II + 

Long-Nose + 

I put in a couple of hours canvassing the neighborhood, trying to place the man Mrs.┬аand Miss Leggett had seen. I didnтАЩt have any luck with that one, but I picked up news of another. A Mrs.┬аPriestlyтБатАФa pale semi-invalid who lived three doors below the LeggettsтБатАФgave me the first line on him. + 

Mrs.┬аPriestly often sat at a front window at night when she couldnтАЩt sleep. On two of these nights she had seen the man. She said he was a tall man, and young, she thought, and he walked with his head thrust forward. The street was too poorly lighted for her to describe his coloring and clothes. + 

She had first seen him a week before. He had passed up and down on the other side of the street five or six times, at intervals of fifteen or twenty minutes, with his face turned as if watching somethingтБатАФor looking for somethingтБатАФon Mrs.┬аPriestlyтАЩsтБатАФand the LeggettsтАЩтБатАФside of the street. She thought it was between eleven and twelve oтАЩclock that she had seen him the first time that night, and around one oтАЩclock the last. Several nights laterтБатАФSaturdayтБатАФshe had seen him again, not walking this time, but standing on the corner below, looking up the street, at about midnight. He went away after half an hour, and she had not seen him again. + 

Mrs.┬аPriestly knew the Leggetts by sight, but knew very little about them, except that the daughter was said to be a bit wild. They seemed to be nice people, but kept to themselves. He had moved into the house in 1921, alone except for the housekeeperтБатАФa Mrs.┬аBegg, who, Mrs.┬аPriestly understood, was now with a family named Freemander in Berkeley. Mrs.┬аLeggett and Gabrielle had not come to live with Leggett until 1923. + 

Mrs.┬аPriestly said she had not been at her window the previous night and therefore had not seen the man Mrs.┬аLeggett had seen on the corner. + 

A man named Warren Daley, who lived on the opposite side of the street, down near the corner where Mrs.┬аPriestly had seen her man, had, when locking up the house Sunday night, surprised a manтБатАФapparently the same manтБатАФin the vestibule. Daley was not at home when I called, but, after telling me this much, Mrs.┬аDaley got him on the phone for me. + 

Daley said the man had been standing in the vestibule, either hiding from or watching someone up the street. As soon as Daley opened the door, the man ran away, down the street, paying no attention to DaleyтАЩs тАЬWhat are you doing there?тАЭ Daley said he was a man of thirty-two or three, fairly well dressed in dark clothes, and had a long, thin, and sharp nose. + 

That was all I could shake the neighborhood down for. I went to the Montgomery Street offices of Spear, Camp and Duffy and asked for Eric Collinson. + 

He was young, blond, tall, broad, sunburned, and dressy, with the good-looking unintelligent face of one who would know everything about polo, or shooting, or flying, or something of that sortтБатАФmaybe even two things of that sortтБатАФbut not much about anything else. We sat on a fatted leather seat in the customersтАЩ room, now, after market hours, empty except for a weedy boy juggling numbers on the board. I told Collinson about the burglary and asked him about the man he and Miss Leggett had seen Saturday night. + 

тАЬHe was an ordinary-looking chap, as far as I could see. It was dark. Short and chunky. You think he took them?тАЭ + 

тАЬDid he come from the Leggett house?тАЭ I asked. + 

тАЬFrom the lawn, at least. He seemed jumpyтБатАФthatтАЩs why I thought perhaps heтАЩd been nosing around where he shouldnтАЩt. I suggested I go after him and ask him what he was up to, but Gaby wouldnтАЩt have it. Might have been a friend of her fatherтАЩs. Did you ask him? He goes in for odd eggs.тАЭ + 

тАЬWasnтАЩt that late for a visitor to be leaving?тАЭ + 

He looked away from me, so I asked: тАЬWhat time was it?тАЭ + 

тАЬMidnight, I dare say.тАЭ + 

тАЬMidnight?тАЭ + 

тАЬThatтАЩs the word. The time when the graves give up their dead, and ghosts walk.тАЭ + 

