“No. He took him into custody. Then he took away the men who had been watching the place, and a short time after that the telephone rang. It was the telephone company to say that our telephone had been temporarily out of order, that service was now restored. I called your office right away. Of course, no one answered. I didn’t think anyone would. Then I called Mr. Drake’s agency, and it must have been nearly midnight when I got in touch with him. He told me he thought he’d be in touch with you later on, and if I’d wait up he’d pass the message on.”
Mason said, “But if Tragg had men watching the house, Steele must have been stopped when he came in.”
She said, “Yes — that’s right, if he came in before Junior.”
Mason said, “I’d like to know just where Tragg had his men stationed, and whether those men knew Steele by sight. I wonder if we could wake Steele up to ask him a couple of questions.”
“Oh, I’d hesitate to do that,” Mrs. Gentrie said. “After all, you know, he’s a roomer.”
“There’s a door which leads to his room from here?”
She pointed toward a door which opened from the hallway leading from the dining room to the foot of the stairs. “He has his own private exit and his own bath,” she said. “We rent him the room, then, of course, he can come in here whenever he wants to. We try to treat our roomers as one of the family — except on telephone service. We have so many telephone calls, because of the children and...”
“I understand,” Mason said. “How about knocking on his door?”
“Oh, I wouldn’t,” Mrs. Gentrie said.
Mason said thoughtfully, “Well, after all, it’s rather important.”