The question came from the lawyer Parker Noyes.
“For Chicago,” replied Holtmann. “My train goes at midnight. I must leave here in ample time to stop at the hotel on the way. I am staying at the Belmar.”
“You will have to leave by eleven o’clock,” observed Noyes.
Holtmann nodded.
The group broke up as the conversation ended. Only Lamont Cranston remained.
He smiled as Tobias Waddell approached him. He walked to the side of the room with the millionaire, and the two sat down in chairs that were drawn side by side.
It was there that Parker Noyes joined them. The lawyer, grave and gray-haired, was a man of important bearing. Both he and Cranston listened to Waddell’s talk, but their eyes were not directed toward the speaker.
Cranston, his clear eyes covering the whole scene, watched Frederick Froman as a footman entered and delivered a message to the blond-haired man. Froman went from the room, evidently to answer a telephone call.
Cranston’s gaze shifted to Marcus Holtmann. Noyes, however, was observing another individual. He was intent upon David Tholbin, who was still engaged in ardent conversation with Betty Waddell.
Froman returned. Cranston glanced at his watch. It showed ten minutes of eleven. Cranston turned to Waddell.