“Where?”
“On the barge Mary Jane, bound up the river for Buffalo.”
“Are you sure?”
“As sure as I am that you’re the champion detective of the world.”
Nick ignored this.
“How long ago did they leave?” he asked.
“About the time I called up the house. You can’t lose them, chief. They’re probably off Thirty-fourth Street now. You could come abreast of them on foot without breaking any walking records. Going to notify police headquarters?”
“I’ve already done so. I knew that you could be relied on, and that Joseph isn’t in the habit of tangling messages. The police ought to be along any minute now.”
Two plain-clothes men, armed with warrants, arrived shortly afterward, and Chick Carter came up almost simultaneously. Nick had instructed Patsy and Ida Jones to continue the hunt for Hoff and the nurse.