тАЬMiss Leggett said it was after three oтАЩclock.тАЭ + 

тАЬYou see how it is!тАЭ he exclaimed, blandly triumphant, as if he had demonstrated something we had been arguing about. тАЬSheтАЩs half blind and wonтАЩt wear glasses for fear of losing beauty. SheтАЩs always making mistakes like that. Plays abominable bridgeтБатАФtakes deuces for aces. It was probably a quarter after twelve, and she looked at the clock and got the hands mixed.тАЭ + 

I said: тАЬThatтАЩs too bad,тАЭ and тАЬThanks,тАЭ and went up to Halstead and BeauchampтАЩs store in Geary Street. + 

Watt Halstead was a suave, pale, bald, fat man, with tired eyes and a too tight collar. I told him what I was doing and asked him how well he knew Leggett. + 

тАЬI know him as a desirable customer and by reputation as a scientist. Why do you ask?тАЭ + 

тАЬHis burglaryтАЩs sourтБатАФin spots anyway.тАЭ + 

тАЬOh, youтАЩre mistaken. That is, youтАЩre mistaken if you think a man of his caliber would be mixed up in anything like that. A servant, of course; yes, thatтАЩs possible: it often happens, doesnтАЩt it? But not Leggett. He is a scientist of some standingтБатАФhe has done some remarkable work with colorтБатАФand, unless our credit department has been misinformed, a man of more than moderate means. I donтАЩt mean that he is wealthy in the modern sense of the word, but too wealthy for a thing of that sort. And, confidentially, I happen to know that his present balance in the SeamanтАЩs National Bank is in excess of ten thousand dollars. WellтБатАФthe eight diamonds were worth no more than a thousand or twelve or thirteen hundred dollars.тАЭ + 

тАЬAt retail? Then they cost you five or six hundred?тАЭ + 

тАЬWell,тАЭ smiling, тАЬseven fifty would be nearer.тАЭ + 

тАЬHowтАЩd you come to give him the diamonds?тАЭ + 

тАЬHeтАЩs a customer of ours, as IтАЩve told you, and when I learned what he had done with glass, I thought what a wonderful thing it would be if the same method could be applied to diamonds. FitzstephanтБатАФit was largely through him that I learned of LeggettтАЩs work with glassтБатАФwas skeptical, but I thought it worth tryingтБатАФstill think soтБатАФand persuaded Leggett to try.тАЭ + 

Fitzstephan was a familiar name. I asked: тАЬWhich Fitzstephan was that?тАЭ + 

тАЬOwen, the writer. You know him?тАЭ + 

тАЬYeah, but I didnтАЩt know he was on the coast. We used to drink out of the same bottle. Do you know his address?тАЭ + 

Halstead found it in the telephone book for me, a Nob Hill apartment. + 

From the jewelerтАЩs I went to the vicinity of Minnie HersheyтАЩs home. It was a Negro neighborhood, which made the getting of reasonably accurate information twice as unlikely as it always is. + 

What I managed to get added up to this: The girl had come to San Francisco from Winchester, Virginia, four or five years ago, and for the last half-year had been living with a Negro called Rhino Tingley. One told me RhinoтАЩs first name was Ed, another Bill, but they agreed that he was young, big, and black and could easily be recognized by the scar on his chin. I was also told that he depended for his living on Minnie and pool; that he was not bad except when he got madтБатАФthen he was supposed to be a holy terror; and that I could get a look at him the early part of almost any evening in either Bunny MackтАЩs barbershop or Big-foot GerberтАЩs cigar-store. + 

I learned where these joints were and then went downtown again, to the police detective bureau in the Hall of Justice. Nobody was in the pawnshop detail office. I crossed the corridor and asked Lieutenant Duff whether anybody had been put on the Leggett job. + 

He said: тАЬSee OтАЩGar.тАЭ + 

I went into the assembly room, looking for OтАЩGar and wondering what heтБатАФa homicide detail detective-sergeantтБатАФhad to do with my job. Neither OтАЩGar nor Pat Reddy, his partner, was in. I smoked a cigarette, tried to guess who had been killed, and decided to phone Leggett. + 

