"Mr. Carroll!"
"Yes?"
"I wish you had been nineteen years old just now."
"Why?"
"Because," she flashed, "if you had been nineteen years old when I told you what I did, you would have kissed me!"
CHAPTER VI
REGARDING ROLAND WARREN
For a long time after Evelyn departed, Carroll remained seated, puffing amusedly on the cigar which followed his matutinal cigarette. Time had been long since the detective had come in contact with so much youthful spontaneity, and he found the experience refreshing. Then he rose and would have left the apartment for headquarters, but again Freda announced a caller.
"Another young lady?" questioned Carroll.
"No, sir. It bane young feller."
"Show him in."
The visitor entered, and Carroll found himself gazing into the level eyes of a slightly disheveled and obviously excited young man of about twenty-eight years of age. The man was slight of stature, but every nervous gesture bespoke wiriness.
"Are you Mr. Carroll?"
"Yes."
"I"m Gresham--Garrison Gresham."
"A-a-ah! Won"t you be seated!"
"Yes. I came to have a talk with you."
Carroll seated himself opposite his caller. Then he nodded.
"You came to see me?"
"About the Warren case."
"You know something about it?"
"Yes!" The young man seemed to bite the word. "I do."
"What?"
"You"re in charge of the case, aren"t you?"
"Yes."
"You"ve seen this morning"s papers?"
"I have."
"Well, they"re rotten--absolutely rotten. They don"t say it in so many words, but the impression they create is that my sister, Hazel, was the woman in the taxi who killed Roland Warren. It"s a d.a.m.ned lie!"
The young man was growing more excited. Carroll put out a restraining hand.
"I quite agree with you, my friend--it _was_ a pretty rotten impression to create; but I shall see that all doubt is removed from the mind of the public when this afternoon"s papers appear. I have just learned that your sister has an ironclad alibi."
"You have already learned that?"
"Yes."
Gresham leaned forward eagerly.
"What makes you sure--that she did not--was not--"
"Suppose I question you--if you have no objections."
"Fire away."
"Where was your sister at midnight last night?"
"At home."
"Alone? I mean was any one besides your family there?"
"Yes," replied Gresham, showing surprise at Carroll"s evident knowledge of facts.
"Who?"
"Evelyn Rogers spent the night with her. Evelyn"s a seventeen-year-old kid who has had what I believe you call a crush on my sister. They were together in that house from ten o"clock last night, or earlier, until this morning. And if you don"t believe that--"
"But I do. I have just had a visit from Miss Rogers, and she told me exactly what you have just repeated; so I"m pretty well satisfied that your sister had nothing whatever to do with the affair. I will take pains to see that this evening"s papers make that quite clear."
Gresham rose. A load seemed to have dropped from his shoulders.
"That"s white of you, Carroll! I appreciate it."
"Not at all. I have no desire to cause annoyance or inconvenience where it is unnecessary. And Miss Rogers told me, with great attention to detail, just why and how it was impossible for your sister to have been anywhere except at home last night."
"Evelyn"s considerable of a brick, in spite of the fact that she"s more or less minus in the upper story. And now, if you"re really satisfied, I"ll be going."
The two men walked to the door together. They were about of a height; Carroll slightly the heavier of the two.