“Certainly, I’ll drive over with you if you think it necessary.”
“I think it would be better not. I’m handling a peculiar case in which I have constituted myself judge, jury, and executioner, and I think it will be better for me to go alone.”
“As you choose. You know, Mr.[{46}] Carter, that you can command me in any way.”
“Well, it may be necessary for me to make an arrest there to-night. If so, I want to have one of your men within reach so that I can place the prisoner into his hands at once.”
“That’s easily accomplished. I will write you a note which will place all the deputies in that vicinity directly under your charge.”
“After the arrest—if one is made—I want the prisoner hustled away and lodged in jail without any fuss being made over it.”
“In other words, you don’t want the people around there to know that an arrest has been made.”
“That’s it exactly.”
The sheriff wrote busily for some moments, and then handed the detective a slip of paper, which he had placed into an unsealed envelope.
“There you are,” he said. “Show that to any man you see wearing my badge and your orders will be promptly obeyed.”