"Oh," mumbled the Phantom; then he stood silent for a few moments. "Where did Miss Hardwick go from here?"
Culligore shrugged. "Ask me something easy. She walked out of that door, and that's all I'm sure of. There was another question or two I wanted to ask her, and that's why I dropped around here to-day, thinking she might show up again. She seemed very much wrought up over Mr. Shei."
With an impetuous gesture The Phantom placed his hand on the lieutenant's arm.
"Miss Hardwick has disappeared," he announced quickly, "and I fear she has blundered into the clutches of Mr. Shei."
"Eh?" The mask of listlessness dropped in a twinkling from Culligore's face. He was instantly tense and alert. "What's that?"
"I called up her home this morning. Nobody seems to know what has become of her. A little later I received a telephone message warning me that---- But I see I shall have to tell you the whole story in order to make things clear." Briefly The Phantom related his encounter with Mr. Fairspeckle, the events that had occurred at the apartment of the retired financier, and finally the warning message that had come over the wire. "Now you can understand," he concluded, "why I don't intend to submit to arrest until Miss Hardwick has been found."
Culligore's cigar had gone out while The Phantom was speaking. Now he lighted it again, sent a few clouds of smoke curling toward the ceiling, then peered intently into The Phantom's face. Finally he jerked his head up and down as if he had seen a light.
"The thing to do," he declared, "is to take the shortest route and go direct to Mr. Shei and ask him what he has done with Miss Hardwick."
The Phantom laughed bitterly. "Beautifully simple! The only difficulty is that we haven't the slightest idea who Mr. Shei is or where to find him. Otherwise your suggestion is capital."
A queer smile curled Culligore's lips. "Sometimes The Gray Phantom isn't playing in very good form. But then every man gets a bit foolish when he has a girl on the brain. Your thinking cap isn't on straight to-day, or you wouldn't have let Fairspeckle pull the wool over your eyes the way he did."
"And didn't he try to put you to sleep by drugging your coffee?"
"And didn't you see him typing the notices with Mr. Shei's name at the bottom?"