“Sure thing, chief,” Patsy again agreed. “I see what you are coming to, all right.”
“We can come to only one conclusion, Patsy.”
“That Dillon himself was the man who wore the disguise?”
“Exactly,” said Nick. “It is easy to see how it may have been torn from his face, or displaced when he fell to the sidewalk. That further appears in that it was found near his body.”
“But why was Dillon in disguise?” Chick persistently questioned.
“If he was the man who was to relieve Verona Warren of the stolen portfolio, he very likely would have been in disguise,” Nick pointedly answered.
“By Jove, there’s some truth in that!” Chick quickly allowed. “If you have sized him up correctly, he might,[{16}] indeed, be a traitor to his country and in league with others to steal these government plans.”
“That’s the very point, Chick. He may be in league with the foreign spies mentioned by Chief Welden and suspected to have come here with that very object in view.”
“But who were his assailants? How could they have known he had the plans?”
“They may have seen him with the portfolio,” suggested Patsy.