WHILE The Shadow was finding action at Jollister’s apartment, quieter events were developing at Wesdren’s. A conference had begun in the luxurious office. Joe Cardona had held the floor while Releston, Wesdren and Knight formed a gallery of listeners.
His information given at length, Cardona awaited comment. A question came from Vic Marquette:
“Suppose we do find Cady? What then?”
“What then?” echoed Joe Cardona. “What’s the idea of that question, Marquette? Once you’ve nabbed Cady, you’ll have a lead on the whole gang you’re after.”
Marquette snorted; then shook his head.
“I’ll admit we’ll have a lead,” he declared. “But it won’t fit in with what we’ve learned already. We’re after slick crooks, Cardona. Big shots; not small fry.”
“But Cady’s working for somebody.”
“Granted. And if we ever get Cady, we’ll find out that he can’t tell us a thing about the big shot.”
“Maybe Cady is more important than you think. What if he was this Jed Barthue you’ve talked about? He could be; that Boston record of his dates back a few years.”
A chuckle came from Jarvis Knight. “My word, old bean,” remarked the Britisher, “you are allowing your imagination to run rampant. That is an absurd theory, Cardona. I can vouch for it that this mysterious bell boy is not Jed Barthue.”
“Maybe you shouldn’t be too sure about that, Knight,” asserted Marquette, suddenly swinging to Cardona’s side. “You’ve been kind of sketchy in your descriptions of Jed Barthue. Maybe you’ve been buffaloed, too.”
“I remember that bell boy at the Goliath,” retorted Knight. “He was a crude sort. A bounder. Nothing like Jed Barthue.”
“Quibbling will bring us nothing, gentlemen,” put in Senator Releston, in a rebuking tone. “Let us consider this matter with less argument. I would suggest that we return to the Barlingham, for further conference. I see that Mr. Wesdren is already glancing at his watch. Perhaps it is time we should be going—”
“No, no,” interposed Wesdren. “I was merely wondering about Jollister. He is leaving tonight at ten o’clock. He should have started for the station. I wonder if the absent-minded fellow has forgotten it.”
Wesdren pressed the buzzer by the desk. The others waited, expecting Jollister to appear. Wesdren hummed again; then a third time, more impatiently than before. The door opened; but it was Hamilton who entered.
“Where is Jollister?” demanded Wesdren.
“He left quite a while ago, sir,” replied Hamilton. “Almost immediately after I saw him speaking to you, here at the door. He went to his little office; then came out, wearing his hat and coat. He had a briefcase, also.”
“Why didn’t you inform me that he had left?”
“He told me that he had mentioned that himself, sir. We all knew that he was to leave on the ten o’clock train.”
“Wait a minute. Hamilton.”
WESDREN picked up the telephone and dialed a number. He listened intently there was no response.
He hung up and looked at the others.
“Not at his apartment,” announced Wesdren. “No answer there. He must have left for the station. Yet I can not understand why he did not come back here. Unless—”
Wesdren paused speculatively, then turned and looked to Joe Cardona.
“Tell me, Cardona,” he questioned, “what was your opinion of Jollister’s behavior? Would you, as a detective, regard it as suspicious?”
“What else could you call it?” Joe delivered a grunt. “He was behind that door, listening in, before you opened it. It looks like he didn’t lose much time in clearing out of here.”
“That is all true,” acknowledged Wesdren. “Gentlemen, I wonder if — No, it seems impossible—”
“That Jollister could know Cady?” demanded Marquette. “It doesn’t look unlikely to me. Say — wasn’t Jollister spending a lot of time in New York, when he should have been here?”
“No,” returned Wesdren. “Actually, his time was his own. His work here had been completed. And yet Jollister — well, I wish we still had a chance to talk with him, that is all. The fellow did behave oddly this evening.”
“We can get him all right.” Vic Marquette was on his feet, looking at his watch. “Hamilton, get in a car with Tobin and show us how fast you can get to the Union Depot. Snag Jollister and bring him here. Tell him it’s important.”
“The ten o’clock train, Hamilton,” reminded Senator Releston, nodding his approval of the move.
“I know it, senator,” replied Hamilton. “I saw his tickets. He had Berth 12 in Car 69. Tobin and I will bring him here.”
HAMILTON departed in a hurry. A few moments later, the sound of a slamming door indicated that he and Tobin were on their way. Discussion lulled while the group waited for the report from the two Federal men who had played the part of servants.
A clock struck ten. Five minutes passed. Then the telephone bell rang on Wesdren’s desk. The square-jawed man answered the call; then turned the telephone over to Releston. The senator held a short discussion. His face was serious when he concluded.
“They made it,” said Releston, briefly. “Hamilton held up the train’s departure for five minutes. He and Tobin went through every car. Jollister was not aboard.”
“Are they coming back here?” questioned Marquette.
“Yes,” replied the senator, “but they are stopping at Jollister’s on the way. We should hear from them when they reach there.”
Ten minutes more. Another ring of the telephone. This time Senator Releston answered it. He spoke briefly; then gave instructions.
“Jollister is gone,” he announced, when he hung up. “The janitor opened his apartment. The place was empty, except for the furniture, which belonged to the building. All Jollister’s belongings and luggage has been removed.
“Hamilton asked if he should make a thorough inspection of the place. I told him to come back here, instead. This is where he and Tobin belong on duty. Nevertheless, we must prepare to trace Craig Jollister.
“The man has behaved suspiciously. He has deliberately misrepresented his place of destination. Tonight, we have made two important discoveries. One concerns a man named Cady; the other involves Jollister.
“I am ready to hear opinions. Suppose, Inspector Delka, that you give us yours. Incidentally” — Releston smiled slightly — “it is hardly necessary for you to preserve your identity of Jarvis Knight in surroundings such as these.”
