What part had the Hoffs played in the accident? Had they purposely run down the motorcycle? If they had found out they were being shadowed they would not have hesitated, he felt sure, to resort to such murderous tactics. Had they not already one dastardly murder to their record? He must find out when the Hoffs arrived home. They would not be due for an hour or two, but he would caution the operatives watching the house to keep more vigilant watch. Reaching for his ’phone he called up the head-quarters of the operatives.
“Report to me at once,” he said to the operative who answered his call, “the minute the Hoffs have arrived home.”
“The old man is home now,” the operative answered.
“What’s that?” cried Fleck.
“He came in alone five minutes ago on foot. The young man is not home yet with the automobile.”
“Let me know as soon as he arrives,” said Fleck curtly, turning away from the ’phone.
He was more perplexed than ever. What could have happened? Where was young Hoff with the motor? Where was Jane Strong? Why had she disappeared after Dean had been hurt? How had she vanished? The Hoffs’ affairs had assuredly taken a new and bothersome turn, over which Fleck sat puzzling many minutes.
Where was Jane Strong? In the answer to that question, he decided at length, lay the crux of the whole situation.
CHAPTER XI
JANE’S ADVENTURE
For more than two hours Thomas Dean and Jane had been vainly circling about West Point on their motorcycle, striving to pick up some clue that would put them once more on the trail of the Hoffs’ car. They had not dared to ask too many questions of any one near the ferry, fearful lest the people they were pursuing might have a guard posted there to warn them in case of a possible pursuit, yet cautious inquiries seemed to indicate that all the automobiles on the ferryboat which had preceded had been headed to the north.