The false will was on stained
paper, like the other instruments, but the others were stained
with age, while the one you introduced into the lot was colored
with chemicals."
Big Bob nodded and looked with astonishment at the boy.
"And Mr. Cameron came back and found you three in the suite?" Nestor went on.
Big Bob shook his head.
"You left before he returned?"
Another shake of the head, then the man whispered:
"Scoby was watching for him outside."
The night watchman seemed like a man about to throw a fit. He writhed
about the floor, regardless of his injured leg, and tried to reach
the speaker.
"And Scoby struck him down?" asked Nestor.
There was a strained silence in the room as they all waited for the
reply, already suggested by Big Bob's previous words.
"Yes," he whispered. "Scoby struck him down with a billy."
The accused man dropped back against the wall and his eyes closed.
It was plain that the words, together with his previous exertions
and pain, had taken the nerve all out of the fellow.
"But Scoby did not do this of his own notion," Nestor went on,
remorselessly. "It was done by your orders. You had bribed
him to do it. It was your idea that if Cameron was killed no
one would ever be able to detect the substitution of the false
will for the original one."
Big Bob nodded, but did not stop there.
"I wanted to take no chances," he said, with a choke in his voice.
"I wanted the property! I did not care for the mine especially,
but I told Scoby that that was my motive--the securing of the
description.
Pages:
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193