Page:Miss Madelyn Mack Detective.pdf/107

dropped them into the water. I believe that is where you found them, Mr. Wiley. It was nearly daylight when he reached his rooms, almost exhausted.

"He had but one coherent thought. He must find Reginald Winters—without delay and without publicity. The note, which the actor had written to Miss Van Sutton, contained the address of his hotel—an obscure Fourth Avenue boarding-house in New York. It was easy enough to find the hotel—but the man was out.

"All of that day and night he watched the building, like a hungry dog watches a bone. It was not until this morning that Winters returned. Then he reappeared in the street so quickly that Endicott had no time to follow him up to his room.

"The actor swung off toward Broadway, with Endicott stubbornly following him. At Thirty-fourth Street and Sixth Avenue, there was a tie-up of the surface cars, and the crossing was jammed. I see you are anticipating what followed! Well—the wheel of fortune turned abruptly. Winters plunged into the swarm of vehicles, absorbed in his thoughts. Just before he reached the curb, a dray swayed before him. He dodged—too late. The rearing team crushed him to the pavement.

"When they picked him up he was quite dead.

"It was over his body that Norris Endicott and