Five o'clock in the evening
He seemed to be enjoying their discomfiture , and absolutely confident of his own safety . `` There 's got to be some way of getting him , '' Phil mused ; and he mused almost absent-mindedly , for he was gazing at the photograph of the girl . For many minutes he looked at it , and then put it silently into his pocket . Five o'clock in the evening of that same day came the news of another safe disappearance . Phil got his tip over the phone , and in fifteen minutes was at the scene . It was too much like the others to go into detail about ; a six-foot portable safe had suddenly disappeared right in front of the eyes of the office staff of The Epicure , a huge restaurant and cafeteria that fed five thousand people three times a day . In its place stood a ragged , rusty old Ford coupe body .