The boys thanked him and left the store with James.
“Give us a ring if you really do turn up some film in that basket, will you, Chief?” Sandy asked.
“Sure.”
Back in the Advance office Ken handed the box to his father. “We’ve got Mom’s present all right, but we haven’t got much of a story.”
“We haven’t got much of a story yet,” Sandy corrected him.
“What does the ‘yet’ mean?” Pop demanded, while Richard Holt lifted the cardboard lid and assured himself that the catch on the little iron box was now in perfect working order.
Sandy explained the possibility of incendiarism. Bert’s automatic hoot of laughter died when he realized that Chief James shared Sandy’s suspicion.
“But if Sam says nothing was missing, it doesn’t sound like a grab-and-run deal,” Pop pointed out.
“He doesn’t think anything is missing,” Sandy reminded him. “He might still find—” He broke off as the phone rang.
A moment later Sandy was talking to the caller who had asked for him.