“Do so, then. Meet me as soon as possible, at Herman Fink’s undertaking rooms. You know the place. It’s where that crook, Andy Margate, who committed suicide when you cornered him last night, was laid out to remain until this morning.”
“I know, Hadley, of course,” Nick replied. “But what about him?”
“His body is missing.”
“Missing!” Nick echoed, amazed.
“Yes. It was stolen in the night. Fink just telephoned me that he cannot find——”
“Enough said, Hadley,” Nick interrupted. “We’ll see what we can find. I will join you there as soon as possible. I will leave at once.”
“Great guns!” Chick exclaimed, after Nick had told him what had occurred. “Margate’s body stolen! What’s the meaning of that? Are we up against another job in which that miscreant figures?”
“Gee! he’ll not cut much of a figure in any kind of a[{4}] job,” said Patsy. “He was dead as a doornail when he was lugged into Fink’s back room. I can swear to that, chief, for I saw him stripped, and saw Doctor Nolan view the body. He’s the district coroner and ought to know his business. Say, chief, you don’t think that that rat has put anything over on us, do you?”
The last came from Patsy when he noticed the serious expression that had settled on Nick’s face.
“I hardly think so, though the bare possibility of it occurred to me,” Nick replied, hastening to finish his toilet.