  “How much progress are you making on your investigation?” the Chief asked Johnny as he came in next morning. “Three suspects and no arrests,” smiled Johnny. “Tell me about them.” “There’s the one you gave me—Knobs.” “Know anything new about him?” “Not a thing.” “And the others? Tell me about them.” Johnny told of the pink-eyed man and the tall stooped one who limped. Without thinking much about it, he told the Chief for the first time of his visits to the marsh, of his mysterious assailant out there, and of his fight with the unknown man on Ben Zook’s island. The Chief listened intently. “You don’t always take another’s judgment about things, do you?” “In—in what way?” “I told you I thought that the man who went out on the breakwater toward that made land you call Ben Zook’s island had been drowned.” “Why—yes, that’s what you did.” “You didn’t think so?” “I thought he might not have drowned.” “What do you think now?” “He didn’t drown.” “You can’t prove it.” “No, but I will. You’d know the man if you saw him again? Or his picture?” “Yes.” “I’ll prove it, then. Just give me time.” For a moment the Chief sat wrapped in deep thought. Then of a sudden he said: “You have a rather unusual method of picking suspects.” “In what way?” “When the police have a criminal to catch, a crime to clear up, they go over the list of criminals who work at such crimes, then they check up on those persons, possibly shadowing them for days. But you—you simply go to a fire and pick a man who seems particularly interested in the fire. You say to yourself: ‘He might be the man.’ Then you start shadowing him.” “But if you see him at three or four fires? Doesn’t that look bad?” Johnny asked. “Not necessarily. Some persons are just natural cranks when it comes to fires. They’d get out of bed at midnight to go to one. For instance, take that pink-eyed fellow you’ve been telling about. It’s a well known fact that those pink-eyed people, albinos they are called, are like owls; they see best at night. The bright light of day appears to blind them, so they like to prowl around at night. This fellow may be that sort and may have taken up with the running down of fires as an innocent hobby.” “That’s right enough,” said Johnny, “but on the other hand some clever gang of criminals may have noticed his night prowling and may have induced him to join them in setting blazes. And besides, these fires are different, aren’t they? Did anyone ever go about the task of setting fire to all the city’s property before?” “No.” “Or any other city’s?” “Not that I know of.” “It’s a very special case then, and a special case requires special methods. When I see a man at four fires I’m going to watch him. And, believe me, if I ever see one of those two again I’ll have him arrested. And that goes double for old limpie hooknose! When you see a man at fire after fire; when you chase him and he risks his life to escape from you; when someone very much like him, in a place where you suspect him of being, leaps out at you and all but does you in; when someone very like him twice hunts you in a marsh where you’re trying to enjoy yourself, you can’t help but feel that you’re on the right track.” “Does sound like there was something in it,” argued the Chief. “But, after all, you have positively identified the man only twice, at the two fires, and on neither of these occasions was he doing anything he could be arrested for. If he were to walk into this room at this very moment you might take him to jail, but unless he happened to be carrying damaging evidence on his person you’d have to turn him loose. You really haven’t anything on him—and you can’t hold an innocent man.” “He ran when we chased him.” “Honest people often do that.” “Well,” Johnny paused in thought, “you wait. Give me time. I’ll bring you something yet, see if I don’t!” That evening as Johnny descended to the ground floor on his way to keep his appointment with Mazie, he was surprised to find an orange wrapper in the box behind the door. So Ben Zook had remembered the signal! “Ben Zook,” he whispered, “he has something to tell me. That man has been back on Ben’s island. I must go out there. I wish—” he paused, irresolute, “no, I promised Mazie, and I won’t go back on my word. I’ll go out and see Ben Zook when I come back—if it’s not too late, and I imagine it’s never too late for him.” |
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