“Then I was dazed. I may have been hit by a falling timber when the car was derailed. Nothing was stolen from me. An absurd notion!”
“Oh, I see,” said Flash. “My mistake, Major.”
Without waiting for a reply he went out the door, softly closing it behind him.
George Doyle had remained at the elevator.
“Well, did the Major make you a pretty little speech of gratitude, Flash?” he inquired curiously.
Doyle pressed a button and the automatic elevator descended to the lower floor.
Flash had no intention of confiding in the technician and so made an evasive answer. Doyle took the hint, but he lapsed into sullen silence as they walked back to the parking lot where the sound truck had been left.
“Where are you going now?” he inquired, watching Flash gather up his camera and luggage.
“The hotel. I think I’ll stay here a day or so and rest up before I start back to Brandale.”
“I may hole in myself,” Doyle responded. “I gave _News-Vue_ this town as my address. I’m stuck here until Clewes sends me orders. I’ll probably be seeing you at the hotel.”
“Well, if we shouldn’t meet again, good-bye and good luck with your pictures.”
They shook hands with a show of cordiality and parted company. Flash was glad to be done with the pretense. He never could like George Doyle and was relieved to escape from him. Doubtlessly, the technician felt the same way about him.
At the corner, beyond Doyle’s view, Flash paused. Opening his handbag, he removed the holders which held all the exposed films still in his possession.
“Wonder why the Major is so anxious to see that picture of himself in the wreck?” he mused. “At the time I snapped it I didn’t think I had anything. Maybe I was wrong.”
Deeply puzzled, he could not guess why the picture had any special significance. Yet he shrewdly reasoned that Major Hartgrove would not bother to obtain the negative save for a very particular reason.
The army man’s assured way of expecting his orders to be obeyed without question annoyed Flash. Obviously, the Major had sought to confuse him by contradicting his first story that he had been struck over the head by an assailant.
“I’ll have the film developed and see what all the shooting is about,” he decided. “Then maybe I’ll deliver it to the Major, and maybe I won’t.”