Further examination disclosed several kinds of writing-paper, a pen-tray holding the recently used pen, inkwell, eraser, stamps, letters, and bills. The gun from which the shot had been fired was on the floor by the side of the chair, and the bullet was found embedded in the divan.
After a few questions, Fordney was quickly convinced of Lynch’s innocence.
‘What do you make of it, Professor?’ inquired Inspector Kelley.
‘Though the scrawled note certainly looks like Dawson’s writing, I am sure an expert will find it isn’t. I’m not surprised to find the gun free of prints. Pretty thorough job, this. Good thing for you, Lynch, and for us too, that the murderer was careless about something.’
‘Right,’ said Kelley. ‘But you aren’t such a wise old owl, Fordney. This is like the Morrow case we handled. Remember?’
‘Good for you, Inspector,’ laughed the Professor.
How did both men so quickly determine that the incriminating note had not been left by Dawson?
18 _Bloody Murder_
‘A bad mess, this,’ said Professor Fordney to Sergeant Reynolds, as they viewed the bloody scene.
‘Yeah, I wish these guys wouldn’t be quite so thorough when they bump themselves off,’ replied Reynolds as he set grimly to work.
A man with his throat cut, the head almost severed, sat slumped over a blood-spattered desk. What a horrible sight! His bloodstained coat flung across the room, the razor! the shirt! the tie! his hands! covered with blood, made a ghastly and awesome picture framed by the flickering light of a dying candle.
After turning on the lights, Fordney bent down to take a closer look at the man.
‘His face seems vaguely familiar, Sergeant, but I can’t recall at the moment where I’ve seen him. How long has he been dead, Doctor?’
‘About two hours,’ replied the police surgeon.
At this moment the telephone rang. The caller, upon hearing Fordney’s voice, immediately disconnected.
‘Odd,’ murmured the Professor as he hung up the receiver. ‘I remember now where I saw this man. His name is Thompson.’
As he glanced around, he observed that the alarm-clock on the dresser had stopped just two hours and fifteen minutes before.
The telephone rang again and Fordney motioned Reynolds to answer.
‘Hello!’ he said. ‘Mr. Thompson stepped out for a few minutes. Leave your number. I’ll have him call you.’ The man at the other end inquired who was speaking and, when Reynolds replied, ‘A friend,’ he hung up.
‘Better trace that call, Sergeant; this is murder,’ said Fordney.
‘What!’ exclaimed Reynolds. ‘Still looks like suicide to me!’
Do you agree with Reynolds or the Professor? Why?
19 _Death Back-Stage_
Claudia Mason, beautiful and popular young actress, was found lying across the chaise-longue in her elaborately furnished dressing-room, dead from a bullet wound in the temple.
She had sold her jewels and, with an heroic gesture, partially paid her many debts.
Near Claudia’s right hand, Sergeant Reynolds picked up the revolver with which she had been killed, and after careful examination said:
‘No finger-prints, of course. Gosh, Fordney, there’s two rocks she didn’t sell,’ he exclaimed, pointing to a large emerald on her left hand and a diamond on her right.
‘Call Maria, her maid. I want to find out who this fellow is,’ said the Professor, nodding toward a man’s photograph signed, Juan. ‘This was evidently addressed to him,’ he said, passing over a note which read:
Dear Juan:
I am so despondent. The money from my jewels was not nearly enough.
Claudia
‘Not many of these dames kill themselves over their debts,’ muttered Reynolds as he went to call Maria.
The maid entered the room, sobbing and hysterical.
‘Who is Juan?’ asked Professor Fordney.
‘He’s the leading man in the show.’
‘Why wasn’t this note delivered to him?’
‘I forgot it.’
‘You found her?’
‘Yes. When I came to help her dress she—was—like that!’
‘Is Juan in his dressing-room now?’
‘I believe so.’
When Reynolds brought him into Claudia’s room, he dropped to his knees beside the dead girl.
‘My God! She’s killed herself!’
‘No, she hasn’t, young man. She was murdered,’ said the Professor.
Why was he sure it was not suicide?
