I set the speaker down on the shining glass top of the chart desk. My hands were shaking a little and I held my breath while O’Leary removed one of the sides of the speaker. We both peered into it. Then O’Leary put his hand inside and groped around.
We stared at the compact arrangement of wires and tiny coils and screws, then met each other’s gaze.
“Nothing!” I said.
“Nothing!” confirmed O’Leary. He studied the thing thoughtfully for a moment.
“Did anyone see you take this to your room?”
“No one. That is, no one but—but Maida. I met her at the door just as I was carrying it to my room.”
“Miss Day—h’mm.” And after another pause: “Are you sure that this is the same speaker that was in Room 18?”
“Why, yes. No. That is—” I hastened to explain as he cast a decidedly irritated glance at me—“that is, I mean that this is the speaker that was in Sonny’s room and I just assumed it to be the one that I had left there.”
“Assuming again,” remarked O’Leary with dry disapproval. “It might have been one from another room, then?”
“Yes. It might have been. But I think——”