Leland was not discounting the idea that MacIver had been murdered for one thing and his office burgled for another. There was still the behavior of the Clausen County authorities. There was the matter of MacIver’s rise in fortune. A man who could steal from his wife while he was kicking her out could steal from anybody. What Leland had told Norma about a man running across the roof of the track and down through the press box had been pure conjecture, but now Leland felt that he was on the edge of an understanding of what had actually happened up there. Until a crime was established, all the motives in the world were worthless, but the things that had been winking and peeping at him since Monday morning seemed to be pressing hard. The feeling that he should know more than he did slithered away under the intensity of his effort. The whole matter was still so unclear that he did not know if he was being intense at all. It could be something else, only remotely connected with the case.

Outside he found another taxi and rode back past the building to the Cadillac. The watchman was dozing. Even so, Leland took the convertible two blocks to the west before turning northward to Collegeville Road. After he passed the street that ran past MacIver’s building, Leland pulled over to the side and went into a bar and called Norma.

“I called the airport,” she said. “They said you arrived hours ago.”

“There were a few things I wanted to do. You heard that they picked up the Shoftel suspect? He did it. They have the evidence.”

“There was nothing in the news about evidence,” she said.

“There will be. Don’t talk about it until you see it in the papers.” He should have kept his mouth shut. The information about the Shoftel girl’s religious medal would come out soon enough, and that was not what bothered him. He had had no reason for bringing it up.

“Where are you?”

“Kent Avenue and Grove Street.”

“Well, if you want to see Wendell, he’s next door.”

“Why do I want to see Wendell?”

“Don’t you know? You’re on his block—the block where he has his office.”

“Oh. It was an accident. I’ll be up to your place right away.”

“Joe? Listen, I’ll probably be next door myself when you get here. If the light over my front door is on, that’s where I am. You come over.”

“Your front door,” he said.

“That’s what I said. What’s the matter?”

“I didn’t think I heard correctly.”

She laughed. “You must be tired. I’m going to say goodbye before someone steals my car from you.”

“That doesn’t sound pleasant,” he said.

“I’m teasing. I have been waiting for you.”