On Secret Service: Detective-Mystery Stories Based on Real Cases Solved by Government AgentsTaft, William Nelson
General
On Secret Service: Detective-Mystery Stories Based on Real Cases Solved by Government Agents
Taft, William Nelson
Detective and mystery stories, American; Secret service -- United States -- Fiction; Short stories, American
"That being the case, Chief, why take any chances right now? The case
hasn't gotten into the papers, so why not release Thurene?"
"And keep him under constant surveillance? That wouldn't be a bad idea.
The moment he started to leave the country we could nab him, and
meanwhile we would have plenty of time to look into the matter. Of
course, there's always the danger of suicide--but that's proof of guilt,
and it would save the Service a lot of work in the long run. Good idea!
We'll do it."
So it was that Robert J. Thurene of New Haven was released from custody
with the apologies of the Secret Service--who retained the counterfeit
money, but returned the real bills--while Spencer Graham went to work on
the Baltimore end of the case, four operatives took up the job of
trailing the stationer, and Rita Clarke found that she had important
business to transact in Connecticut.
Anyone who didn't know Rita would never have suspected that, back of
her brown eyes lay a fund of information upon a score of
subjects--including stenography, the best methods of filing, cost
accounting, and many other points which rendered her invaluable around
an office. Even if they found this out, there was something else which
she kept strictly to herself--the fact that she was engaged to a
certain operative in the United States Secret Service, sometimes known
as Number Thirty-three, and sometimes as Spencer Graham.
In reply to Spencer's often-repeated requests that she set a day for
their wedding, Miss Clarke would answer: "And lose the chance to figure
in any more cases? Not so that you could notice it! As long as I'm
single you find that you can use me every now and then, but if I were
married I'd have too many domestic cares. No, Spencer, let's wait until
we get one more BIG case, and then--well, we'll say one month from the
day it's finished."
Which was the reason that Graham and his fiancee had a double reason for
wanting to bring Thurene to earth.
The first place that Graham went to in Baltimore was the Pennsylvania
station, where he made a number of extended inquiries of certain
employees there. After that he went to the newspaper office, where he
conferred with the clerk whose business it was to receive the lost and
found advertisements, finally securing a copy of the original notice in
Thurene's handwriting. Also some other information which he jotted down
in a notebook reserved for that purpose.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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