“The mystery is as to how and with what means it was committed. You know what the autopsy revealed——”
“Next to nothing,” put in Patsy.
“That’s the very point,” said Nick. “Chemical tests may reveal the presence of poison. Doctor Marvin thinks, however, and I am of the same opinion, that Todd was killed with some kind of poisonous gas.”
“Great Scott! that seems next to impossible,” Chick declared. “Consider the time, the public place, and all of the circumstances. Todd was telephoned to come to the Waldmere Chambers and wait in the corridor. It was done at a moment’s notice, so to speak, with a view to incriminating Frank Paulding, if your suspicions are correct. How in thunder could a poisonous gas be administered to a man under such conditions?”
“Gee whiz! it does look like an utter impossibility, chief,” said Patsy.
“Or the work of an exceedingly bold and accomplished crook, the same crook who committed these other mysterious crimes,” Carter insisted. “Their similarity convinces me, as I have said, that all were the work of the same man and same gang.”
“That much does seem probable,” Chick allowed. “There is no getting around it.”
“And it’s up to us to get after them and find the evidence needed to identify and convict them,” Carter said flatly. “Now, Patsy, what have you learned? Is there any man who might properly term himself Todd’s running mate? That’s what the telephone girl heard.”
“I have not been able to find one, chief,” Patsy reported. “There seems to be no man with whom he was specially friendly.”
“Nor any tenant in the Waldmere Chambers whom he was in the habit of visiting?”