“I haven’t said yet.” The Phantom forced a laugh. “Before I do, you and I must have a definite understanding. Do you agree to set Miss Hardwick free the moment I have given you the information?”
“What an unreasonable question, my dear Phantom! I agree to do nothing of the kind. I shall keep Miss Hardwick here until I have satisfied myself that you have been dealing with me on the square and that the directions you have given me are accurate.”
“Fair enough. But after you have satisfied yourself in regard to my good faith, what then?”
“Then,” said the doctor, and there was not a trace of guile in his face, “Miss Hardwick shall be immediately released.”
“On your word of honor?”
“On my word of honor.”
“Snake!” the Phantom was tempted to say, but he pretended to be satisfied. Already his mind was inventing a ruse. He would gain several hours of valuable time by inveigling the doctor into a search for a place that had existence only in the Phantom’s imagination. In the meantime several things were likely to happen. It was just possible that Granger had been able to trace the movements of the limousine and would come to the rescue. At any rate, the Phantom believed that if he could but stave off the crisis for a while his customary luck would once more reassert itself.
His mind worked fast. Doubtless the doctor knew that he had arrived in New York less than twenty-four hours after the Gage murder. Allowing for slow and infrequent trains and the time required for news to reach out-of-the-way places, he would have to choose a point that was not more than ten or twelve hours removed from New York. With a mental picture of the map before his eyes, he outlined a highly imaginative route to the doctor.
Bimble made a few notes. Then he looked up, and for once there was an ominous glint in the usually placid eyes.
“My men will start at once,” he announced. “They will be instructed to wire me as soon as they have reached their destination. I hope, for Miss Hardwick’s sake, that you have not tried to deceive me.”