“But the date may help some,” thought Larry, noting that the paper had been issued a few days before the robbery took place.
“Whoever wrapped up the bricks probably took the first paper that was handy,” mused the reporter. “If he picked up the bricks at some building he either found a paper in the street to wrap them in, or he had a paper in his pocket. The latter is most likely to be the case, for if a fellow intended to rob a bank, and needed bricks to represent the weight of money, he wouldn’t go about a new building in the daytime and pick them up. He’d wait until after dark, so he would not be seen.
“And by the same reasoning, he wouldn’t take a chance on finding a paper near the building. Of course he might find one, but it would be likely to be dirty. So he’d carry a paper with him in his pocket, all ready to wrap the bricks in.”
When Larry had reasoned matters thus far he had to admit that the paper itself was a pretty slim clew. All it gave him was the date, but that suggested something new.
“Let’s see,” mused the young reporter. “The date of the paper is the same as the day when Miss Mason sold the mysterious man the valise. She sold it to him late in the afternoon. The fellow must have gone from the store to some building, picked up the bricks after dark, and taken them home with him. Then, at the proper time, he took the fake bag and the bricks to the bank and ‘switched’ the poor valise for the rich one, making himself a million dollars richer by the exchange.
“That means that it was some one in the bank who turned the trick, and there’s no getting away from that. But who was it? That’s the point, and where is the money? For it’s a moral certainty that the fellow hasn’t skipped with it, since no one has quit the bank’s employment since the robbery. The thief is still connected with the bank, and the money is hidden somewhere. It’s up to me to find it.”
That was as far as Larry could go. His brain was tired with much thinking, and, putting aside the paper, he got down on the floor to play “blocks” with his little sister Mary. As he built castles, towers, palaces and just plain houses, he looked carefully at the bricks. He was planning some way of finding who made them, and at what building they would likely have been taken from.
That night, when the children had gone to bed, Larry went out to the nearest drug store, and came back with a directory.
“Now what are you doing?” asked his mother.
“Looking up all the firms who make this kind of brick,” he replied. “I’m going to call on as many as I can to-morrow.”