“Wonderful!” snorted Markham. “I lave in the font of your wisdom. His alter ego, I take it, was on the road to Hopatcong. The supernatural leaves me cold.”
“You may be as pancosmic as you choose. Cleaver was in New York at midnight Monday, craving excitement.”
“What about the summons for speeding?”
“That’s for you to explain. But if you’ll take my advice you’ll send for this Boonton catchpole, and let him have a look at Pop. If he says Cleaver is the man he ticketed, I’ll humbly do away with myself.”
“Well! That makes it worth trying. I’ll have the officer at the Stuyvesant Club this afternoon, and I’ll point out Cleaver to him. . . . What other staggering revelations have you in store?”
“Mannix will bear looking into.”
Markham put down his knife and fork and leaned back.
“I’m overcome! Such Himalayan sagacity! With that evidence against him, he should be arrested at once. . . . Vance, my dear old friend, are you feeling quite normal? No dizzy spells lately? No shooting pains in the head? Knee-jerks all right?”
“Furthermore, Doctor Lindquist was wildly infatuated with the Canary, and insanely jealous. Recently threatened to take a pistol and hold a little pogrom of his own.”
“That’s better.” Markham sat up. “Where did you get this information?”