“Perhaps you would like to take charge of the inquiry, sir,” said Dick. “This is not the ordinary petty larceny type of crime, and I seem to remember having dealt with a case of yours whilst I was in the Prosecutor’s Department, presenting less complicated features, in which you were no more successful than I and my officers have been in dealing with the Frogs. You must allow me the greatest latitude and exercise patience beyond the ordinary. I know the Frog,” he said simply.
For some time they did not realize what he had said.
“You know him?” asked the Chief Commissioner incredulously.
Dick nodded.
“If I were to tell you who it was,” he said, “you would probably laugh at me. And obviously, whilst it is quite possible for me to secure an arrest this morning, it is not as easy a matter to produce overwhelming evidence that will convict. You must give me rope if I am to succeed.”
“But how did you discover him, Captain Gordon?” asked the Chief, and Elk, who had listened, dumbfounded, to this claim of his superior, waited breathlessly for the reply.
“It was clear to me,” said Dick, speaking slowly and deliberately, “when I learnt from Mr. Johnson, who was Maitland’s secretary, that somewhere concealed in the old man’s house was a mysterious child.” He smiled as he looked at the blank faces of the Board. “That doesn’t sound very convincing, I’m afraid,” he said, “but nevertheless, you will learn in due course why, when I discovered this, I was perfectly satisfied that I could take the Frog whenever I wished. It is not necessary to say that, knowing as I do, or as I am convinced I do, the identity of this individual, events from now on will take a more interesting and a more satisfactory course. I do not profess to be able to explain how Hagn came to make his escape. I have a suspicion—it is no more than a suspicion—but even that event is soluble if my other theory is right, as I am sure it is.”
Until the meeting was over and the two men were again in Elk’s office, the detective spoke no word. Then, closing the door carefully, he said:
“If that was a bluff of yours, Captain Gordon, it was the finest bluff I have ever heard, and I’ve an idea it wasn’t a bluff.”
“It was no bluff,” said Dick quietly. “I tell you I am satisfied that I know the Frog.”