“Badger may have been alarmed by my visit,” argued Nick, “and he possibly suspected that I might adopt some disguise. Very likely he mentioned some distinctive feature about my person, one which I would not ordinarily remove, by which Madame Victoria may have identified me.”
“That may have been the case,” admitted Chick.
“The knowledge she displayed certainly points to some such move on Badger’s part, and adds to our grounds for suspicion,” continued Nick. “She had me well marked in some way, there is no denying that. Furthermore, the fact that she warned me to drop the perilous business I was about to undertake, predicting that I should meet only with failure, points plainly to a possibility that they were taking that method to influence me to drop the case.”
“Gee whiz!” exclaimed Patsy. “That now looks dead open and shut, Mr. Carter.”
“It certainly is significant.”
“I’ll bet you landed right in the midst of this gang of road thieves. In that case, Nick, the rest of our work should be easy,” Chick quickly remarked. “It should be child’s play for us to round them up.”
Nick thoughtfully shook his head.
“I’m not so sure of that, Chick,” said he. “We as yet have no tangible evidence against them, and nothing less will serve us in a court of law,” replied Nick.
“That’s true.”