“I am sure there were three men who took the body from the back room,” Nick added. “No less could have accomplished it without being heard. They would not have dared to leave their team standing here all the while. The fourth man drove away and returned to get his confederates and their burden. That’s why we find four tracks here, instead of only two.”
“Surely,” Chick agreed. “There’s no getting around it.”
“The wagon had rubber tires, moreover, and—yes, by Jove, one of them was patched, or mended. Here are the marks left in two places by a seam, or where some new rubber was vulcanized to the old. This will help some, I think.”
“We can bank on that, Nick, all right.”
“Say nothing about this to others,” Nick directed. “We will follow up these clews and see to what they lead, Chick, before making any disclosures.”
“That’s good judgment.”
“Come. We’ll return to the shop.”
As they retraced their steps through the alley, Nick obliterated the evidence found there, treading out the imprint of the box with his boots.
“Well, what have you learned?” Chief Hadley asked, when the two detectives entered and rejoined the group in the basement. “You have been gone long enough to have discovered something.”
“Enough to further confirm Doctor Nolan’s opinion,” Nick replied, a bit dryly. “The body was taken away by four men who came in a wagon.”