“Those were what Mrs. Gherigis wore when she did the shooting.” The captain pointed to the hat and one of the overcoats and the muddy overalls. “They’re damp and Nick hasn’t been out of this place since the rain started. I think if you turn them over to your technicians, lieutenant, and check the sweatband in that hat, you can prove that’s what Mrs. Gherigis had on.”

“Well, I’ll be—” said Corman. “I’ll take them now.”

“No, wait.” The captain stretched out his hand. “Take me out and around in front. There’s a hedge out there. I felt it coming in. I’ll show you how she got in and out of the diner and yet was not seen by Walsh and Burzak in their car.”

They came out of the washroom, and a couple of steps to the right Corman opened another door.

“There’s a storm vestibule here,” Corman said. He opened a second door, letting in a gust of wind and rain. “Wait here a second,” Corman went on. “We’ll get drowned in this. I’ll get the slickers from Walsh’s car.” Corman went out.

The captain raised both his sensitive hands and swept them up and down along each side of the inner vestibule door. It was the logical place to put an electric meter, fuse box, and cutout switch for the diner. He grunted in satisfaction as he found them.

An automobile door slammed and Corman came back with two slickers. They put them on and went out into the rain.

He struck the fronds of the prickly hedge in front of the diner a few feet farther on. It ran from the end of the diner to the door. It was more than head-high and planted about eighteen inches out from the diner wall.

“Have you a flashlight, lieutenant?”

“Yes.”

“Shine it in back of this hedge and see if there are any footprints.”

“There’s nothing but water,” Corman said. “It’s an inch deep, at least.”

“Well, that’s one up for Mrs. Gherigis,” said Duncan Maclain. “Let’s follow briefly what she did. You’ll find when you make an investigation that Nick Gherigis had been paying out dough.”

“To whom?” Corman rasped.

“To a dame,” said the captain. “I have very keen ears. Mrs. Gherigis called Nick in while I was in the diner, and I heard them quarreling. He’s been keeping a woman some place and it’s been on her mind for a long time. Tonight was the finish.

“She went in back and got Nick’s gun, put on his white overalls, hat, and coat in the washroom, came around here in back of this hedge, shot him, and went back the same way, leaving the clothes in the washroom. With only Nick and me and her in the diner, she felt sure you’d hang it on me—a bum.”