Chapter IV: Nick Carter’s Deductions

Nick Carter glanced again at the newspaper story. No man could have read more keenly between the lines. No logician could have deduced more significant points from its apparently trustworthy statements.

“You may not see anything in it, Chick, but I do,” he replied, after a moment. “Some one, either Dillon or Carney, though very probably both of them, has been lying. These statements won’t stand washing.”

“That’s the stuff, chief,” said Patsy. “Put them through the wringer and squeeze out the dyestuff. What do you make of it?”

“Here is one point,” Nick replied. “Carney claims to have been walking only a short distance behind Dillon when the assault was committed. It’s a hundred to one in that case that the thugs would have seen him, or heard him. They were exercising caution and must have been on the lookout to avoid arrest, as well as to attack Dillon at a time and place precluding interference. They surely would have seen or heard Carney, therefore, if he was only thirty yards behind Dillon, and they would have known that he most likely would rush to his assistance.”

“Sure thing, chief,” declared Patsy. “There’s no getting around it.”

“Naturally, then, they would have postponed the assault, if revenge was their only incentive. That would have kept until another day.”

“That’s right, too, chief.”

“It’s long odds, then, that Carney is lying,” Nick continued. “In view of his running away, moreover, instead of waiting to see how badly Dillon was hurt, as most men would have done under such circumstances as Carney describes, he very probably was hiding with the thugs and was in league with them. That’s more in line with his character, as here stated.”

“There is something in that, Nick, after all,” Chick said, more seriously. “I begin to think you are right.”

“Assuming that I am, Carney evidently has determined not to betray his confederates,” Nick went on. “He sees a loophole for escape in this story he has told, and he is going to stick to it. He knows the lawyer who pursued him cannot disprove it, having seen only the three men running away after the assault.”

“That appears to be obvious, Nick, at least.”

“But Carney may have still another motive,” Nick added. “He is known to be a thief. The assault may have been made with intent to rob. In spite of Dillon’s assertion to the contrary, moreover, the thugs may have robbed him of something.”

“But he would know it in that case, Nick,” said Chick. “What possible object could Dillon have in concealing the fact?”

Nick smiled a bit oddly.

“Suppose he was robbed of something which he does not dare admit having had on his person?” he said inquiringly.

“Gee whiz!” cried Patsy quickly. “You are thinking of the portfolio, chief.”

“That calls the turn, Patsy,” Nick replied. “Let’s see what further warrants that idea. It is a significant fact that this assault was committed last Friday evening, that on which Garland was robbed of his portfolio.”

“That’s right, too, by gracious!” said Patsy, with increasing enthusiasm. “Gee! I’ll bet we have struck the trail.”

“But how could the portfolio have come into Dillon’s hand?” Chick demanded skeptically.

“As well ask, Chick, how could it have been disposed of in the touring car, if that is where the theft was committed, as appears most probable,” Nick replied. “We know that Verona Warren occupied the seat with Garland, on which he had placed his portfolio. She is the one person who, in spite of Garland’s relations with her and evident faith in her, chiefly warrants suspicion. I got at that readily enough through the elimination process.”

“That is true, Nick, I’ll admit.”

“Let’s look a little deeper, then,” Nick continued. “We know nothing definite about Verona Warren, and there may be something under the surface. She may not be all that is supposed, judging from her relations with Garland and with Senator Barclay’s daughter, who should be above suspicion, of course, and naturally not distrustful of her intimate friend, this Warren girl.”

“I get you,” Chick nodded.

“It would have been possible, no doubt, for Verona Warren to have had the dummy portfolio concealed under her cloak, or some outside garment, when she went with Miss Barclay to the railway station,” Nick went on. “It would have been much more difficult, as well as risky, however, if she succeeded in substituting the dummy and getting the other, for her to have retained both portfolios in the car. They are about fourteen inches square and an inch thick.”

“I admit that, Nick, also.”

“Naturally, then, she would have got rid of the one she had stolen. That could have been done, perhaps, by stealthily handing it to some one who passed near the touring car before it started, unobserved, in the stir and confusion outside of the station. Or it might have been done by dropping it from the moving car at some point agreed upon, where a confederate was to be waiting to pick it up.”

