“I was told you want to see me, Jack,” he said.
The locksmith looked up and nodded. “I’ve been a fool,” he said finally in a quavering voice. “But all I did wrong was borrow some of your blueprints to copy.”
“This is more than a case of theft,” Tom said coldly. “Attempts were made to kill me.”
“I had nothing to do with them!” Jackson insisted, his eyes widening in alarm.
“Why, you know I’d never harm you-or anyone! In fact, I even saved your life once. I phoned Ames about that tank of hydrogen.”
Jackson said that at a gas station near the plant he had overheard two strangers in a truck dis-BUD’S FRANTIC MESSAGE 155
cussing the plot to substitute hydrogen for some helium being shipped to Tom’s laboratory. Later, after they had driven off, he had picked up a note which had fallen from the truck cab. He had phoned a warning to Ames immediately and had also sneaked into the security chief’s office to leave the note on his desk.
“I’m willing to take my punishment,” he ended pleadingly. “But for heaven’s sake don’t charge me with attempted murder!”
Tom eyed the locksmith’s haggard face. “I’ll think over what you’ve told me,”
he said noncommittally. Suddenly Tom shot another question at the prisoner.
“Why did you freeze the locks on my lab doors?”
Jackson gulped. “I-I was experimenting with an invention.”
“What kind of invention?”
“One to trap burglars who try to break in through a locked door. My invention automatically jams all the locks in a protective system, so they can’t be jimmied open. I wanted to try it out on your lab-door locks, since they’re especially tricky.
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