WHERE THE FLOWERS CAME FROM Where was Odette Rider?
That was a problem which had to be solved.

She had disappeared as though the earth had opened and swallowed her up.
Every police station in the country had been warned; all outgoing ships were being watched; tactful inquiries had been made in every direction where it was likely she might be found; and the house at Hertford was under observation day and night.
Tarling had procured an adjournment of the inquest; for, whatever might be his sentiments towards Odette Rider, he was, it seemed, more anxious to perform his duty to the State, and it was very necessary that no prurient-minded coroner should investigate too deeply into the cause and the circumstances leading up to Thornton Lyne's death, lest the suspected criminal be warned.
Accompanied by Inspector Whiteside, he reexamined the flat to which the bloodstained carpet pointed unmistakably as being the scene of the murder.

The red thumb prints on the bureau had been photographed and were awaiting comparison with the girl's the moment she was apprehended.
Carrymore Mansions, where Odette Rider lived, were, as has been described, a block of good-class flats, the ground floor being given over to shops.

The entrance to the flats was between two of these, and a flight of stairs led down to the basement.

Here were six sets of apartments, with windows giving out to the narrow areas which ran parallel to the side streets on either side of the block.
The centre of the basement consisted of a large concrete store-room, about which were set little cubicles or cellars in which the tenants stored such of their baggage, furniture, etc., as they did not need.