When the
body slipped from it, it must have swept everything with it, cleanly.
And yet," bending forward over the desk and picking up a minute red
particle, "here, directly in the center, we find this."
"What is it?" asked Pendleton, eagerly.
Ashton-Kirk placed the red particle on his palm and held it out. It
was shaped like a keystone, and had apparently been cut from something
that had been printed upon.
"It is that portion of a railroad ticket which a conductor's punch
bites out, and which litters the floor and the seats in trains. Have
you never had one fall from your clothes after a railroad journey?"
Pendleton looked at the tiny red fragment, and then at the desk.
"If Hume fell across the desk, as you've just said," he remarked,
slowly, "and pulled all these other things to the floor with him--why,
Kirk, this bit of card, in the very center of the polished top,--it
must have dropped there afterwards."
"Exactly," said Ashton-Kirk. "And now, if you don't mind, just step
out into the hall and ask Paulson to come up."
Pendleton did so; and while he was gone, Ashton-Kirk placed the red
fragment carefully in his card-case. When the other re-entered with
Paulson at his heels, he asked:
"Have any of the policemen detailed here been out of town recently?"
"No," replied Paulson.
Pages:
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110