“It’s a first-class house, Carter,” put in Chief Welden.
“I have no family,” Garland added. “I’m quite alone in the world and likely to remain so—unless Verona Warren accepts me for her husband. It was my intention to lock the portfolio in a safe which I have in my room. I frequently have taken plans home for night study, Mr. Carter, so I thought nothing of doing so on this occasion. It was too late to put them in the vault in the department building.”
“How soon after entering your room did you open the portfolio?” Nick asked.
“Immediately,” said Garland. “I had in my overcoat pocket a memorandum relating to the plans, and I was about to put it in the portfolio before removing my coat.”
“The substitution could not possibly have been made, then, after you entered your room?” Nick questioned.
“No, sir. There was no other person in the room.”
“How long have you had the portfolio, Mr. Garland?”
“About a month. I bought it expressly to carry the plans in when I had occasion to take them from my office.”
“Where did you buy it?”
“In Raymond’s leather store in Pennsylvania Avenue.”