And, though her customary assignments were "sob" stories, divorces, society events and the tracking down of succulent bits of general scandal, she nevertheless enjoyed being upon the scene of the murder even though she was not assigned to it.

This casual duty was for Willis, the _Star's_ "police" man, who had dragged her along with him for momentary company over her protest that she must get a "yarn" concerning juvenile prisoners for the Sunday edition.
"Now, we'll put 'em on the rack." Willis smiled as he left her side and joined the detectives.
A flood of questions from the officers, interspersed frequently with a number from Willis, and occasionally one from the youthful _Chronicle_ man, came down upon Valois and John Cavendish, while Miss Donovan, silent and watchful, stood back, frequently letting her eyes admire the tasteful prints upon the walls and the rich hangings in the room of death.
Valois repeated his experience, which was corroborated in part by the testimony of John Cavendish's valet whom he had met and talked with in the hall.

The valet also testified that his employer, John Cavendish, had come home not later than twelve o'clock and immediately retired.
Then John Cavendish established the fact that ten minutes before arriving home he had dropped Celeste La Rue at her apartment.

There was no flaw in any of the stories to which the inquisitors could attach suspicion.

One thing alone seemed to irritate Willis.
"Are you sure," he said to Cavendish, "that the dead man is your cousin?
The face and chest are pretty badly burned you know, and I thought perhaps----" A laugh from the detectives silenced him while Cavendish ended any fleeting doubts with a contemptuous gaze.
"You can't fool a man on his own cousin, youngster," he said flatly.
"The idea is absurd." The crime unquestionably was an outside job; the window opening on the fire-escape had been jimmied, the marks left being clearly visible.
Apparently Frederick Cavendish had previously opened the safe door--since it presented no evidence of being tampered with--and was examining certain papers on the table, when the intruder had stolen up from behind and dealt him a heavy blow probably, from the nature of the wound, using a piece of lead pipe.