Nick Carter found Mr. Rudolph Strickland and his niece awaiting him, but Arthur Gordon had not yet arrived.
“I have talked with him by telephone, Mr. Carter, and he now is on his way here,” said Wilhelmina, after their greeting.
“There is nothing he can do to aid us,” Nick replied. “We shall set at work at once, and you must remain here with Mr. Strickland. Find out, Patsy, whether the photographer on the floor above has arrived. He promised to come down early this morning.”
Patsy hastened from the parlor in which they had been received, while Nick and Chick at once proceeded to the rear rooms.
“We’ll begin with the bathroom,” said Nick, leading the way. “Daylight may reveal more than I was able to discover last night. Ah, by Jove, I thought so.”
He had entered the bathroom and raised the lower section of the small, ground-glass window. A glance at the stone sill outside, which he then began to inspect with a powerful lens, evoked his last more forcible remark.
“It’s what I do not find,” Nick replied. “Notice the lack of dust on the upper surface of this stone. All that remains of the thin layer which ordinarily would be there is a small quantity next to each casing. The lens[Pg 16] shows, too, that it has been rubbed in each direction, as if with a piece of cloth, or a garment.”
“Plainly enough,” Chick agreed. “It would be indiscernible, nevertheless, except in a bright light.”
“That was the difficulty last evening. We had not light enough.”
“You now suspect——”