“One of the unofficial detectives has unearthed a clue,” he whispered to me a few moments later when he returned. “It was Garwood.” Then to the others he added, “A car, repainted, and with the number changed, but otherwise answering the description of Dr. Wilson’s has been traced to the West Side. It is somewhere in the neighborhood of a saloon and garage where drivers of taxicabs hang out. Reginald, I wish you would come along with us.”
To Betty’s unspoken question Craig hastened to add, “I don’t think there is any immediate danger. If there is any change—let me know. I shall call up soon. And meanwhile,” he lowered his voice to impress the instruction on her, “don’t leave your mother for a moment—not for a moment,” he emphasized.
Reginald was ready and together we three set off to meet Garwood at a subway station near the point where the car had been reported. We had scarcely closed the front door, when we ran into Duncan Baldwin, coming down the street, evidently bent on inquiring how Mrs. Blake and Betty were.
“Much better,” reassured Kennedy. “Come on, Baldwin. We can’t have too many on whom we can rely on an expedition like this.”
“Like what?” he asked, evidently not comprehending.
“There’s a clue, they think, to that car of Dr. Wilson’s,” hastily explained Reginald, linking his arm into that of his friend and falling in behind us, as Craig hurried ahead.
It did not take long to reach the subway, and as we waited for the train, Craig remarked: “This is a pretty good example of how the automobile is becoming one of the most dangerous of criminal weapons. All one has to do nowadays, apparently, after committing a crime, is to jump into a waiting car and breeze away, safe.”
We met Garwood and under his guidance picked our way westward from the better known streets in the heart of the city, to a section that was anything but prepossessing.
The place which Garwood sought was a typical Raines Law hotel on a corner, with a saloon on the first floor, and apparently the requisite number of rooms above to give it a legal license.
We had separated a little so that we would not attract undue attention. Kennedy and I entered the swinging doors boldly, while the others continued across to the other corner to wait with Garwood and take in the situation. It was a strange expedition and Reginald was fidgeting while Duncan seemed nervous.