“First I ever heard about it,” Gibbs returned, open-eyed.
“Then you didn’t tell them?” Denby observed, looking toward their chief.
“That was my own business,” Taylor said impatiently. He wished this fool cross-examination over, and himself out of Long Island.
“Did it ever occur to you boys that it was rather peculiar that this supposed smuggler wasn’t searched—that he got through without the slightest trouble?”
“Why, the Chief didn’t want to get in any mix-up with the Harringtons in case he was wrong about Denby,” Gibbs elucidated.
“Oh, I see,” Denby remarked, as though the whole thing were now perfectly straightforward. “He told you that, did he?”
“He sure did,” Duncan agreed readily.
“Don’t you boys see,” Denby said seriously, “that this whole job looks very much as if the scheme was to let Denby slip through and then blackmail him?”
“I never thought of that,” Duncan returned.
“Me, neither,” the ingenuous Gibbs added.