The Shoftel disappearance was Port Smith’s most sensational case since the Leikman killing, yet there was still nothing to show for the hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of police work that had gone into it. Late Thursday afternoon, a candy store owner three blocks away had served a little girl he had not seen before, but the owner could not be sure of the girl or furnish a description of the man. It was being kept quiet. Captain Leland was beginning to despair for the young men who had been put in charge of the case. His son knew some of them. If the crime did prove insoluble, the young men would wear it around their necks the rest of their professional lives.

Using Florence’s notebook, Joe Leland told his father that he had another matter to discuss. His father thought he remembered reading in the newspapers about the man who had gone off the racetrack roof. Joe Leland told him that he did not want to go into the finer points now, but he thought that there was something worthy of his interest. He gave his father the name and address of the dead man and then, remembering, the maiden name of the dead man’s wife. His father said that he would try to have the information for him before lunch.

They said goodbye and Joe Leland swung away from the telephone and stared at the door to the outer office. He drummed his fingers on the desk. Finally he picked up Colin MacIver’s photograph and turned it into the light.

Chapter Four

CHAPTER FOUR