CHAPTER VIII.
DIGGING PITFALLS.
There was another short pause, and then, with a sudden change of the subject, the detective asked:
“You did not look for the keys to the padlock on the gate till after I had left you this morning, Mr. Lynne, did you?�
“No. I did not.�
“Why did you look for them, even then? You must have known that they would not be needed, since the police are already in the house.�
“From force of habit, I suppose; and then, too, it occurred to me to see if they were in their place, since Edythe must have found a means of entering the grounds.�
“I see. I see,� said the detective.
The car was at the moment approaching an out-of-town drug store before which was one of the familiar Bell telephone signs, and Nick bent forward and signaled to the chauffeur to stop.
“I want to ask you to excuse me for a moment, Mr. Lynne,� he said. “I have thought of something concerning which I must telephone back to the city; but it will keep me only a moment after I get the number. I see there is a telephone here.�
He opened the door and left the car before Lynne could more than nod an assent, and in the store he called for his own number, and presently got Joseph, his man, on the phone.