“Call me Delka, if you prefer,” returned the Englishman. “Somehow, I have an inkling that the need for pretence will soon be ended. If you ask my candid opinion, I would say that the plotters are calling quits.”
“How so?” queried Releston.
“Cady may be a link,” returned Knight. “Jollister the same. When Jollister learned that Cady was under suspicion, he decided that it would be best for him to travel along, also.”
“Just one point, Knight,” put in Marquette, when the Britisher had finished speaking. “Don’t you think you’re shooting pretty low when you class Jollister with Cady?”
“I suppose so, Marquette. Yes, Jollister could be a more important factor than Cady.”
“I’ll tell you how much more important. Enough more to be the big shot!”
MARQUETTE delivered his statement with emphasis. He was on his feet, one fist pounding the edge of Wesdren’s desk.
“There’s only one way anybody could crack that strong room of yours,” announced the secret service operative. “That would be from right inside this house, Mr. Wesdren. The one fellow who could do it is Craig Jollister!”
Wesdren began to nod; then shook his head.
“Hardly,” he declared. “The door to the strong room has other locks than Jollister’s. You know that yourself, Marquette.”
“Sure I do. And why were they put on there?”
“Because Jollister insisted upon their installation.”
“Sure. And after they were on there, didn’t Jollister still keep working around the strong room?”
“Yes. He was completing his test of the vault door.”
“Alone? Was he there alone?”
“Certainly, Marquette. Jollister always demanded privacy when he was at work.”
“And wouldn’t that have given him a chance to fix those other locks the way he wanted them?”
This time Wesdren began to nod and did not desist. The others, too, had caught the force of Marquette’s point. Senator Releston was about to speak when Caleb Wesdren took the floor.
“Anything might be possible” said Wesdren, seriously. “Anything — if we go on the assumption that Jollister is a criminal. He might have some secret entrance to this house; through one of the side doors, for instance.”
“The doors are locked, aren’t they?” inquired Marquette.
“Supposedly,” returned Wesdren. “But Jollister has had full run of the place. Do you know, I can not understand why Jollister has bolted so suddenly. I am beginning to wonder if he has actually fled at all.”
“Maybe he hasn’t,” agreed Marquette. “He wants it to look like he’s left Washington, that’s all. Say — maybe he’s coming back here. Using that train trip as an alibi. Flashing the ticket so Hamilton would see it.”
“Suppose we visit the vault room,” suggested Senator Releston. “Let us make sure that some crime has not already been accomplished.”
Wesdren nodded his agreement. While the group was rising. Hamilton and Tobin entered. Marquette instructed them to stay and watch with the other two Federal men who were on the job as servants.
LEADING the way, Wesdren conducted his visitors below. He unlocked the doors of the strong room: turned on the light and ushered his companions within. Wesdren’s next step was to open the vault. He followed by unbolting the inner grating.
With Releston and Marquette close at hand, Wesdren made an inspection of coffers and compartments.
The checking of models and plans was complete. Wesdren closed the grating and locked the vault.
“Formidable,” he remarked, solemnly, as he studied the glistening door. “But it would be no better than tissue paper, should Jollister come here to open it. He not only constructed it; he knows the present combination.”
“One thing,” put in Marquette. “If Jollister is coming here, it will be tonight.”
“How is that?” queried Wesdren promptly.
“He’s going to get it over with,” insisted Marquette. “One night’s as good as another, isn’t it? All right; that makes the first chance best. But he won’t come alone.”
“On account of coffers?”
“Yes. And the weight of the stuff in them. That nitrogen extractor is a heavy machine. So is that tank model and those boxes of separate parts.”
“Then what would you suggest? A guard here in the strong room?”
“That’s the best idea yet. If Jollister’s going to show up, why not let him?”
Senator Releston nodded his approval.
“Suppose you stay down here, Marquette. We can send Hamilton and Tobin down to join you.”
“That would weaken our present arrangement, senator,” objected Wesdren. “Those men are needed upstairs.”
“Suppose I remain with Marquette?” The speaker was Jarvis Knight. “That will place two of us on duty.”
“We should have three,” declared Releston.
“Then leave Cardona,” suggested Wesdren.
“That’s the ticket,” asserted Marquette. “If any one comes snooping around, they’ll only see the regulars on duty upstairs. Leave Knight and Cardona here with me, senator.”
“Very well,” smiled Releston. “Since Delka has his Scotland Yard credentials and Cardona can identify himself as a New York detective, I think the arrangement would be allowable.”
“Certainly, senator,” agreed Wesdren. “Let us go upstairs and leave the strong room to these three.”
WHEN Wesdren and the senator reached the office, they held a brief conference. Wesdren decided that Hamilton and the others must be promptly notified of the situation. He also suggested that it would be wise to call police headquarters, to learn if there was any news of Cady.
The senator went out to the hallway and summoned the four Federal men, while Wesdren was using the telephone. When Releston had instructed the four, he returned. Wesdren had just completed his call to headquarters. He announced that the police would issue a flier as soon as they had Cardona’s data.
“Have a cigar, senator,” suggested Wesdren, proffering the box. “We have nothing to do but wait. Unless something occurs within a few hours, we will know that nothing is due.”
“I shall wait here until midnight,” said Releston. “But the strong room must be guarded until morning. We can remove the plans and models then, and ship them to the war department.”
“An excellent suggestion,” approved Wesdren. “One that will most certainly relieve me of a great responsibility.”
Conversation ended. Both Releston and Wesdren seemed to feel a tenseness in the atmosphere as minutes ticked slowly by. Both were thinking of that buried strong room, where three stalwart men were standing guard against crime that soon might come.