"Card sharp?"
"No, no."
"Then why don't you say what he does?"
"No; no; no!"
"We'll leave him a minute. Go on about yourself. Where are you employed?"
"I work in the office of G. A. Hoberg."
"What does he do?"
"He's a contractor. I was working there this evening. Down in the loop. I came home late."
"With him?"
"No. I came home alone."
"Where'd you meet him, then?"
"Here. Rather, it was in front of the building."
"You two alone?"
"Yes."
"What time was it?"
"Tt must have been just about quarter past twelve."
"How do you fix that?"
"The extra lights on Sheridan Road went out just as I left Wilson Avenue. They always go out at midnight."
"Hmm. You were alone then or with him?"
"I was alone. I told you I met him in front of this building."
"You did; at quarter past twelve, you said. What happened to you alone? Sprain your ankle so it took you fifteen minutes to limp here from the corner?"
He gazed down at her slim, bare ankles below her pajamas and kimono, as though he seriously meant his question.
"No, I didn't come straight here. I mean, I went by when I got to the building. I went down to the lake."
Cummins looked up from her ankles but not suddenly. His eyes examined her figure carefully before he gazed again at her face. "So you went down to the lake," he
