BISCAYNE was calm as he resumed. There was no hurry in his speech, no worry in his tone. He seemed assured that he had nothing to fear.
“Silas Harshaw was virtually insane,” said Biscayne. “His invention was useless. I knew it. But I wanted to obtain money from my cousin, Arthur Wilhelm.”
Cardona, keenly alert, played a clever game. The detective possessed amazing intuition at times — and he displayed that faculty now.
He was showing every appearance of being ready to side with Roger Biscayne — if the proper terms were offered.
“While I was working that way,” said Biscayne, “everything turned the way I desired.
“Weston was appointed police commissioner and wanted me to work on special cases. Silas Harshaw, who told me all he knew, spoke of his enemies.
“I came here more often than I have stated. I helped the old man arrange that pistol device. But we never loaded it; because afterward, I thought of something better.
“At my suggestion, the old man prepared the clockwork to release letters down the mail chute. I helped him to sculpture his bust. He was like a child in my hands, Cardona.
“Harshaw thought he had four enemies. He wrote all that data himself, and prepared the letters that were not sent. All were genuine.
“Wilhelm, he believed, was an enemy, because of his reluctance to invest large sums.