“Only three or four blocks. The porter at the Ransom House recommended both Kelleys and Brackens.”
They paid their checks and Tim turned toward the News, but Dan stopped him.
“Things are light today. We’ll take a few extra minutes and see what we can learn at the garages.”
Kelleys, the first rent-a-car agency visited, could supply no information but at Brackens they found their visit more fruitful.
The man in charge of the office consulted his records and informed them that on the Saturday night previous a “Mr. G. Seven” had rented one of their best cars, putting up a cash deposit of $100 since he intended to take the car outside the city limits.
Tim described “Mr. Seven” in detail.
“That’s the man,” said the garage employe firmly. “There’s no mistake about it; he’s got one of our cars. Is he in some kind of trouble?”
“Not as far as we know,” replied Tim. “Did you hear him say where he was going?”
“No, but I saw him looking at the state map on the wall over there. He was a little different from the average run of our customers and I kept an eye on him. He was looking at the roads leading into the Cedar river country.”
“But there aren’t any really good roads in that part of the state,” said Tim.