тАЬAny police detectives been in since I left?тАЭ I asked when his harsh voice was in my ear. + 

тАЬNo, but the police called up a little while ago and asked my wife and daughter to come to a place in Golden Gate Avenue to see if they could identify a man there. They left a few minutes ago. I didnтАЩt accompany them, not having seen the supposed burglar.тАЭ + 

тАЬWhereabouts in Golden Gate Avenue?тАЭ + 

He didnтАЩt remember the number, but he knew the blockтБатАФabove Van Ness Avenue. I thanked him and went out there. + 

In the designated block I found a uniformed copper standing in the doorway of a small apartment house. I asked him if OтАЩGar was there. + 

тАЬUp in three ten,тАЭ he said. + 

I rode up in a rickety elevator. When I got out on the third floor, I came face to face with Mrs.┬аLeggett and her daughter, leaving. + 

тАЬNow I hope youтАЩre satisfied that Minnie had nothing to do with it,тАЭ Mrs.┬аLeggett said chidingly. + 

тАЬThe police found your man?тАЭ + 

тАЬYes.тАЭ + 

I said to Gabrielle Leggett: тАЬEric Collinson says it was only midnight, or a few minutes later, that you got home Saturday night.тАЭ + 

тАЬEric,тАЭ she said irritably, passing me to enter the elevator, тАЬis an ass.тАЭ + 

Her mother, following her into the elevator, reprimanded her amiably: тАЬNow, dear.тАЭ + 

I walked down the hall to a doorway where Pat Reddy stood talking to a couple of reporters, said hello, squeezed past them into a short passageway, and went through that to a shabbily furnished room where a dead man lay on a wall bed. + 

Phels, of the police identification bureau, looked up from his magnifying glass to nod at me and then went on with his examination of a mission tableтАЩs edge. + 

OтАЩGar pulled his head and shoulders in the open window and growled: тАЬSo we got to put up with you again?тАЭ + 

OтАЩGar was a burly, stolid man of fifty, who wore wide-brimmed black hats of the movie-sheriff sort. There was a lot of sense in his hard bullet-head, and he was comfortable to work with. + 

I looked at the corpseтБатАФa man of forty or so, with a heavy, pale face, short hair touched with gray, a scrubby, dark mustache, and stocky arms and legs. There was a bullet hole just over his navel, and another high on the left side of his chest. + 

тАЬItтАЩs a man,тАЭ OтАЩGar said as I put the blankets over him again. тАЬHeтАЩs dead.тАЭ + 

тАЬWhat else did somebody tell you?тАЭ I asked. + 

тАЬLooks like him and another guy glaumed the ice, and then the other guy decided to take a one-way split. The envelopes are hereтАЭтБатАФOтАЩGar took them out of his pocket and ruffled them with a thumbтБатАФтАЬbut the diamonds ainтАЩt. They went down the fire-escape with the other guy a little while back. People spotted him making the sneak, but lost him when he cut through the alley. Tall guy with a long nose. This oneтАЭтБатАФhe pointed the envelopes at the bedтБатАФтАЬhas been here a week. Name of Louis Upton, with New York labels. We donтАЩt know him. Nobody in the dumpтАЩll say they ever saw him with anybody else. NobodyтАЩll say they know Long-nose.тАЭ + 

Pat Reddy came in. He was a big, jovial youngster, with almost brains enough to make up for his lack of experience. I told him and OтАЩGar what I had turned up on the job so far. + 

тАЬLong-nose and this bird taking turns watching LeggettтАЩs?тАЭ Reddy suggested. + 

тАЬMaybe,тАЭ I said, тАЬbut thereтАЩs an inside angle. How many envelopes have you got there, OтАЩGar?тАЭ + 

тАЬSeven.тАЭ + 

тАЬThen the one for the planted diamond is missing.тАЭ + 

тАЬHow about the yellow girl?тАЭ Reddy asked. + 

тАЬIтАЩm going out for a look at her man tonight,тАЭ I said. тАЬYou people trying New York on this Upton?тАЭ + 

тАЬUh-huh,тАЭ OтАЩGar said. + 