The handwriting was that of a
woman, and what she had written was: "If the district attorney will come
at once, and alone, to Kessler's Cafe, on the Boston Post Road, near the
city line, he will be told who killed Hermann Banf. If he don't come in
an hour, it will be too late. If he brings anybody with him, he won't
be told anything. Leave your car in the road and walk up the drive. Ida
Earle."
Hewitt, who had sent away the messenger-boy and had been called in to
give expert advice, was enthusiastic.
"Mr. District Attorney," he cried, "that's no crank letter. This Earle
woman is wise. You got to take her as a serious proposition. She
wouldn't make that play if she couldn't get away with it."
"Who is she?" asked Wharton.
To the police, the detective assured them, Ida Earle had been known for
years. When she was young she had been under the protection of a man
high in the ranks of Tammany, and, in consequence, with her different
ventures the police had never interfered. She now was proprietress of
the road-house in the note described as Kessler's Cafe.
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