“What a pity we didn’t get it,” fumed Joe.
“We weren’t to blame for that,” replied Reggie. “They were going so fast and raising such a cloud of dust that we couldn’t see it. That is, we didn’t get it in full. Seems to me, though, that I heard you say something, Joe, about some numbers that you caught sight of.”
“That’s so,” confirmed Jim. “What were they, Joe? Do you remember?”
“There was a seven and a four,” answered Joe. “But I couldn’t be sure that they were next to each other. There may have been another figure in between. And anyway, as there were probably five or six figures in the whole number, that isn’t very much to go on.”
“I tell you what,” cried Jim, eagerly. “Every car is registered in the State Registry Bureau, isn’t it?”
“Yes,” answered Reggie. “Mine is, I know. They put down the name of the man when they give him his number.”
“Exactly!” returned Jim. “What’s the matter then with our making inquiries at the proper department and finding the number of the car that is registered as owned by Beckworth Fleming?”
“The very thing,” assented Reggie. “But when we find it, what then?”
“Nothing, perhaps,” Jim admitted. “And then, on the other hand, it may mean a great deal. Suppose, for instance, the number has a seven and a four in it?”
“That would certainly bring it much closer to Fleming,” observed Joe, thoughtfully, “and it would make us that much surer in our own minds that he’s the man in question. But it would still fall far short of legal proof.”
“Bother legal proof!” snapped Jim. “The one point is that all these things taken together would make us feel so sure that we were on the right track that we’d feel justified in accusing Fleming to his face of having done it.”
“I see!” exclaimed Joe, his eyes kindling. “You mean to put up a great big bluff and try to catch him off his guard.”
“That’s what,” agreed Jim. “Trust to his guilty conscience. He knows whether he did it or not, and he won’t be sure how much we know. If we act as if we were sure we have him dead to rights, he may give himself away. Try to explain or excuse it and in that way admit it. At any rate, it seems to me it might be worth trying. We can’t lose and we may win.”
“By Jove!” exclaimed Reggie. “I believe it might work.”