Nancy gave a hurried report of her encounter with the suspect and Tini in the drugstore. While she talked the major stroked his chin and stared at the floor.
“Uh-huh. I see. You say he was dating Miss Hoffman?”
“I haven’t any idea where she met him, of course.”
Major Reed glanced at his watch. “You came in on the last bus?” he asked.
“Yes, I did.”
“Did Tini Hoffman come with you?”
“I don’t think so. In fact, I’m sure. The bunch of us came up from the bus stop together.”
“Then she’ll have to come on the next bus, or be late checking in.” He was silent a moment, then spoke again as if thinking aloud. “He would already have put her on the camp bus before anyone could make it to town in a car to follow him.”
Nancy admitted this was true. It seemed too late to put anyone on his trail tonight. “Tini will probably be dating him again,” she said. “She seemed tickled pink with him.”
Major Reed dug his hands deep in his pockets and admitted, “Yes, that seems the surest chance. But I can’t ask you to act as a spy against one of your fellow students.”