The others sat, Merriam and Crockett across from each other. The financier looked steadily at the younger man.
"Miss Milton was right," he began quietly. "The message was not for me. It was for you, Mr. Merriam. I think I ought to give it to you."
"If you please," said Merriam.
"It was that you should 'come at once to the hotel.'"
Merriam managed not to blink.
"What hotel?" he asked.
For an instant Crockett weighed his answer. Then:
"The De Soto," he said.
But Merriam had read the meaning of the momentary pause: Rockwell had not named the hotel--he wouldn't, of course--Crockett was guessing.
"De Soto?" he asked, looking as puzzled as he could. "I thought it might be from the Nestor House." (He was using the first name that popped into his head.)