And the day operator had worked for him that Friday evening, while he was at the landlady’s daughter’s birthday party! And he had come down to the station at about the time the Eastfield night freight came in!
Jack sank back in the chair, completely crushed.
“Changed your mind, eh?” remarked the sheriff sarcastically.
Jack shook his head, but said nothing. What could he say!
“If it’s ‘false,’ as you claim, how do you explain our finding the watch in your room?” demanded the detective.
“I don’t know. Someone must have put it there.”
“Very likely. It wouldn’t have crept up stairs and got under the bed itself. And I suppose you will deny also that you saw Watts on the night of the party, despite the fact that he could not otherwise have known the unusual hour you came down to the station that night. Eh?”
“I never saw him after the night he called here,” affirmed Jack earnestly, but hopelessly.
“Well, you will have to prove it,” declared the sheriff. And to Jack’s unspeakable horror he was informed he must be taken into custody.