“To you, undoubtedly, Mr. Secretary. Possibly my information may have given him the clew he needed to verify certain suspicions. You were in the West, he wanted to get the news to you without further delay, and the only thing he could do was to write or wire.”
“Or telephone,” supplemented the Secretary; then, as Douglas’ face brightened, he added, “Unfortunately for your theory Senator Carew did none of those things.”
“You mean——?”
“That I have never received a letter, a telegram, or a telephone from him while I was away,” announced the Secretary solemnly.
“He may still have written a message and have been killed before he could get it off to you.”
“Has such a letter been found by Brett?”
“No, sir; nor any trace of it. So far, he has been unable to find out whether such a letter was seen or posted by any member of the Senator’s household. All he has to go on is the blotter.”
“Why did you not go at once to see Senator Carew when you arrived in Washington?”
“Because my cousin, Captain Taylor, who met me at the Union Station, gave me a note from Senator Carew asking me to call on him at nine o’clock Tuesday morning at his residence.”
“How did the Senator know where a note would reach you?”