with
my brother-in-law and the others.

"About half-past eleven we all start to go, and then this party, Parker,
can't find his coat check. He's sure he stuck it in his vest pocket when
he blew in, but it ain't there. We look for it on the floor but it's not
there, either. Then all of a sudden Parker remembers that a man in a
brown derby, with a coat turned inside out over his arm, who seemed to
be in a hurry about something, came into the Clarenden along with him,
and that a minute later in that Chinese room the same fellow butts into
him. That gives me an idea, but I don't tell Parker what's on my mind. I
sends the head waiter for the house detective, and when the house
detective comes I show him my badge, and on the strength of that he lets
me and Parker go into the cloak room. Parker's hoping to find his own
coat and I'm pretending to help him look for it, but what I'm really
looking for is a brown derby hat and a short yellow coat--and sure
enough I find 'em. But Parker can't find his duds at all; and so in
putting two and two together it's easy for me to figure how the switch
was made. I dope it out that the fellow who lifted Parker's check and
traded his duds for Parker's is the same fellow who fixed Sonntag's
clock. Also I've got a pretty good line on who that party is; in fact I
practically as good as know who it is.

"So I sends Parker and the others back to the table to smoke a cigar and
stick round awhile, and I hang round the door keeping out of sight
behind them draperies where I can watch the check room. Because, you
see, Trencher, I knew you were the guy and I knew you'd come back--if
you could get back."

He paused as though expecting a question, but Trencher stayed silent and
Murtha kept on.

"And now I'm going to tell you how I come to know you was the right
party. You remember that time about two years ago when I ran you in as a
suspect and down at headquarters you bellyached so loud because I took a
bum old coin off of you? Well, when I went through that yellow overcoat
and found your luck piece, as you call it, in the right-hand pocket, I
felt morally sure, knowing you like I did, that as soon as you missed it
you'd be coming back to try to find it. And sure enough you did come
back. Simple, ain't it?

"The only miscalculation I made was in figuring that when you found it
gone from the pocket you'd hang round making a hunt for it on the floor
or something. You didn't though. I guess maybe yo