Phil chuckled. “Because he didn’t know the combination of the safe. He could, of course, have sneaked out here at night after we’d all gone to bed and used dynamite to open the safe, but that would have been pretty risky. Soon after he saw the safe and the room, we issued blanket invitations to the masquerade and you slyly hinted that part of the evening’s entertainment would be a visit to the secret room. Taggart promptly decided that the safest way of getting what he wanted was to let us lead him right to it.”
“In other words,” Peter added, “while we were setting our little trap, Mr. X was setting one of his own. While his gangster friends were holding up the rest of the party, he planned to force one of you Allens to accompany him into the secret room and open the safe.”
“That’s right,” Philip said. “And I made things easy for him when I asked him to lend atmosphere by posing by the safe; and then, to cap the climax, I stayed behind after everyone else had left. The only thing I can say for myself,” he finished, “is that I did have the presence of mind to close the door as soon as I realized I’d walked into the trap we had set for him. And even that,” he admitted, “was sort of a reflex action.”
“Call it what you like,” Jimmy said, “but it was important. Otherwise, Taggart would have heard the outraged cries of his gunmen when they walked into the arms of the police. During that commotion he might have escaped—with the real loot.” He leaned forward to tap Phil’s knee. “Now that we’ve all, with the exception of the inlaws-to-be, confessed to being dimwits in one way or another, let’s hear more about those stock certificates, Phil. Answer me, yes, or no, are they worth enough so I can get a sailboat?”
CHAPTER 15
HAPPY ENDING
“I object,” Peter cried. “My wife-to-be isn’t a dimwit. She’s a heroine.”
“I object, too,” Adra said. “Phil’s a hero.”
“All right, all right,” Jimmy said. “But it’s getting on toward dawn. Marjorie and I are dimwits. Just tell me whether or not we’re rich or poor.”
“We’re rich,” Philip said as he drew from his pocket the bulging envelope he had earlier been forced to hand over to Taggart. He handed it to Penny. “Open it, Sis.”