We walked down the street silent and thoughtful. The only feeling I had at first was disappointment. I didn't get the whole thing clear as Babbitts did. It came on him all in a minute, he told me afterward.
We were on Broadway as light as day with the signs and people walking by us and crowding in between us as if they were hurrying to catch trains. I felt Babbitts' hand go round my arm, steering me into a side street. It was darker there and there were only a few passers-by. We slackened up and still with his hand around my arm, he bent his face down toward my ear and said low, as if he was afraid someone was listening:
"Kiddo, are you on?"
"To what?"
"Cokesbury. Don't you get it? He won't answer the phone."
"Do you mean he won't answer at all?"
"Not unless it's someone he knows. He's got his clerks in the office holding the fort and his servants at home."
We were just under a lamp and I stopped with my mouth falling open, for sudden, like a flash of light, it came to me.
"Soapy!" I gasped and wheeled round on him. His face bent down toward me, was intent like a hunting dog's when it sees a bird, his eyes, bright and fixed, looking straight into mine.
"You've made the first real discovery in this case, Molly Morganthau. Cokesbury's scared, d——d scared, so scared he's lost his nerve and is lighting out to Europe."