“That car had me fooled for a while,” Dr. Stone admitted. “Joe had me convinced it was motored for a quick getaway. This morning the car stopped at our place and the driver asked for directions. He wanted a bad hill, and I sent him to Kill Horse. When Joe came along with news of the hold-up, I started here to tell you where that car could be found; but when I learned that the hold-up took place at twenty minutes of twelve the shabby car was washed right out of the picture.”
“Why?” Captain Tucker demanded.
“Because within a minute or two of 11:40 the driver of that car was asking me for directions. He couldn’t have been in two places at once.”
“Why were you sure it was the shabby car?”
“A blind man’s ears, Captain—the sound of the motor and the driver’s husky voice. And all at once I knew why he had surrounded himself with so much mystery—afraid to have Jerry Moore look under the hood, hiding down behind the cottonwoods when he did lift the hood, anxious to find a steep hill little used by other cars. The man was, without question, experimenting with a carburetor of his own design, and afraid somebody would get a slant at it before he was ready to have it patented.”
Captain Tucker pursed his lips and rocked in his chair. “I follow you that far, Doctor, but how did you pick up Rog?”
“I didn’t,” Dr. Stone said mildly; “he dropped into my lap. Let’s begin at the beginning. I met Rog and his companion at Jerry’s garage, and Jerry had seen that storage-box under the car. It struck me as strange that a fisherman should try to keep fish fresh by placing them under a car and next to a red-hot exhaust pipe. Later, while Joe and I were on the lake——”
“That was last night?” the captain interrupted.
“Yes. A boat passed us; I recognized the voices of Rog and his friend. I learned that they knew there were few fish in the lake. Now, why had these men come prepared to pack fish in ice if they knew there were no fish? I found they planned to leave today—roll into line about three o’clock, they said—and that they wanted to avoid somebody named John. Coming ashore, Ike Boles told us of a telegram that had come from John. Now, if this was their John, why should they tell him the fishing was good if they knew it wasn’t? On the other hand, the telegram was directed to a Carl Metz, and nobody knew a Carl Metz. Who was Carl Metz? The driver of the shabby car spoke with a German accent. Was he Carl Metz? If so, why was he never seen fishing? The thing was rather complicated.”
“I don’t see yet how you figured it out,” Captain Tucker complained.