Chapter XVI

IN BOB’S ROOM
★

Bob stepped through the doorway, and stopped involuntarily. The interior of his room looked like a young cyclone had been turned loose on a spring afternoon. Every drawer in the dresser had been pulled out and its contents dumped on the floor, the bedding was strewn about the room and the mattress had been ripped open and even his clothes had been taken out of the closet and scattered about.

“Friends of yours must have been disappointed because you weren’t at home,” said his uncle.

Bob sat down in a chair and took another look around. Nothing in the room had been spared. Even the pictures had been taken off the walls and the backs ripped out.

He looked down at a coat which had been dropped beside the chair. The pockets had been turned inside out and the lining of the garment had been torn and ripped. The coat was ruined and Bob felt hot tears of anger welling into his eyes. His fists doubled up involuntarily. Someone would have to pay for this, he told himself.

Merritt Hughes touched his shoulder.

“Keep your chin up, Bob. This is kind of tough and it looks plain malicious to me, but your time will come. I’m just wondering why all of this attention is being centered on you. I can’t make myself believe that they are trying to get even with you because you spoiled the game last night.”

“But I didn’t. The paper is missing.”

“Yes, it’s gone from the files, but they may not have their hands on it yet. Sure you made a thorough search down below the building last night? It couldn’t have been caught in the shrubbery?”

“I’m sure about that. We went over every inch of space and found half of the gum wrappers in Washington,” replied Bob.

“I wish I could feel sure that the paper has not gotten into the hands of the men who are after it. From what’s gone on today I’m inclined to believe there has been a slip somewhere. We know the paper is missing from the files but we’re not sure that the man who took it was able to deliver it outside before you caught him.”

“I don’t think he did. His only chance would have been to have dropped it from the window and that would have been too risky.”

“He might have placed it in a marked container of some kind and have had a confederate waiting below,” suggested the federal agent.

“That’s possible, but when Arthur Jacobs and I searched last night we couldn’t even find fresh footprints under the windows. Of course there were some near the window where the guard was trussed up, but if the paper had been dropped in a container, there should have been footprints directly below.”

“The rain might have erased them.”

“I doubt it. The ground under the shrubbery is unusually soft and I noticed how deep our own prints were.”

Merritt Hughes sat down on the bed and it was a long time before he asked Bob another question.

“What do you think about Tully? Could he possibly have taken that paper out of the file?”

“Not unless he was a magician and I don’t think Tully would do a thing like that. He’s wild and headstrong, but he wouldn’t go that far. Why that’s working against Uncle Sam!”

“Certainly, but some people aren’t bothered by scruples like that. Well, if we’re sure the paper wasn’t tossed out the window, it narrows down to three people—the man you caught, Tully and yourself.”

“But I wouldn’t take that paper,” smiled Bob.

“Of course not. I know that and so does Waldo Edgar, or he wouldn’t have made you a provisional agent. But Condon Adams is as anxious to solve this case as I am and he may try to hang something around your neck. Remember, that only three of you were in the room and that paper disappeared in some manner.”

“I hadn’t thought of it in that way,” reflected Bob. “It does put me in a pretty serious light.”

“That’s why I have been so anxious that you be assigned to work with me on this case. I had a long talk with Edgar this morning. I’d told him of your ambition to eventually join the service and pointed out that you might well prove invaluable as an inside man on this case. He agreed with me and of course when Condon Adams put up about the same kind of a proposition in behalf of Tully, he couldn’t say no.”

“I’d like to know where Adams gets all his pull,” said Bob.

“Part of it is due to ability and part of it to powerful political friends,” explained his uncle. “The senator from Adams’ home state is high up in administration circles and in addition is a firm friend of this department. He’s helped get us the additional appropriations we’ve needed to expand and equip the department properly and of course the chief can’t ignore that when Adams puts the pressure on.”

“I suppose not,” admitted Bob, “but it seems unfair to the other men who have no political friends.”

“His is about the only case in the department in which that is true,” said his uncle. “But he’s competent, too. Don’t mistake that. I’ll have to keep on my toes if I run this radio mystery down before he does.”

“All of which means that I am the inside man for you while Tully is to serve his uncle in whatever inside capacity he can in our department,” said Bob. “I can see where there is going to be some intense rivalry.”

“Well, either Adams or myself should benefit by it,” smiled the federal agent. “Only don’t kill each other trying to dig out facts and get them to us first. Now we’d better find out what we can about the invasion here. How about your landlords?”

“They’re down in Virginia on a vacation. The only person likely to know anything about this is the janitor,” explained Bob.

“Take me down to him,” directed his uncle.

Bob looked ruefully at the room. There wasn’t a whole lot that could be salvaged, for his clothing was ruined and one of the suits had been practically new. He could see his savings account going down almost to the vanishing point.

They stepped out into the hall and Bob started to lock the door.

“Wait a minute. I want a look at that doorknob,” said his uncle. He took a small but powerful glass from his coat pocket and examined the doorknob. When he stood up he shook his head.

“Whoever opened that door was wearing gloves. That means if they were that smart there isn’t much use to check over the interior of the rooms for fingerprints.”

“Any sign of the door being forced?” asked Bob.

“No. A skeleton key must have been used. Lead on; we’ll see the janitor now.”

They found the janitor in the basement and when Bob explained their mission he readily assented to answer their questions.

“Strangers?” he said, repeating the question the federal agent asked. “Yes, a couple of them called about an hour ago. They wanted to know where Mr. Houston lived and I took them up to the third floor back. They said they had been sent to get some papers he had left at home.”

“How did they get in?” the question shot from the lips of the federal agent.

“Why, they had a key,” explained the janitor. “One of them said Mr. Houston had given them his key. It worked all right and I didn’t think any more about it. I was having trouble with the furnace smoking, so I came right back down here.”

“And left them alone in Bob’s room?” the agent pressed.

“That’s right. They seemed to know what they were about.”

“How long did they stay up there?”

“I don’t rightly know. I went up to that floor a few minutes ago, but no one was in sight then. Maybe they were there half an hour; maybe only five minutes.”

“What did they look like?”

The janitor scratched his head.

“Well, now, I didn’t pay a whole lot of attention to them. One of them was a lot taller than the other one, though.”

A premonition had been growing on Bob and he couldn’t repress his question.

“Did the taller one have red hair?” he asked.

“Come to think of it, he did,” replied the janitor.

“And the shorter one; was there a scar on his forehead?”

“That’s right. Friends of yours, of course?”

“Well, not exactly friends,” said Bob.

“Remember anything else about them?” asked Merritt Hughes.

“Not right now, anyhow,” said the janitor and they left him to return to his work while they went outdoors.

Merritt Hughes was the first to speak.

“I guess there is no question about the identity of your visitors. They are the same ones who attempted to kidnap you. What’s the reason for all of your popularity?”

Bob shook his head.

“I only wish I knew,” he said. “Believe me, it is no fun to have your room torn apart like that. Why they ruined my clothes and it’s going to be mighty costly getting them repaired.”

“I’ll help you out if you’re pinched for money,” volunteered his uncle, reaching for his billfold.

But Bob waved the offer aside.

“Thanks, but I’ll get along all right. If I ever catch up with those fellows they’ll have to get their fists into action pretty fast if they want to escape a thorough drubbing.”

“I don’t blame you a bit for feeling that way. But we’ve got to get along. I have an appointment with one of the army’s chief radio engineers in less than fifteen minutes and I want you to sit in.”

They signalled for a cab and started for the meeting which was to reveal some startling information on Bob’s first case.