20 _An Easy Combination_
‘I was working late, preparing an advertising campaign,’ continued Fellows whom Professor Fordney had been questioning. ‘About ten-fifteen I heard the outer office door click. Being unarmed, I hurriedly turned out the lights in my office and waited breathlessly, as there was a large sum of money in the safe. I knew my chances of attracting attention from the tenth floor were small, so, reaching for the telephone, I hastily dialed Headquarters and told them in a low voice to send help immediately. Then, creeping noiselessly to the open safe, I gently shut the door, twirled the combination, and crawled behind that big old-fashioned desk.
‘Shortly afterward the robber entered my office, flashed his light over the place, and went to the safe. He had it open in a few minutes, took the money, and left. That’s all I know about it.’
‘What time is it now, Mr. Fellows?’ inquired Fordney.
‘Why, I haven’t a watch.’
‘How, then, did you know it was about ten-fifteen when you heard the door click?’
‘I had gone next door for a sandwich and as I left I glanced at the restaurant clock and noticed it was ten-five. I had been back about five minutes,’ replied Fellows.
‘You say the burglar was masked,’ continued the Professor. ‘How did you know it?’
‘As he focused his flashlight on the combination and bent over, I saw the mask,’ returned Fellows belligerently.
‘Very interesting,’ smiled Fordney, ‘but you’ll have to be a better liar than that, Fellows, to fool me.’
Where did the Professor detect the lie?
21 _A Modern Knight_
‘There was hardly a breath of air as we sat on the terrace enjoying tea,’ reminisced Professor Fordney. ‘Rocca excused himself, saying he wished to telephone. Shortly after he entered the house, we heard a shot. I rushed into the drawing-room and found Rocca, smoking gun in hand, staring dumbly at the chair in front of the open window which held the huddled body of Chase.
‘A hasty examination disclosed the telephone receiver off the hook, a single cigarette stub of Rocca’s brand in the ash-tray, a bullet-hole in the gauze curtain six inches below the window-sill, and Rocca’s open cigarette-case in Chase’s lap. His replies to my hastily put questions were evasive. Inspector Kelley arrived while I was talking and took up the questioning.’
‘“Did you use the telephone?”
‘“Yes.”
‘“You came directly to this room and did not leave it?”
‘“Yes.”
‘“Chase was engaged to your sister?”
‘“Yes, he was.”
‘“Did you offer Chase a cigarette?”
‘“I did.”
‘“How did that dent get in your cigarette-case?”
‘“I dropped it about a week ago.”
‘“Did you shoot Chase?”
‘“I refuse to answer that question.”
‘At this point the doctor arrived and located the bullet in Chase’s body. Rocca then admitted Chase had been shot with the gun found in his own hand, but stubbornly refused to say anything more.
‘“What’s your opinion, Professor?” Kelley asked.
‘“Well,” I replied, “Rocca is obviously shielding someone. We have positive proof he came directly here and has not left this room. That, combined with the other evidence discovered, absolutely exonerates Rocca."’
How did the Professor know Rocca had not shot Chase?
22 _The Jewel Robbery_
‘You say that as your butler called for help, a stranger, by the name of Dudley, was passing the house and rushed in?’
‘That’s right,’ Owings corroborated, as the two men sat in Fordney’s study. ‘It was rather late last Friday evening before I was ready to leave town for the week-end, and as Stuben, the butler, wasn’t feeling well, I told him to stay upstairs and that I would lock up when I left.
‘I had some diamonds in the safe, so he said he wouldn’t leave the house until I returned,’ continued Owings.
‘About eleven that night, he heard a humming noise and, having the diamonds in mind, ran downstairs to investigate. Finding the wall safe open and the jewels gone, he let out a scream for help.
‘Stuben has been with me for years, Professor, and I have implicit faith in him.’
‘Did Dudley see anyone leave?’ asked Fordney.
‘No; the robber or robbers must have left by the back door, as Dudley was right in front of the house when he heard Stuben’s call for help,’ replied Owings. ‘Both men say the room smelled of cigarette smoke, so the burglars must have just left.’
‘Was the back door unlocked?’ inquired the Professor.
‘No, it was closed. It has a device which locks it automatically from the outside when it’s pulled to.’
‘Well, you’d better swear out a warrant for your butler and Dudley,’ said Fordney. ‘I’m sure they know where your diamonds are. Long service, you know, isn’t necessarily a pledge of loyalty.’