"She said she had no idea where he is and what he is doing, did she?" said Brennan. "How come you thought of asking her about it?" "She mentioned it to me," evaded John, reluctant to relate the details of his conversation with Consuello. There appeared no reason, he thought, to bring her into the situation precipitated by Gibson's disappearance. They went over the ground they had covered the week before in searching for Gibson, but were unable to uncover a single piece of information concerning the commissioner's whereabouts. At his office his secretary told them that he had not seen nor heard from him since the day he disappeared. "Aren't you a bit concerned about his unusual absence?" asked Brennan. "No, you see he told me he would be back sometime this week and cautioned me not to seek to locate him," the secretary answered. "Wherever he is, he's certainly covered up his tracks well," commented Brennan as they left. "What about Sweeney--is he square?" John asked. "I don't know anything against the chief," Brennan said. "It seems to me he has the town as clean as it has ever been. I think he's straight. I think most of the men in the department are straight. Some of them are grafting--there are always a few crooks in any large body of men--and the chief has always fired them as fast as he found them. "That's what makes me inclined to believe that Gibson may be off on the wrong foot. That and one other thing." "What?" asked John, expecting to hear another skeptical dissertation by Brennan on Gibson's motives. "Because the mayor and Sweeney are hated by 'Gink' Cummings," said Brennan. "If Los Angeles ever had a boss of the underworld, the 'Gink' is the man. He bosses everything, gambling, stick-ups, bookmakers, pickpockets, bunko men, street walking women and dope peddling. "He's been out to get Sweeney and the mayor ever since they took office. Whoever the 'Gink's' against you can bet all you have is straight. Until the mayor and Sweeney stepped in the 'Gink' had everything his own way. If the department is as rotten as Gibson says it is then you can blame it on the 'Gink.' Gibson must know him. I've been wondering why he hasn't come out with a blast about him." "Perhaps that's why he disappeared--working to get Cummings," John suggested. "Maybe," said Brennan. "I've thought of that, too. What I can't understand, though, is why Gibson wants Sweeney fired when the chief is the 'Gink's' worst enemy." That afternoon they heard from Gibson. The secretary of the missing commissioner called them by telephone and they hurried to his office. He handed them a sealed envelope addressed, "Brennan and Gallant." Brennan tore it open and extracted two sheets of paper. At the bottom of one of the sheets appeared Gibson's signature. It was a statement issued by the commissioner for publication and read: