“Let’s come down to earth now,” remarked Jack, “and think in terms of action. What are we going to do now? What should be our plan of action from now on? Can you think of anything, Paul?”
For a short while, there was silence. At last Paul ventured to suggest, “We might, for example, give up following Mr. Grey; at least temporarily. Then we have to watch that house and get to know the men entering and leaving and determine as well as we can who the members of the gang are.”
“I was just thinking of something,” remarked Ken. “Do you remember, Paul, how hostile the grocery man was and how he squirmed out of giving you any information about Mr. Grey?”
“Yes, what about it?”
“Well, it just occurred to me, that the man must know something if he is so anxious to conceal it.”
“Hmm!” muttered Jack.
“Another thing,” continued Ken. “Isn’t it true, Jack, that each time you followed Mr. Grey, it seemed to you that he emerged from that corner house, the house in which the store is situated?”
“That’s right. What are you driving at?”
Ken scratched his head. “I feel this way about it,” he said, “that most likely that corner house is owned or at least rented by the grocery man. Now if Mr. Grey comes out of that house, he must live there.” His two companions leaned forward and listened to him attentively. They suspected that what he was saying might be very valuable. He continued, “Therefore, if Mr. Grey lives in that house, the grocery man must know him; under ordinary circumstances, he would have no reason to say that he didn’t know Mr. Grey. It therefore follows that either he knows that Mr. Grey is a crook or possibly he himself is somehow involved in the situation.”
The boys gasped. The reasonableness and logic of Ken’s statement was beyond question. Yet how true was it? If it were true, another missing link was being added to the already complicating puzzle. “Then why,” asked Jack, “should the woman have mentioned the name Mr. Grey when you entered the store and asked for information Ken?”