midnight
`` Those are the reasons why people disappear , eliminating criminals and those who have financial difficulties . Dream on that and see if you can work out the answer in your subliminal consciousness . Good-night . '' Needless to say , I was no further advanced in the morning than at midnight , but Kennedy seemed to have evolved at least a tentative programme . It started with a visit to the public library , where he carefully went over the ground already gone over by the police . Finding nothing , he concluded that Miss Gilbert had not found what she wanted at the library and had continued the quest , even as he was continuing the quest of herself . His next step was to visit the department-store .