Page:Burton Stevenson--The marathon mystery.djvu/58

38 mighty good one. I spotted you as soon as I heard Higgins’s story.”

“So Mr. Higgins had a tale to tell, too, did he?” asked the cracksman, with a somewhat venomous glance at the janitor. “Was he also on the scene? Or mebbe he was lookin’ through the transom?”

“No cause to get funny, Jimmy. You won’t feel that way after I get through with you.”

“Oh, won’t I? We all know you’re a bright man, Mr. Simmonds!”

“Bright or not,” said Simmonds complacently, “I’ve got you. Your record’s against you, Jimmy.”

“That’s it—give a dog a bad name. See here, Mr. Godfrey, you don’t believe I’d be such a damned fool as to put a man out with a woman watchin’ me do it?”

“I don’t know what to think,” answered Godfrey slowly. “It doesn’t seem quite like you, Jimmy.”

“Like me! I should say not! And if I was crazy enough to do a thing like that, would I go back to Pete Magraw’s and hang around there, waitin’ for the police to come after me? If you think I’d do a thing like that, you’d better send me to Bellevue and be done with it!”

“I was expecting that argument, Jimmy,” said Simmonds, still smiling. “You’re a deep one!”

Jimmy threw up his hands again.

“Of course!” he cried. “You win; I lose! If I’d run away, it’d be a confession of guilt; if I stay, it’s because I’m a deep un! Oh, it’s lots of justice I’ll get! Well, go ahead. Go ahead and prove it! I’ll prove an alibi.”