“No story,” Jimmie’s face fell.
“Just one more minor tragedy for you.” Tom smiled good-naturedly. “I understand what all these little scoops mean to a promising young newspaper man. But when we do our best to serve the people of a great city we must expect a disappointment now and then. Just wait! The time will come when the great story will break. Then you shall have the first look in.”
“I’ll not say a word,” Jimmie promised.
“Have to get over to the ball park before long and talk to the guards who threw that fellow out.” Tom’s mind was at work on the case. “Not much chance that they’ll be able to help. Unless the fellow got violent and did some real damage, which he probably didn’t, they turned him loose at the gate. Their description of the man might help.
“Such a man,” he went on after a moment’s silence, “usually works alone. This one possesses a strange secret, one which permits him to put his victims asleep while still some distance from them. He is not so likely to share that with another. And yet, if some big time crooks convinced him that he could do more harm to the very rich by joining up with them he might consent. Then his power to do harm would be greatly increased.
“The ball park can wait.” He squinted through his telescope. “Remember that truck we followed?”
“Yes.”
“They’ve made two more rehearsal trips to that alley. I’ve men watching them. And yet, I can’t see what big thing they could pull there.
“Of course,” Tom went on thoughtfully, “big crooks do sometimes go in for fine furs and there is a small outfit storing fur coats in a large vault there. But who would risk his life and liberty for a few bundles of second-hand muskrat coats? The idea is too preposterous to be considered.”
“They may be using one of the rooms in that building for storing loot,” suggested Jimmie.