He
would still be in the city then, securely concealed in some dive of the
underworld, perfecting his plans, whatever they might be, and, perhaps,
arranging to join those on the boat later. The detective even thought
this unlikely, his theory being that Hobart merely desired to get the
girl safely out of the way for a length of time sufficient to enable him
to complete his nefarious scheme. He argued that Natalie was in no real
danger; she would be held no doubt, kept out of sight as long as was
necessary, but otherwise left uninjured. This was no strong-arm crime,
but a high class confidence game, and the important thing was to quickly
lay hands on Hobart. With him once in the toils, the whole conspiracy
would instantly collapse. With this end in view, McAdams took up the
man's trail, leaving West to stand guard over the telephone.
The latter called up Sexton, and hurried him out to Fairlawn, with
instructions to find out all he could from the servants there relative
to any late developments. He expected no important revelation from this
point, as Natalie could not have returned home, yet there might have
been a telephone communication, or some other occurrence of interest to
furnish a clue. Sexton was instructed to report the result of his
investigation at the earliest moment possible. This accomplished,
nothing remained for West to do, but sit down and wait for something
else to happen.
The delay was shorter than he anticipated.
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