“Very well, then. Have it as you wish. I’ll instruct the clerks to show you how to examine the lists and to allow you to work at them in your own time.”
“Thank you,” said Willie. “Maybe I am wrong, but I’ll never be satisfied until I know I am.”
Willie plunged into this new labor with enthusiasm. Half of his noon hour and at least an hour every evening he spent in poring over the records in question. He found it dull, dry, and at first disappointing work. Some importations he found in the name of Habib Mahaleb, but they were not such as to excite suspicion.
But one thing Willie noticed that presently burned itself into his consciousness. From the port of Genoa repeated importations of wheat and pistachio-nuts were being sent to Marrash Roukas. The importation of pistachio-nuts seemed proper enough. But why should anybody be shipping wheat, a few hundred pounds at a time, from the Orient to America? Willie could form no theory that seemed to explain it. Right here the detective sense that was really born in him asserted itself. Something told him that the thing was suspicious.
When he had completed his search, Willie reported to the Special Agent. “I can’t find a thing that looks suspicious about Habib Mahaleb’s importations,” said Willie, “unless it be that they are suspicious because of their absence. There are relatively few shipments credited to him. That seems queer, because he has a pretty big store.”
“He may get his stuff from other dealers in America,” said Mr. King.
“That’s a possibility I hadn’t thought about. But there is one thing, Mr. King, that I’d like to call your attention to. A fellow named Marrash Roukas has been importing wheat and pistachio-nuts into this country from Genoa. There has been shipment after shipment, and always in small lots. Now what does any one want to ship wheat to America for, anyway, when we raise so much? And why does he want to buy it in three-hundred pound lots?”
The Chief pricked up his ears. “Willie,” he said, “that’s a subject of interest. I think I’ve never heard of a case just like that before. It is interesting enough to justify our looking into it.”
“What are you going to do?”
“Why, we’ll find out when the gentleman makes another shipment and have a look at the stuff.”