“Gee! I thought of that,” declared Patsy. “You have hit the nail on the head, chief, for fair.”
“I think that these crooks, in order to expedite matters and create a general belief that Gordon has murdered Pauline Perrot, planted this evidence and probably more, and immediately started Henley with it to inform the constable, aiming to get in their work on old Mr. Strickland as soon as possible. I saw that Henley was a bit set back when he discovered my identity and that I already was at work on the case.”
“I noticed that, too, chief,” put in Patsy.
“Henley decided to seize the bull by the horns, however, pretending he wanted to aid me, and I think he now has something up his sleeve,” Nick added. “I’m going to give him a chance to show his hand.”
“How so?” Chick questioned.
“I’m not yet sure what I shall frame up. Be that as it may, Chick, you hike back to town and get after Dayton. It’s dollars to fried holes that he has a hand in this game. Use your own judgment as to the best course to shape, and leave Patsy and me to tie knots in this end of the string. That’s all for the present.”
“Enough said, too, Nick,” replied Chick, seizing his hat. “You have pulled off a clever bit of work, remarkably clever, and we’re now right in line to deliver the goods. Leave Dayton to me. I’ll get him.”
Chick did not wait for an answer. He hurried out of the house and started for town in the taxicab.
CHAPTER VII.
HENLEY SHOWS HIS HAND.
It was, indeed, a clever bit of detective work that had enabled Nick Carter to form a theory consistent with all of the circumstances and the accumulation of evidence denoting that Arthur Gordon was guilty of the basest of treachery and the most heinous of crimes, and which would have been convincing not only to the public, but probably to all other detectives than Nick Carter himself.