“Ah!” almost shouted the detective. “That click on the wire!”
“Did it sound as though someone upstairs picked up the telephone receiver while you were talking?” pressed Don quietly.
“Yes,” acknowledged the detective. “Now that you put it that way, it did. I remember hearing a click while I was explaining things to Colonel Morrell, but I thought nothing of it. Somebody, probably Arthur Gates himself, must have heard that conversation.”
After the crestfallen detective had departed they talked it over, realizing that the game was up. There was now no hope of ever recovering the cup.
“I guess we’ll just have to go without knowing what was on that cup that made it worth while for Gates to steal,” the colonel admitted. “Now, the only thing for me to do is to have another Alumni meeting soon after Christmas and have Long there. At that meeting we’ll publicly clear him and let it go at that.”
“All I can say is that Mr. Proctor is not the best detective in the world,” said Douglas.
“No,” seconded the colonel. “He should never have called up from the house, or from any other place. He should have come directly here and told me things personally. Well, boys, that is the end of the cup affair. I thank you most heartily for your very real interest in it and your services to Mr. Long. That ends the matter of the 1933 class’s trophy as far as we are concerned, with the exception of the apology to Long.”
Chapter 18
The Published List
Christmas came and Woodcrest was almost deserted. For a whole week the school looked empty and forlorn as the boys went to their homes to spend the holiday season.
The Mercers and Terry had returned to Maine, separating for a brief week to be with their own families. The Mercer brothers thoroughly enjoyed the week at home, visiting friends, spending time with the family, and getting in some fine skating.