The last was said with a significant glance at Chick and Patsy, and the three detectives followed Oakley toward the basement door, while Doctor Dabney and the gathering students trooped toward the entrance to the annex in accord with Nick Carter’s instructions.
“I happen to have a key that will open this door, Mr. Carter, or we must have found some other hiding place for the body,” Oakley explained, while unlocking the basement door. “How it was discovered and removed by others—well, sir, that beats me to a frazzle. I was literally knocked stiff when I found it missing.”
“Had you detected any sign of life, Oakley, while handling it?” Nick inquired. “I infer, of course, that you had not.”
“Not the slightest, Mr. Carter,” said Oakley, with a look of surprise. “You surely do not suspect——”
“Never mind what I suspect,” Nick interrupted, while descending to the basement. “Show me just where you placed the body.”
Oakley led the way to a corner back of some coal bins and pointed to the floor.
“We left it there, sir,” he said simply.
“With a covering over it?”
“Yes, sir; the sheet brought from Fink’s place.”
“Nothing else?”