“I know the place very well, Chick, but none of the inmates,” said Nick. “What do you know about Garland?”
“He’s all aboveboard, Nick, as far as I know,” Chick replied. “There is only one out about him, if that really cuts any ice.”
“What is that?”
“I have seen him quite frequently with Stuart Floyd. They appear to be very friendly. You know Floyd, of course. He’s about as keen and slick a fellow as can be found in this old town.”
“Do you think so?”
“Don’t you?”
“I don’t know much about him, Chick, save that he is a well-known man about town. The police have nothing on him, have they?”
“No, nothing that I know of,” Chick admitted. “Floyd has no record, to be sure, barring a record that makes him a mystery to me, at least.”
“Why a mystery?”
“Because he has no visible means of support, yet he always has plenty of money, or appears to have,” said Chick. “He inherited nothing, nevertheless, for I knew his people, as I have known him for years.”