There, Betty told us, the note abruptly finished.
Instantly saying good-bye to her, with a promise that he would send for her later, Colt turned from the regulation to the inter-office telephone. To another division of that immense department which he loved to call the "Standing Army of the City of New York," he put a question:
"Hello― Brampton? Is there such a place in the five boroughs as Peddler's Road? What? All right, I'll hold on."
He turned and looked sombrely at me.
"That note sounds bad," he said. "Who was Casanova?"
Then he spoke again into the phone and listened to the crisp voice giving directions from the other end.
"Thanks," said Thatcher Colt finally, and turned to me as he replaced the receiver.
I knew what my chief would do. He would telephone to the Precinct Captai
