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T Headquarters after Tony was led away, Odell learned that although no trace had yet been discovered of the fugitive Farley Drew, his henchman Sims was safely under lock and key. He had been picked up an hour before at the Grand Central Station just as he started to board a train for the West, and so far had maintained a dogged silence as to the whereabouts of his erstwhile employer; but Captain Lewis expressed the opinion that a few hours of the gentle art of persuasion as practiced by his subordinates would overcome Sims's reticence.

The chief of the bureau had one item of interest to impart, however: the mysterious telephone call to the carpenter shop on the day before the portrait fell had been definitely traced to the Meade house.

Odell pondered on this latest bit of intelligence as he made his way to the office of The Wall-Street Gazette. If Lorne had not been at home between three and four o'clock on the previous Wednesday afternoon, a fact which could easily be established, then he must either have had a confederate in the house, or the theory which the detective had so carefully built up must inevitably fall to the ground.

Reaching the editorial rooms of the newspaper, Odell sent in a hastily scribbled card to the chief, and was ushered 248