“Of course. Donovan? I had my doubts from the start. Kent told a smooth story. He had had to give Donovan the combination, and the safe had been opened by combination. It was a tall man’s safe, and Donovan was a tall man. It fitted together perfectly, Joe—too perfectly. Remember when I asked Kent to lead me to the door? I wanted to learn something—and I learned it. Kent is a tall man, too. I might have asked you, but to a boy all men seem tall.”
“The maid’s story was perfect, too,” Joe said hesitatingly.
“Two perfect stories,” Dr. Stone agreed. “It became a matter of picking the true from the false, and Kent rang false from the start.”
“I don’t understand, Uncle David.”
“Let’s analyze it. When Kent came to the house Lady sneezed and drew away. Two weeks ago I upset a bottle of bay rum; it ran into her eyes and nose. She’s been shy of bay rum since. When Kent said he’d lost his lighter and asked for a match he reeked with bay rum and talcum. The maid had awakened him at six o’clock, and he reached our house at eight. Two striking facts, Joe. Does a man, finding his house robbed in the night, calmly go upstairs and make a careful toilet? Does he wait two hours before going to a telephone to call the police?
“Well, we went to his place. He wasn’t home, and we wandered about the grounds. That was pure luck. We found the wet suit. I asked you if there was a pine tree on the place.”
“Why, Uncle David?”
“Because that suit reeked with pine. We found that the tree was only six feet from the house and heavy-branched, which meant that some of the branches grew close to the house. And so now we had a robbery in the rain, a pine tree, and a dripping suit of Harley Kent’s that reeked with pine. The facts were all unrelated, but I began to wonder if the tree had played a part in the robbery.
“Then Kent came back, and his first thought was to look in the wet suit for the missing lighter. When I mentioned the suit on the line he said nothing to indicate alarm. But a blind man’s ears are sharp. They are quick to catch shades of sound in a voice. I knew he was disturbed because we had chanced upon that suit. Now, why should he be upset? Wet clothing is not uncommon after a wild rainstorm.
“We went to town for tobacco, and ran into Tom Bloodgood. That was another stroke of luck. For Bloodgood told me Kent had called him to the house to value a necklace. The jewelry market has fallen this last year, and Tom gave Kent a valuation of about $15,000. The moment Bloodgood told me that I thought I saw the picture.