"That's right," answered Devlin. "A regular slat."
"Have you any idea where he could be found?"
"He's often seen at Duke Sheehan's, on Claridge Street. That's a kind of hang-up for him." Then, with a note of interest in his voice, the captain of detectives added: "Got anything on him?"
"I don't know," replied Ashton-Kirk. "I'll be able to tell better in a day or two."
After a few general remarks he hung up the receiver, turned toward Scanlon and told him of what Devlin had said.
But Bat continued to look puzzled.
"You asked for a cautious crook who was small and had big feet. Where did you get all that?"
"The fact that he wore 'creepers' showed that he wasn't a man to take unnecessary chances. The impressions on the sod at Stanwick were quite faint; that indicated a light man, and so I thought of him as being small. However, a tall man of frail build would make about the same sort of a footprint; and in his case the large size of the feet is more easily accounted for."
"I get you," said Bat. He arose to his feet, the fresh cigar held between his teeth, and walked up and down the room. Ashton-Kirk leaned against a corner of the table, and watched him with observant eyes. And, finally, as the big man continued to tramp up and down in silence, the investigator said, quietly:
"There are some things in this whole matter which make you uneasy. I've seen that from the first. You've even feared to uncover little things which might be truths because you did not know just where they would lead."