He would say no more, and in half an hour he was ready to go.
“There’s one thing you can do for me while I’m away,” he told Markham, as he slipped into his overcoat. “Please have drawn up for me a complete and detailed weather report from the day preceding Julia’s death to the day following Rex’s murder.”
He would not let either Markham or me accompany him to the station, and we were left in ignorance of even the direction in which his mysterious trip was to take him.
CHAPTER XXV.
The Capture
(Monday, December 13; 4 p. m.)
It was eight days before Vance returned to New York. He arrived on the afternoon of Monday, December 13, and, after he had had his tub and changed his clothes, he telephoned Markham to expect him in half an hour. He then ordered his Hispano-Suiza from the garage; and by this sign I knew he was under a nervous strain. In fact, he had spoken scarcely a dozen words to me since his return, and as he picked his way down-town through the late afternoon traffic he was gloomy and preoccupied. Once I ventured to ask him if his trip had been successful, and he had merely nodded. But when we turned into Centre Street he relented a little, and said:
“There was never any doubt as to the success of my trip, Van. I knew what I’d find. But I didn’t dare trust my reason; I had to see the records with my own eyes before I’d capitulate unreservedly to the conclusion I’d formed.”
Both Markham and Heath were waiting for us in the District Attorney’s office. It was just four o’clock, and the sun had already dropped below the New York Life Building which towered above the old Criminal Courts structure a block to the southwest.
“I took it for granted you had something important to tell me,” said Markham; “so I asked the Sergeant to come here.”
“Yes, I’ve much to tell.” Vance had thrown himself into a chair, and was lighting a cigarette. “But first I want to know if anything has happened in my absence.”