“I counted five men present besides Satruff. Any one of them could have passed along the word regarding Dorand. I did not want you to even indicate that fact. I could not talk to Satruff himself; I did the next best thing. I talked to the one man who I knew would not be concerned even indirectly with ways of crime.”
“Lamont Cranston.”
“Yes. I brought him here to learn what he might know because I was sure that his information would be reliable. I did not mention any suspicions that were in my mind. I merely prompted Cranston to tell me facts. He did.
“We know that there is a link between the two gang raids. We must find a connection between one of the men in Satruff’s confidence and the raiders themselves. Cranston, of course, is eliminated. He has definitely given Vincent a clean bill of health. That leaves us exactly four men who could have betrayed the fact that Satruff is Dorand.”
“Three,” corrected Cardona. “McEwen, Okum, and Harlow.”
“I am including Riggs,” announced Weston. “Satruff never took the servant into his confidence. Yet Riggs has been a part of the household. He may not be so ignorant as he pretends.
“You see, Cardona, we must never eliminate a possibility. I have included every individual — four in all — who could possibly have betrayed Satruff. We must concentrate upon those four. From four, we may be able to study one.”
A TRIUMPHANT gleam appeared upon Cardona’s face. Weston saw it. His smile faded. The commissioner loved to show his superiority in reasoning; yet at times, Cardona had a trick of turning the tables. This was coming now.
“You want one?” Cardona laughed gruffly as he spoke. “All right, commissioner. I’ll name one man for you.”
“One of those four?”
“Yes.”
“Which one?”
“Doctor Wesley Hallow.”
Commissioner Weston leaned back in his swivel chair. He tapped the desk with his fingers. He put a question as he eyed the ceiling.
“Reasons, Cardona,” he ordered.
“Harlow was there at the first raid,” asserted the detective. “He had gone outside before the trouble began. He showed up in back of the raiders. Said he saw people prowling about the house.”
“Perhaps he did.”
“When he came in,” continued Cardona, “he plugged Pug Hoffler. Killed the man just as Pug was going to spill something.
“Now comes the second raid. Again, Harlow went out. This time he came through the house. He piled on Rabbit Gorton just as Rabbit was going to talk.”
“But he didn’t shoot Rabbit.”
“No. He couldn’t. He was wise enough not to have a gun because that looked bad before. He tried to grab Rabbit’s gat, though, and I’ve got a hunch that he would have plugged Rabbit with the guy’s own revolver.”
“Then you think that Harlow is the tipster behind these gang raids?”
“Yes.”
Weston continued to tap the desk. He still eyed the ceiling and his words became reflective.
“Some one is working from Satruff’s,” declared the commissioner. “I see your reasoning, Cardona; namely that the inside man might be ready to kill his gangster accomplice before the fellow could talk when cornered.
“But we can apply good reasoning to any of the others concerned. First of all, Okum. He let the gangsters in both times. Harlow saved him the trouble of killing Pug. It was Okum, though, who shot Rabbit.
“I’ll go further. We might figure McEwen as the tipster; a man staying completely away, letting events take their own course; or, for that matter, Riggs might be our quarry. His part has been so passive that it could well excite suspicion.”
A smile appeared upon Cardona’s lips. Weston did not see it. He was still looking toward the ceiling, smiling in his turn.
“All four must be watched,” decided the commissioner. “I grant you that Harlow is a prime case; at the same time, I think I have established the fact that Okum is quite as possible an undercover crook as Harlow. Until you have more evidence, Cardona, you should not be so sure of yourself.”
“I agree with you,” stated Cardona, in an emphatic tone. “You are right, commissioner. Yet I still pick Harlow.”
THIS thrust brought Weston’s eyes from the ceiling. The commissioner stared at the detective and caught the triumphant gleam in Cardona’s face. Weston looked for an explanation and received it.
“I’m working on more than a hunch, commissioner,” announced Cardona. “I’m working on evidence. I picked my man — Harlow — and I’ve been watching him. I’ve got what I wanted.”
“You mean that Harlow is linked with Pug and Rabbit?”
“I figure it that way. I’ll tell you why. I watched Harlow’s office early to-night and I saw a guy that I knew come there to see him.”
“A gangster?”
“Yes. A fellow named Tex Lowner. A mighty tough bimbo, Tex. I followed him.”
“Where?”
“To the Club Madrid. A blind trail. Tex was laying off to-night. I thought I would have to wait a while before I could figure more about Harlow; but this trouble out at Satruff’s clinched the game.”
“But if this fellow Tex Lowner was not concerned in it, you have no tangible evidence on Harlow.”
“Haven’t I? Listen, commissioner. There were two tough babies who hated each other worse than poison. One was Tex Lowner. The other was Rabbit Gorton. They were the biggest enemies of all the crooks in New York.
“Pug Hoffler fits into their feud. He worked for both of them. When he came out of stir, it was a sure bet he’d go and get in right with one or the other — not with both. But it was a sure bet that the one he didn’t see would be watching him like a hawk.”
“Good reasoning, Cardona,” nodded Weston approvingly.
“All right,” resumed the detective. “Pug Hoffler raided Satruff’s. I thought he was working on his own — he could have been at the time, for all I knew. Then along comes Rabbit Gorton to tackle the same job. That makes it look like Pug was teamed with Rabbit. They were in the know. Somebody must have tipped them.”
“And you think it was Harlow.”
“Sure. That’s where Tex fits in. He was watching Pug and he knew that the guy was back in with Rabbit. He would be watching Rabbit closer after that. I figure Rabbit sent Pug ahead to do the job while he kept laying low. Then, when Pug flopped, Rabbit took the job himself.”
“Then Tex—”
“Tex couldn’t talk to Rabbit. But he was watching Rabbit’s game and he must have found out somehow that Harlow was in on it. So he went to Harlow— maybe to threaten him — maybe to get him away from Rabbit.
“Let’s go back to the first raid. When Pug got trapped, he said he was going to squeal. That’s why Harlow plugged him. When Rabbit got trapped to-night, he may have figured that Harlow had been talking to Tex. He was going to squeal, too. So Harlow jumped on him. I’m not saying that Harlow was a double-crosser. I’m just saying that Pug and Rabbit may have thought they were double-crossed.”
COMMISSIONER WESTON linked his hands and rested his chin upon them. He was all interest in what Cardona had just told him. Yet he saw vague thoughts in the detective’s theory.
“If Harlow is linked with Tex,” decided Weston, “it could have been to get rid of Pug and Rabbit — or to clear the way for Tex to get at Satruff’s vault. Yet that seems a purposeless plan. It would be folly to create a stir at Satruff’s and then follow with further raids.
“Yet these underworld characters are desperate. It may be that some new scheme is in the offing. We know only that two raids have failed; that some one could have let word out to gangsters; that — from what you have just told me — Harlow is the likely offender.