Cardona said nothing. Dobey opened the door to usher the detective out. Cardona walked across the reception room, with Dobey following.
“You know what the commish will tell you, don’t you?” jeered the big shot. “He’ll tell you to take a trip to one of them psychopathic wards. He’ll send a couple of guys around with you every evening to see you don’t get scared in the dark.”
“That won’t help you any,” retorted Joe. “It’s too bad you weren’t up here the other night, Dobey. We might have found an extra body on that fancy carpet of yours.”
Dobey glowered. The suggestion was not to his liking. Joe strolled out, feeling that he had at least given the big shot something to worry about.
WAINWRIGHT BARTH was at Tobias Hildreth’s. Hence Cardona headed for the banker’s home.
Lowdy, the big butler, ushered the detective into the study. Joe found Barth there, along with Hildreth and Gorton Jodelle. The commissioner surveyed the detective through his pince-nez.
“We’ve been waiting for you, Cardona,” snapped Barth. “What have you to report?”
Cardona hesitated.
“Come!” exclaimed Barth. “Don’t be reticent. Why stand there like a lout? Have you discovered the rogue who headed those bank robbers?”
“I’ve just been talking to him,” affirmed Cardona.
“Where is he then?” demanded Barth. “Didn’t you arrest him?”
“You can’t pinch a guy on suspicion,” retorted Cardona. “You’ve got to back it up with evidence.”
“Ah! You mean this so-called big shot, Dobey Blitz. I thought you had given him up, Cardona. You spoke that way when you made your last report.”
“You’re wrong about that, commissioner. All I said was that I couldn’t pin the goods on the guy. I said it looked like I’d have to try something else. Anyway, I talked with Dobey.”
“Where?”
“At his apartment.”
“Well,” decided Barth, taking off his spectacles and wiping them, “that is one point to your credit, Cardona. You have at least made progress.”
Cardona withheld a smile. His hunch was proving true. Barth reminded him of a school-master. So long as a pupil could present evidence of effort, he was apt to be satisfied. Though it rankled him, Joe decided to follow up his odd success. He felt that the old army game of hokum might impress the pedantic commissioner.
“Dobey talked,” informed Joe. “He said more than was good for him. He’s yellow, that guy. First thing he did when I came in was grab a drink.”
“Ah!” exclaimed Barth, with keen interest. “He became perturbed?”
“That don’t half describe it, commissioner. He began spilling alibis. Told me he was at the night club on Broadway, run by an old bootlegger called Dinger Jacques. That was enough for me.”
“How so, Cardona?”
“Dinger Jacques is an old alibi artist. He’s covered for so many guys that it’s a joke. I’m going to see Dinger. Give him a tip that maybe his night club will have to turn out its bright lights. When Dobey calls for his alibi, it will be missing.”
“My word! You’re using tactics, Cardona. Why not arrest Dobey Blitz at once?”
“It won’t do.” Cardona had created his impression. He was ready to ease his story. “Give me time, commissioner. I can find gorillas who’ll blab. I want to get the goods on Dobey before I smash his alibi. Then I’ll land on him again. I’ll make him talk right.”
“You mean confess?”
“More than that. I’ll make him tell who’s behind the whole racket. The one you call the brain. I might even have got it out of Dobey to-night — but I laid off.”
“That was unwise.”
“Not under the circumstances. Dobey was still sure of his alibi. I left him worried. He took three drinks while I was there to-night: three drinks in twenty minutes. The longer he has to think things over, the more worried he will be.”
“Excellent, Cardona. These are good tidings.”
The detective sat down. He had bluffed this cookie who called himself police commissioner. Cardona felt new confidence. He was sure that he could stall Barth as long as he wanted. That would give him time to work on the case.
CARDONA was pleased as he looked toward Hildreth and Jodelle. The banker was fully as impressed as Barth had been. That was a good sign. Jodelle was chewing his lips. Cardona grinned slightly. He felt that Jodelle regarded him as a rival; that any success Cardona gained would not be relished by Jodelle.
Hence Cardona was satisfied that he had sold his idea to Jodelle as well as the others. To bluff as smart an investigator as Jodelle was something to be proud of. Cardona had worked hokum tactics on crooks; but he had never resorted to them under circumstances such as these. He was more than pleased by the result.
“We are progressing, Hildreth!” exclaimed Barth, turning to the banker. “Weston told me that Cardona would be my ace. I am convinced that Weston was right. If you can only aid us — through Jodelle. Has he a report, also?”
“Let Jodelle speak for himself,” suggested Hildreth, turning to the investigator.
“I’ve just been going over details,” said the investigator in a husky tone that seemed to denote disappointment. “Tracing Zellwood has been a hard job, since the man is dead.”
“Of course,” put in Barth.
“I’ve gotten the names of people who talked with him,” added Jodelle, “but Mr. Hildreth vouches for them as bank customers. That’s what makes it difficult. I don’t like to make an actual report until I have checked everything in full with Mr. Hildreth.”
“Certainly,” agreed Barth. “Hildreth is your employer. As a private investigator, Jodelle, your work differs from that of my detectives.”
“I’ve got a lot of data here,” said Jodelle, producing a large stack of papers. “It will need weeding — inquiries — what not.”
“Surely,” remarked Barth. “Nevertheless, I should appreciate it if you could prepare the data for my inspection.”
“It should be ready by to-morrow. That is, if I have time to take it up with Mr. Hildreth to-night.”
“We shall not delay you,” declared Barth, rising. “Come, Cardona. Let us be on our way. I shall call you, Hildreth, to discuss matters at a future time.”
Cardona rode down town in the commissioner’s car. All the way, Barth was babbling his approval. The longer he considered Cardona’s verbal report, the more pleased he became. Joe grinned in the dark.
When he dropped off near Times Square, he mumbled to himself as he stood upon the curb.
“What a line I gave him!” was the detective’s comment. “I couldn’t have made first base if I’d ever tried that hooey on Commissioner Weston. Say — this bird is a sap. But there’s going to be tough sledding ahead, if he expects real results. Hildreth and Jodelle fell for it, too. Boy! I’ve got to get a break this time. A real break, after that bunk!”
Worry replaced elation as Cardona sauntered along Broadway. The detective knew that his boasts had been idle. Dobey Blitz had licked him. Joe had nothing on the big shot. Dobey was the last man in the world who could be made to talk. The break Cardona hoped for seemed far, far away.
Yet even while Cardona worried, the break was in the making. His halfhearted visit to Dobey Blitz’s had produced more of an impression than Cardona thought. Though he knew it not, Joe had accomplished something.
Hopefully, the detective turned his thoughts to The Shadow. He half suspected that The Shadow, like himself, was waiting for the break. The supposition was close to the truth. Though The Shadow had already neared his goal, he, too, was waiting for a turn of events that set the field for a mighty stroke.