CHAPTER XXI.—THE MISSING LINK.
Mr. Bangs made three calls on that memorable Monday. The first was to Billie, as you already surmise. If he recognized the strong undercurrent which connected the strange adventures of the Motor Maids during the past two months, he said nothing, but listened gravely to the young girl’s account of the happenings in Boulder Lane, the box of jewels, the cases of rifles at Seven League Island, and so on through the events which have been told in this history.
When Billie had finished, she paused and waited for the detective to speak, but he sat silently twirling his thumbs and looking down at the floor with half-closed eyes.
Billie was slightly irritated.
“I have sent for you, Mr. Bangs,” she continued with some dignity, “because, while I am certain of two things, I’m not at all sure of the third. The first is that Fannie Alta has some very good reason for trying to prove that Mary is a thief. The second is that this smuggler who has been trying to steal the jewels has something to do with it.”
“And what is the third, Miss Campbell?” asked the detective, smiling, without looking up.
“That is what I want you to tell me,” exclaimed Billie restlessly. “There is a third. It is the missing link. And it is what I wanted you to find out for me. I have thought and thought and puzzled and puzzled, but I can’t make it out. I believe with all my soul that there is some wicked force back of the whole thing.”
Mr. Bangs raised his eyes at last and looked at the young girl with evident admiration.
“You are taking the first step toward making a good detective, Miss Campbell,” he said. “You have expressed it in three words. It is the missing link we need to get at in this business and it is what I must find.”
Billie flushed with pleasure at this professional praise. She had never had occasion to play the part of detective before. But devotion and loyalty to her friend had sharpened her wits.