CHAPTER XIX
THE FIRST CLEW
The janitor of the building was Mike Donovan, an aged Irishman, whowas assisted in his work by his wife and his daughter Kittie, agedabout fifteen.
"'Tis me yez want to see?" queried Donovan, as he shuffled into theinner office, hat in hand.
"You are the janitor of this building?" questioned Dick, looking himover carefully.
"I am that, sur."
"Can you tell me who is in the habit of cleaning this particularoffice?"
"Well, sur, we are all after takin' a hand at it. I ginerally do theswapin', and me wife or Kittie, me daughter, do the winder clanin' an'the dustin'."
"During the past four or five days, have you noticed anything unusualaround this office?" went on Dick.
"Phat are ye after mainin'?"
"I'll tell you. There has been a robbery here, and we want to get atthe bottom of it."
"I haven't touched a thing, sur, an' nather have me family!" cried thejanitor, quickly.
"You look like an honest man, and I can't say that I suspect you,"continued Dick, for he saw that the old janitor was evidently muchhurt. "I want you to help me all you can, that is all."
"Sure, sur, an' I'll be after doin' that, Mr. Rover. Phat did they beafter takin'?"
"This safe, here, has been looted, and a small box that containedsixty-four thousand dollars' worth of bonds is gone."
At this announcement the old janitor threw up both hands and falteredback a step or two.
"Sixty-four thousand, dollars, did you be after sayin'?" he gasped,thinking he had not heard aright.
"That is what I said. Now then, just put on your thinking cap, andsee if you can remember anything unusual that happened around here twoor three days ago."
"Two or three days ago. Let me see," mused the janitor, scratching hishead. "I don't remember anything--Oh, yes, I do!" he burst out.
"What was that?" queried all three of the Rovers, while the office boylooked on with mouth wide open.
"'Twas one avenin' about siven or eighto'clock. Me an' me family were up stairs, clanin' out an office thathas just been rinted. Kittie, me gurrel, wint down stairs for someextra dustin' rags. Whin she came back, she said she saw a mana-walkin' through the hallway outside. She said that as soon as he sawher, he didn't wait for the illevator, but went down the stairs in abig hurry."
"Did she know the man?"
"She did not. At least, she said she didn't recognize him, for, yousee, there was only one little light burnin' in the hallway, becausenearly all the tinnents had gone home. The illevator wouldn't havebeen runnin', only we was goin' to take up the stuff to the office wewas cleanin' on the fifth floor."
"Your daughter saw that man in the hallway?" questioned Tom. "Did heseem to come from these offices?"
"No, I axed her particular, and she said he seemed to be comin' fromthe back av the hall."
"What is back there?" asked Sam.
"A winder wid a fire escape outside," answered the janitor. "Likewise,I've a sink closet there, where I keep me brooms and me brushes andsuch."
"And you have no idea who the man was?" questioned Dick.
"No, sur. I axed Kitty how he looked, but she said she hadn't seen hisface--that he turned away from her and went down the stairs as fastas he could."
"More than likely that was the thief!" exclaimed Tom. "The questionis: Who is he and where did he go?"
"Did your daughter say how the man was dressed?" asked Sam.
"Sure! She said he had on a dark suit of clothes and a dark, soft hat.That's all she knew."
"Was he a big man?"
"Oh, she said he was about middlin' big."
This was all the old janitor could tell, and a little later he broughtin both his wife and his daughter to be interviewed. The girl wasalmost scared to death, and could add nothing to what her father hadalready told.
"Well, it's a clew, even if it is a slight one," was Tom's comment."Dick, I guess the best thing you can do is to call up policeheadquarters."
"I'll do it. But please remember one thing," went on the oldest Roverboy, turning to the janitor and his family and also the office boy."We want to keep this as quiet as possible for the present, so pleasedon't say anything about it." And all of them promised to keep silent.
It did not take long for Dick to get into communication with theauthorities, and after a short talk over the telephone, he was toldthat a couple of detectives would be sent down to his once withoutdelay.
"Have you told Mr. Powell?" questioned Tom, suddenly.
"No, but I will call him up now," answered his older brother.
Of course the lawyer was astonished at the news, and asked what stepshad been taken to apprehend the thief. When told that the authoritieshad been asked to take charge of the case, he wanted to know if hecould be of any assistance.
