"
"Good God, Gatton!" I cried. "It's a horrible business, and for my own
part I have no idea what the next step should be."
"I'm a bit doubtful, myself," admitted Gatton; "but you know the line
of reasoning which has led me to the conclusion that these people
possess a base of operations somewhere in this district. I am having
the neighborhood scoured pretty thoroughly, and I think it is merely a
question of time, now, for us to hem in the wanted man--"
"And the wanted woman!" I added.
We were interrupted by a knock at the study door, and Coates came in
with the evening mail.
"Excuse me, Gatton," I said--for I had observed that one of the
letters was from Isobel.
Eagerly I tore open the envelope ... and what I read struck a sudden
chill to my heart. Looking up:
"Gatton!" I cried--"Miss Merlin has received, by post, a small
statuette of Bast!"
"What!"
"From her brief description I am almost tempted to believe that it is
the one which was stolen from here! She is dreadfully frightened,
naturally."
The Inspector stood up.
"We must see it," he said rapidly, "at once; and we must see the
wrapping it came in and the postmark. It is maddening," he burst out
angrily, "to think that Dr. Damar Greefe may be somewhere within less
than half a mile of us as we sit here now, that we could ring him up
if we knew his number; but that even with all the resources of the
Criminal Investigation Department at work we may yet be unable to find
him! Even an outside suburb like this is a very big place to search
and the job is something like looking for a needle in a haystack!"
My own frame of mind was one of horrible doubt and indecision.
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