“You hear about that?”
“Sure, it’s all over the department. Looks big to me. Adams working on it too?”
Merritt Hughes nodded.
“That means you’ll have to step fast. I hear that whoever solves this thing will be in line for an inspectorship.”
“Hope you’re right, Jimmy, because Bob and I are going to clear up this mystery. That is, if you’ll give us a little help. A couple of hoodlums tried to kidnap Bob a while ago. He can give you an accurate description of them and you may be able to pull their pictures out of the files.”
“We’ll find them for you if they’ve any record at all.” He pulled a blank form from a file and fired question after question at Bob on height, weight, color of eyes, and any possible peculiarities which they might have had. When he had finished both forms, he leaned back in his chair.
“I’d call that an almost perfect description of these chaps. If we don’t dig them out of the files, I’ll miss my bet. We’ll get something for you before midnight. Good luck.”
Bob and his uncle left the identification bureau and took an elevator down to the main floor. Bob’s hands still smarted from the scratches they had suffered from the barberry and he kept the handkerchiefs wrapped around them.
“I want to drop in at the police station and question the man caught last night,” said Merritt Hughes, “but we can stop at your apartment on our way down and give it the once-over. We might find something of interest in the hall.”
The federal agent flagged a taxi and they sped swiftly toward Bob’s apartment.