“It might have been better if you’d gone along, too, Miss Sawyer,” remarked the detective. “You would then have seen them when they went out of the front door. The patient had his hat, I suppose?”
“Yes. He wore his usual clothing, hat and all. There was nothing in his appearance different from hundreds of men you may see on Broadway or Fifth Avenue at any time. I wish I had gone with them. But I argued that he would be quite safe with his twin brother, and his absence gave me an opportunity to look after little things about the room which are difficult to attend to when he is there.”
Nick saw the nurse’s point of view, and resolved not to make a complaint at the office, as he might easily have done. Instead, he walked out, stepped into his waiting taxicab, and hastened home.
He told exactly what he had found at the hospital, leaving it to Chick to make any comments that occurred to him.
The girl and her father simply looked bewildered. They did not feel that any harm had been done by the patient leaving the hospital with his twin brother. Indeed, Bessie smiled, as if pleased that he was well enough to go out.
“You know who the twin brother is, of course, chief?” observed Chick.
“It is not hard to guess.”
“What is the game?”
“That we must find out.”
“When?”