"That's my addition to Evelyn's story. That's how I knew it was Gibson when he stepped in to arrest me. You can see how it worked out. When I defied Cummings he arranged with Gibson to arrest me. He had Gibson do it because Gibson is his man and he wants the public to think that they are enemies. I'm telling you this because after I do my bit back in New York I'm going straight, with Evelyn. I'm going to pay back every cent I ever took from anyone and, perhaps, sometime we'll have a home and—what she said."
Overwhelmed mentally by the condemning information against Gibson which had been given them by "Big Jim," John was startled by Brennan's first words after Hatch had stopped speaking.
"What a fat-head I am!" Brennan exclaimed.
Hatch's face showed that he shared John's surprise at Brennan's ejaculation.
"Oh, what a sap I am!" he continued. "Why, oh, why haven't we shadowed them? Why haven't we followed them night and day until we found them together? Why didn't one of us spot the 'Gink's' apartment?"
"You're lucky you haven't," Hatch put in. "You couldn't have gotten away with it. They probably would have killed you. Anyway, I doubt very much if they actually meet each other now. The 'Gink' warned Gibson when I saw them that he was not to 'do this again,' which meant he shouldn't come to the apartment."
"They're in communication with each other, somehow," said Brennan.
"There's the telephone, or they may be using the mails, or they may have a confidential agent, a go-between," Hatch suggested.
"I don't think the 'Gink' would take a chance with a go-between," said Brennan.
Before they left him to hurry back to the office, Hatch agreed to make an affidavit containing what he had told them, including the portion of the story told by his wife, and had consented to allow them to obtain a sworn statement from Mrs. Hatch.