The three of them passed the doorman and, one by one, went through the brass-sheathed revolving doors of the Tuscany Hotel. Joe grinned to think that the burly doorman, clad in his long maroon coat and black top hat, had looked over him and his brother and ignored them as they had entered. Evidently he had decided they were too smartly dressed to be panhandlers, pickpockets, or muggers, and not well enough dressed to be gangsters.
The interior of the hotel was opulent. The tall columns, floor and counters were clad in a creamy marble with yellow veins, polished to a high gleam. Massive chandeliers hung over the lobby. Martin Lombard went to the counter and spoke to the desk clerk. The clerk took a key and led them to the automatic elevator.
Their footsteps sank noiselessly into the thick pile of the carpet in the third floor corridor. As they rounded a corner they spied a man bent over the doorknob of one of the rooms, trying to force the lock with a metal tool. The man looked up with alarm. Immediately he ran for the stairway. He almost leapt down the steps in his haste and swung himself around the landing using the finial on the wooden railing.
Frank and Joe were quickly in pursuit. Joe's long, graceful strides took him down the stairs but he could not close the distance on the shorter but strongly-built quarry. On the ground floor Joe spun to see which way the would-be burglar had gone. There was a side entrance available that was closer than the main entrance and didn't involve passing through the lobby. The pursued man was through the double glass doors. Joe heard the squealing of car tires on the street outside. Shoving the doors open himself, Joe could only watch the man climb into a blue DeSoto coupe at the curb and slam the door shut. The car drove off. Joe saw the man make a mocking little wave behind the glass. Joe grimaced. His brother soon joined him atop the broad concrete steps at the entrance.
"If only the hotel room had been on a higher floor I would have caught him."
"I have a feeling that guy's made some close escapes before. We all got a good look at him but I don't think it'll help much."
"White, mid-twenties, five-foot-seven maybe," Joe recited, without much enthusiasm. "Brown tweed cap, seaman's jacket, nothing very distinctive. He had gloves on too, so I don't expect to find any prints."
"Most likely he's a thug for hire. It won't be easy to trace him. And the license plate was removed from the car. Let's get back to Heinze's room."
Lombard was waiting for them inside the room the burglar was trying to break into. The outcome of their pursuit was plain on the brothers' faces. The Hardys described the disappointing situation. Lombard said, "The clerk let me in and phoned the front desk. I guess they had time to get men to the front door but not to cover the side exits."
Frank thought out loud. "Anybody who went to the lecture tonight would have known that there was something going on with Prof. Heinze. They could easily have reached the hotel just before us."
"He had registered under an assumed name," said Lombard, "but I don't suppose it would have been too difficult to find his hotel. His visit to the United States wasn't a secret, after all."
With that episode seemingly at a dead end the boys turned their attention to the purpose of their visit to the hotel room.
"I can assure you that I left the room exactly as I found it this morning," Lombard said.
The room had that melancholy emptiness of a place that was missing its usual inhabitant. Frank and Joe looked over the room with practiced eyes. Two suitcases sat on the carpet. One was unzippered and some clothes had been hastily folded and laid on top of the unused clothing. There were slippers on the floor but no shoes. In the closet hung a suit, but not the one the boys had seen in the arrivals building.
"We'd better not disturb the room," mentioned Joe for Lombard's benefit. "If the police need to be brought into this, they would appreciate it."
"The bed's been made," noted Frank. "We'll have to check with the hotel staff to confirm that the bed was slept in Tuesday night. I expect the chambermaid went about her duties this morning, not suspecting anything."
On the desk was the local telephone directory. It had been left open. Frank took note of the page number, too scrupulous to simply tear out the pages. Also on the desk was a map of New York City and its surrounding area. It had been folded against its original folds and left lying fairly flat on the desk with one of its rectangular panels facing up.
"It's showing the East Bronx," said Frank. "I wonder why Heinze would be interested in that area?"
The Hardys had stopped to purchase white cotton gloves and envelopes in case there were any clues they wanted to remove from the scene. They put on the gloves now to open all the drawers in the dresser and the desk. In the topmost drawer of the desk they found a telegram.
"Looks like a telegram sent from Heidelberg, Germany," observed Joe. "It's addressed to Otto Heinze at the hotel. The date on it is yesterday. It's in German."
Lombard looked over the younger Hardy's shoulder. "Lotte Heinze, the sender, is Otto's wife." Lombard's face showed the faintest simmering of excitement as he read the telegram. "It says that she wishes to have a divorce from him."
The boys' faces registered their thoughtful states of mind. After a pause Frank asked, "Would that have come as a surprise to Prof. Heinze?"
"I couldn't say. I didn't know anything about the state of their marriage."
The boys continued their patient examination of the room. Lombard lost interest and sat down in the armchair. After some time he asked, "Is it going to be much longer?"
"Not much," replied Frank. "There's this brown shopping bag on the floor. It has 'Marv's Sporting Goods' printed on it. We'll track that down tomorrow. The chambermaid has been efficient, unfortunately for us, and the waste paper baskets have been emptied. There aren't any cash register receipts. I guess that's about it, unless my brother has found something."
Joe came out of the bathroom shaking his head. "There doesn't seem to be anything interesting in there. His safety razor, toothbrush, etc. have been left on the counter."
"All the same," said Lombard, "there would appear to be no lack of what you would call clues."
"Yes, you're quite right," responded Frank, pausing a moment to consider this.
"I should be taking you boys to your hotel now."
For a moment, Joe felt like asking if they couldn't stay at this hotel, but then thought better of it. A hotel like this probably wouldn't have a room for less than six dollars a night. He figured the university engineering department budget wasn't established to pay for teenage boys to stay at a posh Manhattan hotel, especially if those boys weren't employees or on an official contract. "There's a hotel our family often stays at when they're in town."
"Very good. Tomorrow you can come to my office and tell me what your findings are so far."