"I don't see how you can help us, Mr. Powell," answered Dick, over thewire. "I suppose we will have to put the whole matter in the hands ofthe police."
"Well, if I can do anything at all, let me know," answered Songbird'suncle. "I am rather busy now, but as soon as I am at leisure, I willcall and talk the matter over with you."
Inside of half an hour the two detectives from headquarters arrived.They were bright, sharp-eyed individuals, and they got down tobusiness without delay. They asked Dick innumerable questions, andlooked carefully at the safe, trying the combination several times,and then inspected the offices and the hallway. After that theysubjected Kittie Donovan to a close examination, getting the girl totell everything she could possibly think of regarding the strange manshe had seen on the evening when the robbery had occurred.
"I think I know who did this job," said one of the detectives to theother.
"Looks like the work of one of three men to me," returned the othersleuth. "Baldy Jackson, Slim Martin, or Hank the Bluffer."
"You may be right, Joe, but I think it was Hank. If I've got the doperight, those other two fellows you mention are not near New York justnow."
"Well, if Baldy and Slim can prove that they weren't around New Yorkat the time, then I'll agree with you that it was Hank who lifted thatbox," returned the other detective.
"Who is this Hank the Bluffer?" questioned Dick, curiously.
"Oh, he's an old one at this sort of game," returned one of thedetectives. "He is a wonder at opening safes. Somebody told me oncethat he made the assertion he could open any ordinary office safeinside of fifteen minutes. He's got it all in his finger ends. Theyare so sensitive that when he turns the safe knob, he can feel everymovement of the tumblers inside."
"And he is at liberty now?" asked Sam.
"He was the last I heard of him. He got out of a Massachusetts prisonabout three months ago. Somebody told me he was in New York. I haven'tseen him, but if he is here I think we can round him up sooner orlater."
"Well, what we want are those bonds," declared Dick.
"Oh, sure! That's what we'll go after," declared the detective. "Evenif we locate our man, we won't arrest him until we can get him withthe goods."
Following this conversation, the detectives made a memorandum of allthe bonds that had been taken, along with the numbers thereon.
"If the thief is an old one at the game, it's not likely that he'lltry to use those registered bonds," said one of the detectives, "buthe'll find plenty of places where he can use the others, if he knowsthe game."
"I'm inclined to agree with you on one point," said Dick. "And that isthat no ordinary person could have worked the combination of thatsafe. It must have been some professional."
"You are right, Mr. Rover--unless somebody got the figures of thecombination on the sly," answered the sleuth; and a few minutes laterhe and his fellow-officer left, promising to make a report as soon asanything worth while was brought to light.
Having gotten rid of the detectives and also of the janitor and hisfamily, the Rover boys shut themselves in the inner office to discussthe situation. They had requested the authorities to
keep the wholematter quiet for the present, and this the detectives had agreed todo.
"Now, first of all, Dick, tell us: Will this loss affect any of ourother investments?" asked Tom.
"Not for the present, Tom, but how we shall stand later on if thesecurities are not recovered, I am not prepared to say." Dick's faceclouded. "You see, it is this way: We have our investments in the Westas well as those we went into in Boston some time ago. We--that is,dad--was going to take a loan on that mining proposition. That wouldinvolve our putting up some of those bonds--say forty or fiftythousand dollars' worth--as collateral security with the banks. Now,if we don't get the bonds back, dad will either have to cancel thatloan or, otherwise, put up something else as security--and what elsewe can put up just now, I don't know. It's a bad state of affairs."
"Oh, we've just got to get those bonds back!" cried Sam, impulsively."We've just got to!"
"Easy enough to say, Sam, but wishing them back isn't going to bringthem back," came from Tom, grimly.
"If we only had a little more of a clew to work on, we, ourselves,might try to get those bonds back instead of relying on thedetectives," said Dick. "But when you haven't any clews, how are yougoing to strike out?"
"We might try to find that strange man, whoever he is," suggested Tom."Although looking for him would be a good deal like looking for theproverbial pin in the haystack. I would rather dig up the whole of theAtlantic seacoast looking for Captain Kidd's treasure;" and he smiledgrimly.