“Tully, this is Merritt Hughes. There’s been trouble in this office tonight. You are one of two outsiders who were in here. If you know what’s good for you, get down here at once and don’t argue.”
With that he hung up the receiver without giving Tully an opportunity to answer.
“I think he’ll be down without losing any time,” he said, and Bob was ready to agree.
Tully lived some distance from the office. Bob knew that it would be nearly half an hour before he could arrive.
“Let me have a flashlight,” he said to his uncle, “and I’ll go down on the ground floor and see if there is any chance that paper was thrown from the window.”
Merritt Hughes nodded his agreement and handed a light to Bob.
“I’ll go along,” said Arthur Jacobs. “I can’t stay up here and do nothing.”
The filing chief was visibly shaken and Bob was glad enough to have companionship for there would be no fun in prowling through the shrubbery at the base of the building at that hour of the night.
They walked down the corridor together and turned and faced the elevator entrance. The cage came up in answer to their summons and they dropped swiftly toward the first floor.
“Find out yet what happened to the regular guard on our floor?” Bob asked the elevator operator.