Dan Carter And The Money Box Part 20

Mr. Hatfield was gone more than twenty minutes. Eagerly the Cubs awaited his report.

"I had quite a talk with Guy Wentworth," he said. "At first he was inclined to give the boy the works, but I convinced him otherwise."

"Will Jack be sent to Mrs. Jones' place?" Dan questioned.

"That's the plan, if she's still willing to take him. Mr. Wentworth has agreed Jack may have this last chance to settle down and make good. If he runs away again, though, it means the state reformatory for him."

"Do you think Mrs. Jones can handle him?" asked Burton Holloway as he started the engine of the station wagon. "Jack needs a firm hand."

"She can manage him if anyone can," Mr. Hatfield replied confidently.

"Furthermore, she needs money. It will make an ideal arrangement, providing Jack doesn't let us down."

Mr. Holloway dropped the boys off at their various homes.

"I'll take you home next," he said to Mr. Hatfield, when all of the pa.s.sengers had been disposed of except his own son Midge, and Dan.

"I can walk from Mr. Hatfield's place," the latter offered. "It's only a step."

As the station wagon pulled up in front of his home, Mr. Hatfield noted at once that a black car with the numeral 145 stood at the curb.

"That looks like a police car," Dan commented.

"Which means I'm in for another siege of questioning," the Cub leader sighed. With Dan, he alighted from the station wagon. "I'm trying to cooperate, but I've already told police everything I know about the money box."

"Well, good luck," Mr. Holloway said cheerfully, shifting gears. "Don't let it get you down."

The station wagon drove off down the street. Dan started to say goodbye to Mr. Hatfield. Before he could leave however, two police officers came out of the house.

"I'm Captain Eggleston," one of the men introduced himself. He spoke directly to the Cub leader. "You're Mr. Hatfield?"

"That's right."

"We'd like to talk to you."

"I'll be glad to answer your questions," Mr. Hatfield replied politely.

"However, it seems pointless to keep going over the same ground. I've told everything I know about the missing money box."

"We still have a few questions to ask," Captain Eggleston replied. "In fact, we have some new evidence."

"New evidence?"

"May we talk to you inside the house?"

"Certainly," responded Mr. Hatfield, somewhat puzzled by the serious att.i.tude of the police.

As he started to accompany the two men, Dan turned away.

"Aren't you the boy who found the box at the church?" Captain Eggleston asked him.

"Yes, sir."

"Then you may as well stick around," the captain advised. "We may have a few questions to fire at you too!"

CHAPTER 12 A Pair of Legs

Feeling almost as if he were a suspect in a crime case, Dan followed Mr.

Hatfield and the two police officers into the house.

Captain Eggleston began the interview by asking routine questions of both Dan and Mr. Hatfield. Then abruptly he announced that a check had been made of the car license number noted down by the Cubs on the night of the heavy rain storm.

"The automobile belongs to Frank Jankowski, a salesman for the V. H.

Everetts Hardware Co.," he informed.

"Mr. Jankowski!" Dan exclaimed.

"Obviously, the boys were mistaken in thinking that the car was following us," Mr. Hatfield said. "Imagination plays strange tricks on the mind. I thought myself-at least for a while-that we were being followed."

"You've given us several false steers in this investigation," Captain Eggleston said rather severely. "What are you trying to hide?"

The question irritated Mr. Hatfield. He tried not to show resentment and kept his voice controlled as he replied:

"Absolutely nothing."

"You say you placed the money box in the drawer of your desk?"

"That is correct."

"You considered it a safe place?"

"Safe enough. If I hadn't, I'd have made other disposition of the box."

"Why did you delay in calling police?"

"We've gone over all that before," Mr. Hatfield said wearily. "It was late, and frankly, I was tired. I didn't feel equal to a long harangue with police until I was more rested. So I waited until morning."

"The first discovery that the box was gone was when police arrived here?"

"That is correct."

"And to your knowledge, no one entered or left the house in the meantime?"

"My wife was here, of course. I don't recall anyone else, unless one of the Cubs dropped in."

"No woman?"