NICK OUTLINES HIS CAMPAIGN.
In a moment Doctor Lord and the nurse were back at the patient’s side.
“I must ask you gentlemen to go,” the physician said crisply. “This has
been too much for him, as it is, and any further excitement might cause
serious complications, if nothing worse.”
There was nothing for it but to withdraw, and to hope that the effect
of the interview would not be as serious as the doctor suggested.
Fortunately, the detective instinct had been strong in Cray,
notwithstanding his condition, and he had covered the ground pretty
thoroughly—surprisingly so, in view of the few words he had spoken. His
statement about the suit case, and his description of the car might
prove particularly valuable.
Nick took pains to interview Simpson, his wife, and the servant before
leaving the house and then paid a visit to the garage.
He smiled as he noted the subterfuge of the underground gasoline tank.
“Quite clever, on the surface,” he remarked, “but Simpson seems to be
a queer mixture. He impresses you at one time with his cleverness, at
another with stupidity.”
“I don’t see anything stupid about this,” Griswold objected. “It
strikes me as very ingenious. It permitted him to dig up the ground to
his heart’s content without arousing suspicion.”
“True,” conceded the detective. “The ordinary person would have seen
nothing strange about it; but doesn’t the presence of a gasoline tank
underground, or any other kind, strike you as a little peculiar when a
man owns an electric?”
The millionaire looked very sheepish. “I’m afraid I must plead guilty
to stupidity as well,” he confessed. “That didn’t occur to me, and I
doubt if it ever would.”
The two detectives made a thorough examination of the little garage,
the ground about it, and the pile of lumber, as well as the road at the
rear.
They found some finger prints, and photographed them carefully, after
bringing out other details by artificial means. They were inclined
to believe that some of them belonged to Gordon, and if so, their
discovery would prove valuable. Beyond that, however, they learned
little.
“Well, we had better part company here, Chick,” Nick told his
assistant. “I’m going to let you pick up the trail of the electric car
and follow it, if you can. See if you can locate the machine. Probably
it has been abandoned long before this, for it would have to be
recharged before it could go very far. Doubtless, Green Eye remembered
that, and deserted it before such attention was necessary. Still, if
you can find where he dispensed with it, you can get a clew to his
subsequent movements, especially as he was burdened with a couple of
very heavy suit cases.”
“Consider me on the job,” was Chick’s ready reply. “I’ll start work
right away, and keep going as long as the going is good. How about you,
though? What are you going to tackle?”
“I shall return home at once,” Nick replied, “and go through the safe.
I must find out which records are missing, and when I have learned
that, I ought to be able to catch the rascal sooner or later.”
“You mean that he’ll be sure to visit some of the people interested,
or write to them, and that you can nab him in that way?” his assistant
asked.
“That’s the idea. If Green Eye hasn’t learned of our return—and I
sincerely hope he hasn’t—he won’t lose much time in getting to work at
the blackmailing business, and you may be sure he’ll choose some of the
most tempting of the local people for his first victims.”
Chick held up his hand. “I get you,” he said. “That’s just what will
happen, unless he’s scared off, and he’ll work quickly, for fear you
may return earlier than you had expected, and get wind of the whole
thing. Alongside of that, my job seems pretty punk, but you’re the
general.”
“Your job is a necessary one, and we may need all the dope on Green
Eye’s movements that we can get,” Nick told him.
Very shortly afterward they separated, Chick remaining behind, while
Nick and the millionaire reëntered the car and started back to the city.
Very little was said on the journey. To be sure, Griswold seemed
willing enough to keep the conversational ball rolling, but he soon
found that Nick was of a different mind. He was glad, therefore, when
the detective’s house was reached, and Nick stepped out of the machine,
after instructing the chauffeur to take Griswold wherever he wished to
go.
“You think you can catch him, then?” the millionaire asked in parting.
Nick gave him a strange look. “If I fail in this, I’ll shut up shop,”
he replied.
It was said rather lightly, but Griswold was a shrewd student of
character, and knew that famous Nemesis of criminals was in deadly
earnest.