“The whole thing was certainly well thought out,” went on the father of the twins. “It’s a wonder they didn’t send everybody in the office off on a wild-goose chase,” and Tom smiled grimly.
“I’ve been trying to think who might have done this,” continued Dick slowly, tapping his desk with a pencil as he spoke. “Of course, the police detectives think it was done by one of the well-organized bands of hold-up men in and around New York. But just the same, we know that we have a certain number of personal enemies who wouldn’t like anything better than to pull off such a job as this.”
“Who among our enemies would have the nerve to do it?” questioned Sam Rover. “Davenport and his gang are in jail, so they are eliminated. Now then, we know that old Josiah Crabtree is at liberty; but I don’t think he’d have the nerve to attempt anything of this sort.”
“He might not have the nerve to play the part of a bandit at the offices, but he might help the real criminals by, for instance, doing some of that telephoning or telegraphing.
“Of course, there are a lot of other fellows who’d be only too glad to make trouble for us,” went on Tom, after a pause. “First of all, there is Nelson Martell who used to be in business down here and who lost out in the oil fields, and along with him is that chap Slogwell Brown, and then their two sons, Slugger and Nappy, who have had so much trouble with our boys.”
“And, yes—don’t forget some of the other fellows, like Mr. Werner and his good-for-nothing son Gabe.”
“Oh, there are plenty of those fellows who would be glad to take the very shirts from our backs!” cried Sam. “Some of the fellows who tried to injure us at Putnam Hall and at Brill College—fellows like Jerry Koswell and his cronies.”
There was a moment of silence between the three men, each evidently trying to do some hard thinking. Then Dick Rover motioned for his brothers to come closer.
“What do you think of that clerk of ours—Ken Greene?” he whispered, thus making certain that his voice would not carry to any of the outer offices of the company of which he was president.