“Yes. Go and see Carter Woodman and find out all you can about John’s circumstances at the time of the murder. Carter may know something about this Winter story, or be able at any rate to tell you something useful we don’t know. Then come here to-morrow morning, and I’ll tell you if I’ve had a brain-wave.” Then at last Ellery said good-bye, and Joan went to get the sleep she badly needed. Chapter XXV Raising the Wind Walter Brooklyn’s release was arranged more quickly than any one had expected, and, while Ellery and Joan were still engaged in the conversation just reported, he came out of Brixton Jail a free man. At the gate he said good-bye to Thomas, and, hailing a taxi, ordered the man to drive to his Club. The porter at the Byron met him as he entered with an incredulous stare; for he was a firm believer in the theory that Brooklyn was guilty, and had for days past been telling all his friends, and those of the Club members who would listen to him, of the important part which, he himself had played in bringing the murderer to justice. Walter Brooklyn was not popular in the Club; and, by members and servants alike, the assumption of his guilt had been readily accepted. Brooklyn passed the porter without a word, and went straight up to his room. As he passed by the door leading to the kitchen stairs, a discreetly faint smell of cooking floated up to him, and he thought how pleasant it would be to see a good dinner before him again in the comfortable Club dining-room. But a second thought gave him pause. Could he face his fellow-members just yet? He could pretty accurately guess what they had been saying about him; and he was not at all sure what his reception would be. It would be better to give time for the news of his release, and the convincing evidence of his innocence, to get round the club before he made a public reappearance. But a good dinner was indispensable. His first act on regaining the privacy of his apartment was to take up the house ’phone which connected with the kitchens, and to order dinner to be sent up to his room. The start of surprise which the chef gave on hearing who was speaking to him he could visualize over the ’phone as clearly as if the man had been standing before him in the same room. He was all the more careful for that reason in ordering his dinner, discussing the merits of one course after another at length with the chef. He meant to do himself well, and he meant the servants to understand that he was back quite on the old footing.