“Have you seen Jackley yet?” asked Frank.
“After the smashup. But I didn’t have a chance to talk to him.”
“You might have been able to get a confession from him.”
Fenton Hardy nodded.
“I may be able to get one yet. If he is sure he is going to die he may admit everything. I intend to make an effort to see him in the hospital and ask him about the Tower robbery, anyway.”
“Is he far away?”
Mr. Hardy named a small city not far distant from Bayport.
“I explained my mission to the doctor in charge and he promised to telephone me as soon as it was possible for Jackley to see anyone. I’m convinced that the fellow had something to do with the Tower affair. It’s a certainty that he stole the automobile—the wig proves that. By the same token it’s certain that he was the man who tried to hold up the ticket office. Having failed in that attempt, it seems more than likely that an old-time criminal like Jackley would look around for something else to do before he left Bayport.”
“You say he used to work near here?” asked Joe.
“He was once employed by the railroad, and he knows all the country around here well. Then he got mixed up in some thefts from freight cars and after he got out of jail he became a professional criminal. It was when I was looking over the records that I found out about his fondness for wearing a red wig. That was what eventually proved his undoing. If he had not robbed the actor’s dressing room to get the wig that he used when he was in Bayport, I would never have traced him.”
At that moment it was announced that Chief Collig of the Bayport police force wished to see Fenton Hardy. The detective winked at the boys, and told the servant to show the chief in.
Chief Collig entered the room, mopping his brow with a handkerchief, for it was a hot day and he was a stout man. Behind him came Detective Smuff, fanning himself with a straw hat.
“Good afternoon, gentlemen,” said Mr. Hardy genially, “Won’t you sit down?”
Chief Collig eased himself into an arm chair. Detective Smuff leaned against the table. Both glanced inquiringly at the two boys.
“Unless your business is very private, I’d just as soon have the boys stay,” suggested Mr. Hardy pleasantly. He did not trust Chief Collig and Detective Smuff, who came to him only in emergencies and who usually took all the credit for themselves whenever he helped them out of their difficulties. He preferred to have the boys present as witnesses.
“How about it, chief?” asked Smuff heavily. “Can they stay?”
“I guess so,” grunted Chief Collig, undoing the collar of his uniform. “Can’t do no good and they can’t do no harm.”
“Well, gentlemen, to what do I owe the honor of this visit?” asked Mr. Hardy.
“We’ve been hearin’ things about this Tower Mansion case,” observed Chief Collig gravely. “You’ve been workin’ on it, eh?”
“Perhaps.”
“You’ve been out of town for quite a few days. You must have been workin’ on it.”
“That’s what we dedooce, anyway,” put in Detective Smuff.
“Perhaps it’s my own business.”
“Police business is everybody’s business,” declared Collig judicially. “What we want to know is—did you find any clues?”
Detective Smuff fished out the inevitable notebook and pencil.
“I’ll note ’em down, chief,” he remarked.
“You may as well put back the notebook, Smuff,” snapped Fenton Hardy, with annoyance. “If I went away, it is my own business, and if I am still working on the Tower robbery, that’s my business too. I’ll thank you to keep to your own affairs.”
Chief Collig opened his mouth, then closed it again. He took out his handkerchief and mopped his brow, all the while staring at Fenton Hardy. Then he turned and gazed at Smuff.
“Detective Smuff,” he said, in a solemn voice, “did you hear that?”
“I did.”
“What do you think of it, Detective Smuff?”
“I think—I think—” Detective Smuff groped for an expression that would encompass the magnitude of the offence, “I think Mr. Hardy is guilty of obstructin’ the cause of justice,” he said grandly.
“Obstructing fiddlesticks!” said Mr. Hardy. “I’m minding my own business. Which is more than some police officers seem capable of doing.”
Chief Collig sighed.
“The trouble with you, Mr. Hardy,” he said, “is that you won’t cooperate. If you cooperated a little more, we would all be farther ahead. There ain’t any cooperation at all. Here is me and Smuff, doin’ our best to drive crime out of Bayport, and you won’t cooperate.”
“Perhaps the fact that there is a thousand dollars reward in the case isn’t making you anxious for some cooperation?” suggested Fenton Hardy dryly.
“It ain’t got nothin’ to do with it,” replied Chief Collig virtuously. “We’re just anxious to see this affair cleared up, that’s all. Now, Mr. Hardy, we hear you were with the officers that chased this here notorious criminal Red Jackley.”
Mr. Hardy gave a perceptible start. He had no idea that news of the capture of Jackley had reached Bayport, much less that news of his own participation in the chase had reached the city.
“What of it?”
“Did Jackley have anything to do with this here Tower case?”
“How should I know?”
“Wasn’t that what you were working on?”
“That’s my affair.”
Detective Smuff and Chief Collig looked at one another.
“You ain’t cooperatin’,” complained Chief Collig. “You’re goin’ to put us to a whole lot of worry and expense just because you won’t give us a little cooperation.”
“Just what do you mean?”
“Detective Smuff and me was thinkin’ of goin’ over to the hospital where this man Jackley is and givin’ him the third degree about the Tower case.”
Fenton Hardy’s lips narrowed into a straight line.
“You can’t