“You certainly are figuring out a very clever job, all right,” remarked Chick, laughing.

“Gee whiz! it listens good to me,” said Patsy, with an expressive shake of his head. “I’ll bet money to marbles that it hits somewhere near the truth.”

“Let’s see what more we find in support of it,” continued Nick, glancing again at the newspaper. “A disguise said to have been worn by one of the thugs was found near Dillon’s body after the assault.”

“What do you deduce from that?”

“Why was it torn from the face of the thug?” Nick questioned argumentatively. “How could that have occurred? There surely was no great struggle, if Dillon was struck down so quickly that he could not identify, nor even determine the number of his assailants. There was no reasonable occasion for one of the thugs to have lost his disguise, nor to have left it there, even if it was torn from his face. He could easily have picked it up before he fled.”

“Sure thing, chief,” Patsy again agreed. “I see what you are coming to, all right.”

“We can come to only one conclusion, Patsy.”

“That Dillon himself was the man who wore the disguise?”

“Exactly,” said Nick. “It is easy to see how it may have been torn from his face, or displaced when he fell to the sidewalk. That further appears in that it was found near his body.”

“But why was Dillon in disguise?” Chick persistently questioned.

“If he was the man who was to relieve Verona Warren of the stolen portfolio, he very likely would have been in disguise,” Nick pointedly answered.

“By Jove, there’s some truth in that!” Chick quickly allowed. “If you have sized him up correctly, he might, indeed, be a traitor to his country and in league with others to steal these government plans.”

“That’s the very point, Chick. He may be in league with the foreign spies mentioned by Chief Welden and suspected to have come here with that very object in view.”

“But who were his assailants? How could they have known he had the plans?”

“They may have seen him with the portfolio,” suggested Patsy.

“But how could they have known what it contained?”

“Gee, that’s so. They might have known, Chick, all the same.”

“Furthermore,” Chick added, “Makepeace, the lawyer who pursued them, ought to have seen them get away with the portfolio, if that was really the case.”

“Not necessarily,” Nick objected. “They were well away before Makepeace saw them and started after them. He probably saw only the backs and rapidly moving legs of the two who escaped. He might not have been able to see in the darkness of the evening what either of them was carrying.”

“By Jove, this makes a curious case of it,” said Chick. “If you are right, then, the plans have been stolen from the original thieves, Verona Warren and Captain Dillon, and now are in the hands of other crooks.”

“That would be about the size of it if, as you say, I am right,” Nick replied. “But that word ‘if’ is just as big as it ever was, or ever will be. I may be all wrong. There may be no connection whatever between the assault upon Captain Dillon and the theft of the governmental plans. The circumstances seem to warrant my theory, however, and it’s up to us to find out whether it is correct.”

“Gee! I should say so!” cried Patsy. “It looks to me like the real thing.”

“It would prove of vast advantage to us, of course, if the plans are in the hands of ruffians who cannot readily understand them, or appreciate their vast importance,” Nick added. “It might enable us to recover them before they can be traced and secured again by the original thieves, who are undoubtedly able to turn them to the worst possible use.”

“We may be too late.”

“You mean?”

“They may already have begun negotiations to recover them, and possibly have succeeded,” said Chick.

Nick gazed thoughtfully at the floor for a moment.

“I don’t think so,” he then said decidedly. “That is to say, Chick, I don’t think they have succeeded. The thugs who have the plans, and who evidently were out to get them at some little risk, must have some idea of their character and value.”

“That’s true, of course.”

“Naturally, then, while they might enter into negotiations, perhaps, they would not be likely to let go of the plans until they have craftily learned from whom they can get the biggest price for them. In other words, they would hold off to find the highest bidder.”

“That seems reasonable, too, assuming them to be the type of thugs this newspaper article indicates.”

“How would it do, chief, to try to open negotiations with them through the press, pretending to be persons interested in getting the plans?” asked Patsy, eager to be at work on the case.

“That already may have been done, or Carney may have been approached during his imprisonment, with a view to getting in touch with his confederates,” Nick replied. “I must find out about that.”

“At once?”

“I have time for a call at the city prison before dinner,” Nick nodded. “In the meantime, have a look through the newspapers for any personal, or other advertisement that might possibly refer to this matter. I will return before six o’clock.”