Mr. Llewellyn John nodded. "And have you informed the police?" he asked.
Malcolm Sage shook his head.
"Why?" enquired Mr. Llewellyn John eagerly.
"If my theory is right," said Sage, "it's unnecessary. If my theory's wrong, it's useless. Believe me, sir, our best course is to continue to boom John Dene's disappearance for all we are worth."
"But the Destroyer!" exclaimed Mr. Llewellyn John excitedly.
"You know the conditions, sir, that the island of Auchinlech was to be left severely alone for four months."
"Do you imagine that Dene slipped off to the north to trick the Germans?"
"That wouldn't trick them, sir," said Malcolm Sage quietly. "John Dene would never have been allowed to reach Auchinlech alive. That was settled. I may add that I have every reason to believe that the taxi and its occupant did not go fifty miles from London."
"And that he is a prisoner?" Mr. Llewellyn John jumped from his chair.
Malcolm Sage inclined his head in the affirmative.