“I know you are!” declared the reporter. “Judge Harvey Tolland disappeared fourteen months ago. Foul play was the story for a while, but I never figured you were dead. Now, why are you here?”
The positiveness in the reporter’s voice was convincing. Had the other man been less anxious, he might have realized that the Wise Owl was bluffing. Caulkins watched him keenly, waiting expectantly for the reply.
It came. The older man pointed to a chair.
“Sit down,” he said, in a hopeless tone. “There’s no use in my trying to deceive you any longer. You are right. I am Judge Harvey Tolland.”
Caulkins dropped into the chair with a broad, triumphant grin. His quest of fourteen months was ended.
The greatest story of the year was in the bag. He had found the missing man, whose strange disappearance had remained unsolved!
He watched intently as the tall judge strode across the room and unlocked a table drawer. Tolland removed a paper from the drawer and thrust it into the reporter’s hands.
“You have asked me a question,” he said grimly. “You want to know why I disappeared. There is the answer!”
Caulkins hastily unfolded the paper. He scanned the written lines that appeared upon it. Suddenly, his hands began to tremble.
The older man, now calm, watched him grimly. The reporter’s eyes were fascinated. They had completed the reading of the message; they were staring at the cryptic signature that appeared beneath it.