“Why should he lie about so trivial a thing as that?� the lawyer asked.
“The lie is evidently about the time of his arrival in the city,� replied the detective. “For some reason he prefers to have you believe that he got here last night, while, as a matter of fact, he had already been here at least twenty-four hours.�
“That is certain.�
“And twenty-four days, for all we know.�
“Umph! I had not thought of that possibility. But, even so, what has all that got to do with the case, since his credentials are satisfactory?�
“It merely suggests that they should be examined with all the more care. Why didn’t you ask him about the discrepancy of his statement?�
“I thought I would leave that to you.�
The detective was about to reply when the door opened and the clerk from the outer office announced that Mr. Carleton Lynne had arrived.
“Let him come in,� said the lawyer.
The man who entered, and who was the same one that Nick had seen in the elevator the preceding day, was an inch more than six feet in height, well proportioned, an athlete in appearance, with his skin tanned by the sun and winds of the open country of the West.