"We do," Jones replied, nodding his head. "You may remember that both Hines and his servant said there were twigs and leaves on the edge of her skirt and that her boots were muddy. Traces of this were still visible in her clothes when they found her body. She _did_ get out of the automobile, but not so far from the turnpike as he said. Either he and she had some fierce quarrel and she ran from him in rage or terror, or he may have told the truth and she slipped out at the turn from the Riven Rock Road without his knowledge. Anyway she got away from him and ran for the only light she saw. There she telephoned Reddy, withholding the main facts from him, perhaps merely to save time, but cautioning him against letting anyone know of the message. That, as I see it, was a natural feminine desire to guard against gossip. When she thought Reddy was due she started out to meet him—and instead met the Doctor." "Who’d been hanging about for a half-hour on the roadside?" "Precisely. He killed her, concealed the body, and went home." "Just a minute," said Yerrington—"what did he kill her with? The weapon used is a disputed point. Many think it was a farm implement. Did he go across lots to Cresset’s and arm himself with a convenient spade or rake for the fatherly purpose of slaying his stepdaughter?" But you couldn’t phase Jones, he said as calm as a May morning: "He _could_ have done that. But I don’t think he did. He didn’t need it. The tool box of the car was nearer to hand. A large-sized auto wrench is a pretty formidable weapon, and a tire wrench—did you ever see one? One well-aimed blow of that would crush in the head of a negro." "Gentlemen, the evidence is all in," said Babbitts. "Your case might hold water," said Jasper, "if it wasn’t as full of holes as a sieve. Why, you can make out as good a one for almost anybody." "Who, for example?" Jones asked. "Well—take Reddy." "Jack Reddy?" I said that, sitting up suddenly and staring at them with a piece of jelly roll halfway to my mouth. "He’s as good as another," said Jasper, and then he added sort of dreamy: "I believe I could work up quite a convincing case against Reddy, allowing for a hole here and there. But our illustrious friend here admits holes at this stage." "Fire away," said Babbitts. "Give it to us, holes and all." "Well—off the bat here it is. You may remember that no one saw him coming back from Maple Lane that night. There is no one, therefore, to deny that he may have had Miss Hesketh in the car with him. Instead of going back to Firehill, as he says he did, he followed his original plan of taking her by the turnpike." "Right at the start I challenge that," said Babbitts. "She appeared at the Wayside Arbor at nine-thirty. The date in Maple Lane was for seven. Supposing she kept it and was on time—which is a stretch of the imagination—he would have had to travel one hundred and eighteen miles in two hours and a half." "He could have done it."