David smiled knowingly.
“That’s his alibi, of course. What did he care about those four fellows? It didn’t hurt them. You see, Mary Lou, I’m an insurance agent, and I’m up to all these tricks. The Hunters’ place was insured for ten thousand dollars, and if it had been offered for sale, Cliff couldn’t have gotten more than a couple thousand at a time like this.”
“But the Hunters are rich,” objected Mary Louise. “They don’t need the money.”
“Everybody needs money. And I happen to know that Cliff wants to go around the world this fall.”
“He wouldn’t give up college?”
“No. There’s a college course in the bargain. They study and travel at the same time. It costs a small fortune.”
“I don’t believe he set that bungalow on fire,” announced Jane. “He’s too honest. He just couldn’t do a thing like that!”
“Besides,” added Mary Louise, “we have another suspect.” And she told David what she had just learned about Horace Ditmar.
“I’m just as sure that Ditmar didn’t do it as you are that Cliff Hunter didn’t,” replied David when she had finished.
“Probably nobody set it on fire,” concluded Jane. “Just an accident. Let’s forget it. Come on in, Mary Lou, and we’ll put on our sneaks. We’ll be ready in a minute, Dave.”