Arson Plus | Page 9

were sitting beside the wreckage now, waiting for the police that we had sent our
commandeered chauffeur to phone for.
"He had to be," I said, "when you think it all over. Funny we didn't hit on it before! All
that stuff we were told about Thornburgh had a fishy sound. Whiskers and an unknown
profession, immaculate and working on a mysterious invention, very secretive and born
in San Francisco -- where the fire wiped out all the old records -- just the sort of fake that
could be cooked up easily.
"Now, consider Henderson. You had told me he came to Sacramento sometime early this
summer -- and the dates you got tonight show that he didn't come until after Thornburgh
had bought his house. All right! Now compare Henderson with the descriptions we got of
Thornburgh.
"Both are about the same size and age, and with the same color hair. The differences are

all things that can be manufactured -- clothes, a little sunburn, and a month's growth of
beard, along with a little acting, would do the trick. Tonight I went out to Tavender and
took a look at the last batch of laundry -- and there wasn't any that didn't fit the Coonses!
And none of the bills all the way back were large enough for Thornburgh to have been as
careful about his clothes as we were told he was."
"It must be great to be a detective!" McClump grinned as the police ambulance came up
and began disgorging policemen. "I reckon somebody must have tipped Henderson off
that I was asking about him this evening." And then, regretfully: "So we ain't going to
hang them folks for murder after all."
"No, but we oughtn't have any trouble convicting them of arson plus conspiracy to
defraud, and anything else that the Prosecuting Attorney can think up."
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