon.

With his hand on the doorknob, however, Odell turned once more.

"Oh, by the way, that call came directly from the Meade house, didn't it?"

"Dunno!" Kenny looked his surprise. "It was a city call, all right, you could tell that from the way the voice come over the wire, but it might have been from anywhere's around town."

"Well, it sure is funny about those conflicting orders." The detective shook his head in a puzzled manner. "Too bad you can't fix the time the call came in to you any closer, Mr. Kenny."

"Hold on! Maybe I can." The head of the establish-