“Right now,” Jimmie sprang to his feet. They were away.
The suite of offices they entered a few moments later were quite modern. Clicking typewriters, mahogany desks, and the latest floodlights told plainly that at least one moving-picture organization was doing very well. They were in the central office of a large syndicate controlling many theaters.
“Are you from the Detective Bureau?” inquired a short, fat man with pudgy fingers.
“They took it all! Everything!” The man wrung his fat hands.
“Where’s the safe?” Tom demanded shortly.
“It is in the back. Come this way, please. The police have been here. Everything has been guarded. Nothing was touched.” The man led the way back.
“Hello, Tom,” the police officer on duty greeted.
“Hello, Jerry. What kind of a job?” asked Tom.
“Neat. Professional, all right. Cut up the safe with oxyacetylene torch. Easy as opening a can of peas.”
“H’m,” said Tom as he entered the place. “Not much of a safe. Easy money, I’d say. But we’ll try to make ’em pay. We usually do, in the end, don’t we, Jerry?”
“I’ll say you do, Tom,” Jerry grinned. “Who’s the Boy Scout?” He eyed Jimmie suspiciously.
“He’s from the Press,” Tom explained. “Special friend of mine. Keen with his candid camera. Only person that’s ever photographed the Silent Terror.”
“The Terror!” Jerry whistled through his teeth. The look he bestowed upon Jimmie was one of genuine respect.
“All right, Jerry,” Tom said with a grin. “Strike a pose so Jimmie can get a picture. Usual stuff. Stand and point at the wrecked safe.”
Jerry smiled. Then his face sobered as he struck the pose.
Jimmie got his picture, three shots. Not quite satisfied with the “usual stuff” he wandered about the small room looking for others. In the corner, propped against the wall was a section of the safe containing the lock.
“Got in their way, so they removed it,” Jerry chuckled.
Suddenly, as Jimmie looked at this section, his figure stiffened, for all the world like that of a panther who has scented a covey of grouse.
Setting his camera for a close-up, he squinted through the finder, then clicked it three times.
“Mind sitting on the floor and looking at that through this?” he said to Tom as he took a three-inch magnifying glass from his pocket.