“I was just over to his office, but there was anybody home. Had a telegram from him for Ransome. They found a little gold pen-knife in the express car. It didn’t belong to the messenger, he said. The wire said there were the initials J.R. on the handle.”
“J.R.?” said Honey. “Little gold knife! My gosh, that’s the knife Peggy gave Joe for his birthday!”
“I dunno,” said the man vacantly. “All I know is what the wire said. I reckon it will keep until the sheriff gets back.”
He went out, and Merrick laughed softly.
“He guesses it will keep. Ha, ha, ha, ha!”
Honey leaned on the bar and looked dismally at himself in the mirror.
“I’ll not tell Peggy,” he declared, but amended it with, “I might come right out and tell her that if anybody says they found Joe Rich’s gold knife on that car—they lie.”
“Why even mention it?” asked Hashknife.
“Mebbe that’s the best thing to do. Oh, they’ve got Joe cinched!”
“But he overlooked one bet,” said Hashknife thoughtfully.