There was a knock at the door. "Come in," said Lombard. "Ah, the Hardy boys. What can I do for you?"
Joe and Frank entered Lombard's office and steered themselves into chairs without asking for permission. "We thought you might be in your office," said Joe. "Let's not play games. We could tell you that we found Heinze and you could pretend to be delighted. Then we could say that we lost him again when he was kidnapped at gunpoint by three guys. You could make a show of shock and worry. But let's skip that, okay?"
"What is this all about?" muttered Lombard, grimacing.
"You already know what happened. I recognize that stack of papers on your desk."
Lombard looked up from the pages quizzically, like a man who hears an odd noise in the room. He looked at the brothers and considered carefully for some moments. He concluded, "Then there's no point bluffing."
"It was right in front of my face," said Frank. "The photo of Olivia and Heinze was in your office. You're the only one who knew about the scholarship, had any interest in it, and also knew about Olivia and Heinze. You must have been the one who leaked the story to the scholarship committee. I didn't think about it because it didn't seem to have any relevance."
Joe continued. "Toots was motivated by passion but I bet with you it was cold envy. Envy and ambition. You couldn't stand Heinze's success. You wanted the scholarships and the research grants for your own work."
"Otto's work always overshadowed my own. I had no chance of realizing my ambitions while he was the star of the college. I counted down the days before he would go back to Europe."
"You were so proud of your betrayal of your friend you had the picture framed and hung on your wall," said Joe. "Now, eight years later, you've done it again. You must have worked out a deal with the kidnappers. You tell them Heinze's address. They do the dirty work and capture him. That would eliminate Heinze. The plans are delivered to you. What did you tell them, that you would authenticate the plans? It looks like they didn't waste any time getting them to you."
"Otto put himself into my power as soon as he stepped off his tidy career path and ran back to that cheap black tramp. I always knew his skirt-chasing would lead him into trouble."
"That explains why you were so helpful with Heinze's disappearing act," Joe concluded. "You figured you would be the only one who had access to him, but he didn't quite trust you a hundred per cent."
"Which of his enemies did you betray him to?" demanded Frank. "You wouldn't have left him to the Germans because they would seize the plans immediately from Heinze. Then you would be no better off."
Lombard grimly kept his silence.
"You know what I think?" continued Frank. "I think you betrayed Heinze to the German-American Alliance. They, in turn, would deliver him and the plans to their German masters. I remember we saw your camera in this office. The Alliance would get the plans but not before you photographed the pages. You study them and turn them over to the American authorities. There's even the possibility you might get treated like some kind of hero. The idea is that you would get a chance to work on the American version of the missile project. Wasn't that your plan?"
"The Alliance are no more than beer hall fascists. They're poor and powerless. After a few beers and a rousing speech they feel the urge to go out and beat up Jews and blacks. They're essentially ignorant, mindless rabble." Having expressed his opinion, Lombard shrugged and looked away indifferently.
"Yet these are the people you made a deal with, aren't they?"
Joe was insistent. "There isn't much time. You better tell us where Heinze is being held. If you don't tell us you can tell the F.B.I."
"I assure you that the bureau would very much like to know the present whereabouts of Mr. Heinze." The voice came from the doorway. It had the calm, suave tones of Mr. Charles. He wore a light gray, double-breasted suit and a hat of the same color.
"How did you find your way here?" wondered Frank.
"Oh, pretty much the same way as you boys. I visited Montgomery in hospital this morning. I asked him if he had noticed anyone talking to Olivia's band members recently. He described a man I took to be Martin Lombard as someone who came into the club and stood drinks for the band. He was back a couple of days later to speak with Mr. Mayall. He definitely did not talk to them when Olivia was around. Knowing Mr. Mayall's appetite for illicit substances and his lack of financial resources to purchase same, I could guess what that dealing was about. I came here from Earl's. They passed along what you told them had happened. I came to the same conclusion you boys did."
"Do you expect me to believe that you're an F.B.I. agent?" asked Lombard acidly.
"No, I'm not suited for full time work," Charles laughed. "The bureau has from time to time asked for my assistance on New York cases, knowing my good contacts here. Now Mr. Lombard, I would ask that you pass over the papers. I think it would be in the best interests of your career if you cooperated with the F.B.I. I don't think you want them as your enemy."
Lombard handed over the stack of papers without getting out of his chair. "Otto has gone to a great deal of trouble preparing these. They are very authentic-looking. Much of the work looks plausible but there are specifications that are preposterous. Moreover, much detail has been left out. These plans are a useless decoy."
"That's why you don't have the camera out," Joe realized. "But there must be a real set of plans. Heinze couldn't keep all that detail in his head."
"Lombard, your scheming has failed," declared Charles. "Why not cooperate with us fully? Tell us what happened to Heinze."
Lombard thought for some time. Then he said, "Very well. I contacted the Alliance the week before Otto's arrival. I explained the situation and my plan. They said someone would be in touch with me. Later I met with a man giving the name Ahlberg in a diner. He seemed a well-educated, capable man in his sixties. On Friday night, after I knew where Otto was, I phoned Mr. Ahlberg and informed him. He assured me that all would be taken care of as we had discussed. That was all. This afternoon two men delivered the supposed plans to me. That is all I can help you with."
"What did this Mr. Ahlberg look like?" Charles questioned.
"He was short, a little stocky. He had a fringe of short white hair on the sides of his head. He had a pinkish face, with some deep wrinkles." Lombard seemed bored by the whole business now and was not even bothering to look at them.
"He sounds familiar enough," said Frank.
"He's probably the man in the black sedan last night at Earl's, too," Joe speculated.
Frank said, "They guessed that Mr. Heinze would be at the club and tried to grab him Friday night. They might have succeeded too if those gun-crazy thugs hadn't started blasting away."
"The question is, where do we go from here?" Mr. Charles was talking to himself more than he was asking the boys. "I think, Prof. Lombard, that you should deliver the plans to Mr. Ahlberg according to schedule. The only difference is that the boys and I will tag along."