“What information?” Brann asked as if he knew the answer.
Garret took a cellophane envelope out of his pocket, held it up so the super could see the brown piece of paper it contained. It was half a torn pay-envelope. The message was crudely printed in thick red letters.
Whos stealing the Stope City copper that ought to make another million cartridges a week for our soldier boys?
“There’s a couple of hundred people who know the ore output of this hill right down to the ton.” Brann scowled. “How could anybody steal that much copper?”
“I thought maybe you’d know.”
“I don’t. Only plants working on army and navy contracts are getting Ajax metal. Where’d you get that?”
“The Big Guy in Washington got it. Postmarked Stope City four days ago. It was turned over for investigation as a matter of routine.”
The super chewed irritably on his pipe stem. “You people don’t generally take stock in the drivel anonymous half-wits send in, do you?”
“Didn’t take stock in this, until we checked and found something queer.”
“Who sent it in?”
Garret turned the cellophane over. “There’s no name. Just a number.” The figure 4227 was stamped in blue ink on what had been the outside of the pay envelope. “I phoned your paymaster from Washington.”
Brann shifted uneasily. “Who’s 4227?”
“He was a driller in Ajax Number Six. Harvey Yault.”
The pipe came out of the super’s mouth; the stem tapped against his teeth. “Let’s see. Wasn’t Yault the one—”
“Yeah. He was caught in a cave-in a week ago. Died in the hospital two days before this thing was mailed. Kind of queer, wouldn’t you say?”
“If you knew anything about miners and their families, that wouldn’t surprise you so much,” the super said. “Everytime there’s a fatal accident here on the hill, some of the victim’s friends send scurrilous letters to the directors or to Mr. Ryder, our GM — even to the papers. Stuff about the criminal carelessness of the greedy mine-owners who don’t care anything about the men’s safety so long as the profits roll in. It’s bunk, of course. Accidents are bad business for us as well as tough luck for the men. But this is probably the work of someone who felt bad about Yault’s death and figured that stirring up trouble might pay back the company in kind.”
Garret shook his head. “Yault didn’t have any family. The hospital says nobody came to see him there, so he couldn’t have had any very close friends. That leaves only one conclusion. The girl who sent this half of his pay envelope to Washington must have done it because she wanted us to know Yault’s death was connected with the copper stealing. Maybe she didn’t think it was an accident.”
Brann stood up. “What the devil makes you think it was a girl?”
Garret tapped the cellophane. “Written with lipstick. And it sounds like a girl’s way of putting it. A man doesn’t usually refer to our soldier boys.”
The door from the outer office opened. Shirley put her head in, apologetically. “Captain Narriver’s here, Ken.”
“Tell him to keep his shirt on, Shirley. I’ll see him in a few minutes.”
She hesitated. “I thought you’d want to know right away. There were another half-dozen rails missing from that spur track again, tonight. But this time he found them!”
Brann exclaimed, “Where?”
“In one of our own trucks, Ken. Captain Narriver just happened to notice it because it was parked with the motor running.”
The super swore. “Parked where?”
Shirley glanced at Garret, hesitated.
“Never mind him.” Brann jerked his head sideways toward the detective. “He hasn’t anything to do with this. Where was the truck?”
“Right in front of Jig Darcy’s house,” she said reluctantly.
Brann closed his eyes, bowed his head and brushed one hand wearily over his face. “You’ll have to excuse me, Garret. I’ll get together with you first thing in the morning about that other matter.”
“I can’t wait that long. I’ll stick with you now.”
The super looked up sullenly. “This theft of company property doesn’t have anything to do with what we were talking about.”
“No? I’m trying to find who’s stealing copper. You’ve found someone who’s been pinching iron. Darcy was tied up in both. Worth checking, seems to me.”
But Brann was on the phone. “Rush me through to Mr. Ryder.”
The operator’s voice came hollowly over the instrument. “I’ve been trying to reach him at his home for Captain Narriver. Long distance says the general manager’s been burning up the telephone wires to Chicago for the last hour.”
“Keep after him. It’s important.” Brann racked the receiver. “Look Garret. Shirley’ll show you our tonnage records, and any other dope you want. You’ll see there’s nothing to this stolen copper rumor. Even supposing there was, Darcy couldn’t have had anything to do with it.”
“Why not?”
“The nearest he ever got to red metal was the ore he saw in the mine when he was shoring up timbers. He never went near the smelter. Those iron rails, from the slag spur, are a different matter. For some time I’ve suspected Jig Darcy of getting away with scrap iron that belonged to Ajax. That’s why I sent him out to the spur tonight, to pick up some of the timber we’d originally meant to use for railroad ties. I figured maybe the temptation to take along a few rails on his own account would be too strong and we’d catch him. I fixed it so Narriver’d be on the lookout. Apparently Cap got the goods on him.”
He spread his palms. “Darcy might have got suspicious. Maybe he thought you’d been imported to trace down the scrap that’s been disappearing lately. That would account for his going after you.”
Garret scowled. “That leaves a few little items out of account.”
“For instance?”
“How’d Darcy know I was in town?”
“Maybe he just happened to spot you as a stranger and jumped to the conclusion you were after him.”
“Left his truck motor running? Rushed to the Rocky Mountain house to trail a guy he’d never seen in his life? That’s a screwy conclusion!”
Brann shrugged morosely.
“And what about your timber boss’s helper, Brann. Darcy must have had a helper to handle those rails. Where’s he fit into this far-fetched picture of yours?”
The super was ready for that one. “Sam Proctor was in the timber truck with him.”
“Yeah? I suppose this helper hopped right off the truck into that shoot-and-run car and followed Darcy and me. Do you think Proctor killed Darcy?”
“I wouldn’t go so far as to say that. Anyway, Cap Narriver probably has Sam safe in the bag. I’ll see.” He stalked to the outer office.
Garret waited until the superintendent was out of earshot. Then he touched the girl lightly on the shoulder. “You’re Brann’s sister?”
She nodded. “The office was terribly short-handed. I took this job to replace one of our Ajax boys who joined the Air Corps.”
“You don’t look as if you’d been working in a mine office long.”
“Long enough to know my way around. Up here on the surface, at any rate.”
“What I want to find out might take a little digging, Miss Brann. I need to see the records of that cave-in when Yault was supposed to have been fatally injured.”
Shirley Brann tried not to appear concerned. “Ken mentioned tonnage records. He didn’t say anything about giving out accident reports. That’s against company policy.”