“But he doesn’t look a bit like the man who was trying to win the woman who became my wife.”
“By the way,” interrupted the Chief of Police, “she hasn’t appeared at all in this—have you separated? Isn’t she——”
“Oh, yes,” quickly, “she is alive. My wife is away in Europe. That is the reason I decided to—disappear. I knew that news of it would not reach her before I ‘came to life.’”
“But if Barney is the guilty man,” Curt was still dazed, “why did he turn suspicion on that ex-pilot at The Windsock?”
“He tried to turn suspicion on everybody,” retorted Mr. Wright. “It is a favorite trick of a guilty person. He has practically accused the bookkeeper, the supply clerk, Sandy Jim, the rigger and the man you mentioned.”
“But he’s free,” Al spoke. “Why didn’t you arrest him while you had him at the house showing him the books?”
“You must remember one fact, my young ‘Sky Squadder,’” the Chief of Police commented. “Circumstantial evidence, and suspicion are one thing. Proof of guilt that will stand in court against a clever lawyer is something quite different.”
“In other words,” Mr. Wright explained, “we feel, with absolute conviction, that Barney is our man. We haven’t any actual proof. We must wait until he makes some open move. Bob, cleverly discovering Barney’s supposed guilt because he saw Barney make that excuse to get out to the airplane when he said he wanted to dismiss his taxi, did all he could to keep the man close to his Sky Squad; but Barney was clever.”
“I thought he would make a try for the books during the night if I got him to stay with us,” Bob admitted modestly. “Then, when he refused to spend the night with us I hoped he’d discover that we had substituted other books for the ledgers, and would try to get in our place to get all the incriminating evidence. But,” dejectedly, “he was too clever for that, even.”
“How do you expect him to make an open move, if he’s all that wise?” asked Griff.