They presently found themselves in what had once been a grainery, and there were doors from it, two in number, one opening upon the interior of the garage, the other upon a narrow hallway at one side of it, which in turn gave upon the street.
Nick opened the door into the garage and stepped forward; then he pointed toward the body of a man who was stretched face downward on the floor, while beside him was a monkey wrench with which he had been stricken down.
“We are just too late,� he said to Patsy. “Red Mike has struck the chauffeur on the head with the monkey wrench, they have stolen the car, and have got away.�
“We can trace them by the car,� said Patsy.
CHAPTER XXXVI.
A DETECTIVE’S DEDUCTIONS.
Here are some of the obstacles which Nick Carter and Patsy encountered almost at once in their search for Carleton Lynne and his abductors.
The stolen car was found within an hour, abandoned in front of the Hotel Plaza, at Fifth Avenue and Fifty-ninth Street. Cab drivers and taxi chauffeurs had seen a veiled woman drive it to the spot, leave it, and enter the hotel. She had not been seen since.
“She simply walked into the hotel by one entrance, and out at another one, and went to meet another conveyance in which Mike and Lynne were already passengers,� was Nick Carter’s comment upon this incident.
He drove his own car, with Patsy and Chick for company, to Pleasantglades that night.