“It’s back of my business quarters, just as I told you.”
“You told the truth once, then, at least,” Nick said dryly.
“Yes, sure,” cried Guelpa, laughing again. “This makes a good retreat for us in case of danger. That throat-specialist gag is all phoney, a colossal bluff. I had to pose in some impressive character. We can slip from my office into this house, or the reverse, in two shakes of a lamb’s tail. We’re the bunch who got the sparks, Carter, all right, and now we’ve got you.[Pg 35]”
“Yes, that’s very obvious,” said Nick, coolly taking a chair. “Since you are so communicative, Guelpa, if that’s your name, suppose you tell me how you got away with the jewel cases so quickly.”
“Why not?” leered Guelpa, while the others laughed as if they enjoyed the detective’s blindness. “Scoville was the stranger who held Clayton in his private office. My room is on the same floor with Clayton’s. I’ve got garments like his. Never mind how and when I got them.”
“No, it’s not material,” Nick allowed dryly.
“Not at all, Carter, of course. I merely stole down the stairs, clad like Clayton, and got the first casket. Biddle, disguised as a laundress and provided with a big, covered basket, relieved me of it in the corridor, and got away with it in the basket.”
“Ah, I see,” Nick nodded.
“I then got the other and whisked it up to my rooms,” added Guelpa. “Then I hurried into my own clothing and my Hungarian hair and whiskers, and I was right on the spot when wanted by lovely Mademoiselle Falloni when she fainted. Could anything have been easier? Why, it was like money sent from home.”
“It does appear so, Guelpa, I admit.”