One would have supposed that his visit was all aboveboard, that he was actuated with no covert designs, that he entertained no secret suspicions, aside from those he had expressed during his interview with Mr. Chester Clayton.
Earlier that evening, nevertheless, while discussing the case with his junior partner, Patsy Garvan, it was very obvious that Nick Carter had from the first been working under the surface. Their interview occurred immediately after dinner, while Nick was making ready for his call upon Clayton.
“Nothing is more effective, Patsy, than a shot from behind a masked battery,” he remarked, while knotting his cravat. “When fired at a concealed adversary, even, whose position and designs are only suspected, it is almost sure to drive him from cover.”
“There is something in that, chief, for fair,” Patsy agreed. “But why do you feel so sure you are right in suspecting Clayton’s private secretary?”
“For several reasons,” said Nick. “First, Patsy, because we can find no one else to distrust. I have spent three days in a vain search for another suspect and a reasonable motive for this murder.”
“That’s true, chief. It sure has been a vain hunt.”
“Doctor Thorpe, I have learned, was a man of strong and sterling character. Suicide is out of the question. He is absolutely above suspicion, moreover, in so far as having given Madame Clayton any cause for shooting him. The evidence, also, shows that that theory is utterly improbable, in spite of the fact that I told Garside I suspected it, and then took the precaution to bind him to secrecy.”
“But why did you suspect him so quickly, chief?”
“Because he entered so quickly after Chick and I arrived there,” Nick explained. “Scarce three minutes had passed. If not a coincidence, which I could not easily swallow, it must have been premeditated. That smacked of something wrong, of a knowledge of what had occurred, if not having had a hand in it, even.”
“I see the point,” said Patsy.