“Once in awhile, I suppose.”
“Let’s have a talk with the fellow,” the officer said. “What can you tell me about him?”
“He’s rather queer, but harmless,” answered Flash. “It couldn’t have been Old Herm who struck me.”
Even as he spoke, the thought assailed him that actually he knew almost nothing about the watchman.
“Maybe not,” commented the policeman dryly, “but in this business you learn not to have any set ideas about the guilty fellow. Give the evidence a chance to speak for itself!”
CHAPTER XIX
A LOST KEY
Flash silently followed the officer down the hallway to the elevator. The pointed remark about not having set ideas struck home, making him suddenly conscious that his attitude had been anything but unbiased. Hadn’t he been so certain Fred Orris was responsible for the theft that he refused to consider any other possibility?
Now that he reflected, he realized that the watchman had seemed unusually interested in his work. As he thought back, it came to him that when they had been together, he usually was the one to do most of the talking. Old Herm asked many questions and supplied few answers.
“But it couldn’t have been Herm,” he repeated to himself. “He’s only a foolish old cod, and he’s always seemed to like me.”
They presently located the watchman on the fifth floor. As Old Herm saw the police officer striding toward him, he started perceptibly.