Once they were gone, I drew a sigh of relief and in company with the Inspector and detective entered upon what was the real search of the premises. With the sitting-room and its contents I was very familiar, and nothing new was developed to interest me until the detective, leaning over the divan and White's body, reached down between it and the wall, where there was a space of a few inches, and brought out a small plaid cap that I recognized as being a match to the plaid ulster that was missing. The cap had been lying on the floor directly under White's head, where it partially hung over the divan, and had apparently fallen there when he lay down. On seeing it I could not suppress an exclamation of surprise which drew the attention of the officers; so I explained to them that I had not seen the cap since the night before, when it had been lying on a chair with the ulster, and that from its present place I concluded White must have worn it, whereas I had not supposed he had gone out after I had left him. "But he did go out," said the Inspector, "and not very long after you left." "But if he wore that cap," I inquired, "how about the ulster that was here last night. Where is it gone?" "We don't know yet," he replied, "what he wore when he went out; we only know that he did go out." This ended the discussion of the subject for the time. From the sitting-room we went through the passageway, which contained nothing but some coats and hats hanging from hooks, the plaid ulster not being among them, and then into the bedroom. I saw nothing of interest here; the room was comfortably furnished, but not unusual in any way. The bed had not been disturbed, and everything was in perfect order. Two windows in the rear opened into a yard about six feet below, and one was down from the top, about six inches; otherwise they were closed and the blinds drawn. A door leading into the rear of the hall was also closed, and locked on the inside. Here, too, there was no sign of the plaid ulster which now seemed to me to bear some relation to the mystery. Finding nothing further to especially interest me I left the officers to continue their search, and after looking through the adjoining bathroom, that disclosed nothing new, returned to the bedroom and thence, passing the policeman standing guard at the door, went out of the house. It was now past eleven o'clock, and I had eaten nothing that day. Still I was not hungry, but a feeling of faintness admonished me I must breakfast and at once, if only to fit myself for the difficulties of the case, for I had by this time determined to make it my special duty, if I could secure the consent of the District Attorney thereto. After breakfasting at a neighboring restaurant, I took the "L" road to my office, studying on the way over the facts surrounding White's death as far as I knew them, but only two things seemed to promise any clue to the mystery,--the missing money and ulster. CHAPTER IV THE SUSPECT