“As usual, Chick,” said Nick, “you state the whole thing in a nutshell. So, as the dog business is more easily followed than anything else, we will get into that investigation first.”
“Don’t treat Mrs. Constant’s suspicions too lightly,” said Ida. “I think you will find that she has kept back her strongest reasons for suspecting Masson. She has wanted you to guess them. Edith, as her friend, could get them from her.”
Nick looked up at Ida, sharply, and said:
“That is very shrewd, Ida.”
Turning to Patsy, he went on:
“I want you to take up the dog end of this case, Patsy.”
“I am aching for that,” replied Patsy. “I’d rather run down a man who would kill a dog like that than anything else. But I say, chief, put me next to that swell banker. He’s one of my kind.”
Chick and Ida laughed at this, and Nick said:
“You shall have a note to him. As for you, Ida, you must go to Philadelphia.
“There is this possibility, that the murder of Ethel Romney came out of her life in that city, before she came to New York—some trouble that she had there.