“True,” conceded the detective. “The ordinary person would have seen nothing strange about it; but doesn’t the presence of a gasoline tank underground, or any other kind, strike you as a little peculiar when a man owns an electric?”
The millionaire looked very sheepish. “I’m afraid I must plead guilty to stupidity as well,” he confessed. “That didn’t occur to me, and I doubt if it ever would.”
The two detectives made a thorough examination of the little garage, the ground about it, and the pile of lumber, as well as the road at the rear.
They found some finger prints, and photographed them carefully, after bringing out other details by artificial means. They were inclined to believe that some of them belonged to Gordon, and if so, their discovery would prove valuable. Beyond that, however, they learned little.
“Well, we had better part company here, Chick,” Nick told his assistant. “I’m going to let you pick up the trail of the electric car and follow it, if you can. See if you can locate the machine. Probably it has been abandoned long before this, for it would have to be recharged before it could go very far. Doubtless, Green Eye remembered that, and deserted it before such attention was necessary. Still, if you can find where he dispensed with it, you can get a clew to his subsequent movements, especially as he was burdened with a couple of very heavy suit cases.”
“Consider me on the job,” was Chick’s ready reply. “I’ll start work right away, and keep going as long as the going is good. How about you, though? What are you going to tackle?”
“I shall return home at once,” Nick replied, “and go through the safe. I must find out which records are missing, and when I have learned that, I ought to be able to catch the rascal sooner or later.”
“You mean that he’ll be sure to visit some of the people interested, or write to them, and that you can nab him in that way?” his assistant asked.
“That’s the idea. If Green Eye hasn’t learned of our return—and I sincerely hope he hasn’t—he won’t lose much time in getting to work at the blackmailing business, and you may be sure he’ll choose some of the most tempting of the local people for his first victims.”
Chick held up his hand. “I get you,” he said. “That’s just what will happen, unless he’s scared off, and he’ll work quickly, for fear you may return earlier than you had expected, and get wind of the whole thing. Alongside of that, my job seems pretty punk, but you’re the general.”