“That is precisely what he did,” said Nick. “I then felt reasonably sure that I was justified in suspecting him.”
“He left himself open, all right.”
“I saw plainly, however, that he was a rat of more than ordinary craft and cunning. Otherwise he could not have committed the crime and planted the evidence we found there, and then got out of the house and returned in so confident and self-assured a way, all within the half hour since I had heard Madame Clayton’s voice by telephone.”
“It sure was quick work, chief,” declared Patsy.
“I at once decided, therefore, to meet the scamp with his own weapons,” Nick added. “I felt sure I could fool him and finally clinch my suspicions, providing I could throw him off his guard for a time. I have given him three days’ grace, so to speak, in which to get rid of any misgivings he may have felt. He ought to be well rid of them by this time. Now, by Jove, I propose to get after him and drive him from cover.”
“That’s the stuff, chief.”
“We must discover his game, how and why he committed the crime, and whether he had confederates,” Nick said, more forcibly. “We must make dead sure, in fact, that I am justified in suspecting him.”
“That is why you have established a new butler in the Clayton house,” observed Patsy, with an expressive grin.
“Exactly.”
“Does Clayton suspect his identity?”