“I don’t know; I’ll try.”
“The next thing to find out, is whether Mr. Moor really was sick yesterday morning. If he was not sick, he didn’t take a ride for his health, and must have taken it on business. If he had any business, it concerned Isaac Naylor, for he followed Isaac, and went no where else, according to my notion. The third thing to do, is to find what time he got back home yesterday afternoon, and what he did after he came home. Each one of these things hangs on the other.”
Will sat in silence for a long time. At last he stood up. “Tom,” said he, and his tones were serious, almost solemn, “as I said before, all this is reasonable, and is wonderfully thought out I won’t say off-hand that I think Mr. Moor did kill Isaac Naylor, but I’ll say this,—I think he might have done it. I’ll see what I can find out from White & Tenny—that I can manage myself. As to Mr. Moor’s private movements, we’ll have to put some one on the track of them that’s used to hunting up evidence. When I was studying law with Mr. Fargio, in Philadelphia, he had a fellow named Daly, whom he employed in the case of Smithers vs. Black. He’s a clever hand at ferreting out this kind of evidence, and I’ll get him to run down here and see what he can make out of this. The only trouble with him, is that he drinks, but I guess I can contrive to keep him sober till we’ve found out all we want to know. And now I’ll have to leave you, Tom, for I must set about my part of the business. Though it’s hard for me to believe that Mr. Moor was concerned in this—I’ll say this, I don’t believe that you did it; you’ve convinced me that far. I’ll say, too, that your reasoning against Moor is very strong.”
“If you’ll wait a minute, Will, I’ll drop a line to Patty, and get you to take it to her,” said Tom. “Of course, you’ll keep secret all that’s been said between us. You may tell the home folks, but don’t let it go any further.”
“Of course, I won’t.”
Then, while Will walked up and down the floor of the cell, Tom sat down and wrote his letter to Patty. He represented his case very much as he had done to Will Gaines, and spoke cheerfully and hopefully of his position.
He did not tell her anything about Mr. Moor; he felt that it would be better not to do so, for her father might chance to see the letter, and it behooved them to keep the matter as quiet as possible.
Then he folded the letter and gave it to Will, who left the cell without a word, but with a firm grip of the hand at parting.