As soon as the Locomobile was speeding down a road alongside the railroad tracks, Carter asked loudly, “Are we headed back to the office?”

Bell shook his head. “Show me the way to the warehouse where the O’Brian Furniture boxcar was parked.”

“Then turn left at the next crossing over the tracks,” directed Carter.

A few minutes later, Bell parked the Locomobile behind the empty warehouse and turned off the big engine. With Carter leading the way, they walked up a ramp to the loading dock. A single freight car sat on the siding.

“Is this where you found Cromwell’s phony furniture freight car?” asked Bell.

“According to the Southern Pacific’s freight-movement schedule,” said Curtis. “I ran a check of company freight car movements. Car 16173 is no longer listed on Southern Pacific freight records. No one knows what happened to it. It’s as if it vanished overnight.”

Bell studied the sides of the car parked alongside the loading dock. “It could have been repainted and given a new serial number.”

“It’s entirely possible.” Curtis stared at the number and then nodded. “Car 16455.

I’ll check it out.”

“This car has had a new paint job recently,” said Bell slowly. “There isn’t a scratch on it.”

“You’re right,” Curtis murmured thoughtfully. “It’s as clean as the day it came out of the factory.”

Bell walked up to the boxcar’s loading door and placed his fingers around a bronze lock that sealed the interior from entry. “Why would an empty car on a siding be locked up?”

“Maybe it’s been loaded with cargo and is waiting to be coupled to a train.”

“I wish I knew what was inside,” Bell mused.

“Shall we break it open?” Curtis inquired with a growing sense of anticipation.

Bell made a slight shake of his head. “Better we leave well enough alone for the time being. Until we check out the serial number, we won’t know the history of this car. And should it belong to Cromwell, he’ll know if we tampered with the lock.”

“If we proved this is the freight car he used to escape his criminal acts, we can arrest him.”

“Nothing is that simple. It might simply be an empty car that was shunted to this siding temporarily. Cromwell’s no fool. He wouldn’t leave evidence lying around just waiting to be found. Chances are, there is nothing incriminating inside, certainly not enough to stand him under the hangman’s noose.”

Curtis shrugged in understanding. “We’ll keep a sharp eye on it, but I doubt if he’ll be using it anytime soon, if ever again, considering how he came within a hair of being caught in Telluride.”

“And, sooner or later, he’ll learn I’m still alive and know I identified him,” Bell said with a wide grin. “Then he’ll really make things interesting.”

MARION PUT down the phone and looked toward the doorway leading to Cromwell’s office. As usual, it was closed. He almost always worked in private, handling his day-to-day business over the telephone or a speaker system he had installed around the bank.