Part 5

‘How do you know? You weren’t here. And what’s more, I heard you threaten her last night. You don’t see any flowers here, do you, Inspector?’ quietly asked Weeds.

‘You’re right,’ said Kelley. After whispering to Fordney, he continued, ‘Come on, _you’re_ under arrest. And _you_, we’ll question you later!’

Whom did Kelley arrest—and why?

53 _Murder in the Swamp_

‘We’d better walk along the edge,’ said Professor Fordney, as they started down the only path leading through the swamp.

‘I never thought of that. I was on the porch when Barton left,’ said Bob, as he trudged along. ‘Ten minutes later, I heard a shot. I ran down the path and found him about five hundred yards from the house, bleeding terribly from a wound in the head. I dashed back for the first-aid kit and bandaged him as best I could. He died shortly afterwards. Then I returned and telephoned you.’

Reaching the body of Barton, he explained, ‘I turned him over so that I could dress his head.’

‘He must have been shot from over there, because those three sets of footprints are yours and the other one Barton’s,’ said Fordney, after a careful examination. ‘Let’s look in that underbrush.’

Walking into it a few yards, he said, ‘Here’s where the murderer stood, all right. See those powder-marks on the leaves?’

While removing the branch, Fordney cut his finger.

‘Better sterilize that, Professor.’

Back at the cottage, as he was about to pick up a mercurochrome bottle from the kit Bob had used, he observed a spot of blood on the label. Walking over to the basin, he saw Bob in the mirror above it, furtively slip a pair of scissors into the kit.

Turning slowly around, he said, ‘I’ll have to hold you on suspicion of murder.’

Why?

54 _Death by Drowning_

‘We were just getting into our boat,’ said the elder Carroll brother, ‘when we happened to notice Ridge out there in the middle of the river, opposite Wolf’s old abandoned dock, acting very queerly. He jumped up and down in the boat, and then, all of a sudden, grabbed an oar, threw it up in the air, and jumped in.

‘We rowed to the spot, and I dived after him while my brother secured his boat. The current’s fast there, but I’m a strong swimmer. I swam around while my brother rowed about, but we could find no trace of him,’ he concluded.

‘We found the oar all right, in the weeds at Wolf’s dock,’ interjected Riley, of the River Patrol.

‘How wide is the river at that point?’ asked Professor Fordney.

‘About half a mile,’ said Carroll.

‘Pretty lonely, too, isn’t it?’

‘It is that,’ replied Riley.

‘The coroner’s report says Ridge had received a blow of some kind on the chin. Know anything about it, Carroll?’ inquired Fordney.

‘No, I don’t. Might have hit a rock or the side of the boat when he went over.’

‘Were you up or down river, from Ridge?’

‘Up river, about three hundred yards, on the west side.’

‘Did you and your brother have on bathing-suits at the time?’

‘I did, but my brother didn’t.’

‘Are there any blood-stains in Ridge’s boat, Riley?’

‘Well, there are stains all right, and they look like blood to me.’

‘I’m not surprised. Hold them both.’

Why was the Professor suspicious of the Carroll brothers?

55 _Tragedy at the Convention_

The Convention was in an uproar! The Drys were making a determined stand and showing some unexpected last-minute strength.

The Wets were shouting, clamoring, and stamping. The Chairman was vainly trying to restore order amid a scene of wild confusion.

As the excitement reached its pitch, Hurlenson, a powerful leader of the Wets, told a companion seated next to him that he felt a heart attack coming on and was going back to the hotel.

An hour later, the Convention was stunned to learn he had committed suicide in his room.

Professor Fordney, a guest at the Convention, went immediately to the hotel.

In Hurlenson’s room he found the police, the doctor, and Pollert, an influential delegate, who had discovered him.

‘The last time I saw Hurlenson was at the party last night, and he seemed in excellent spirits,’ said Pollert. ‘I arose late this morning—my room’s down at the other end of the corridor—and I was just leaving for the Convention hall when I heard a shot. I dashed directly here, but it was too late. He must have died immediately.’

‘He did,’ said the doctor. ‘He apparently stood in front of the mirror, took aim, and blew out his brains. There are powder-burns all around the wound.’

Learning that none of the maids or any of the other guests were on the floor at the time, Fordney advised the police to hold Pollert on suspicion of murder.

Why?

56 _A Murderer’s Mistake_

‘Look, Professor! That’s how the murderer got in, all right,’ said Tracy.

As Fordney walked over to the ladder standing two feet from the back of the house, he knelt down and carefully studied the heavy footprints around it.

‘Whose room is that?’ he inquired, pointing to a second-story window against which the top of the thirty-foot ladder rested.

‘That’s Uncle’s study,’ replied Tracy.

Going into the house, Fordney first questioned Withers, who had discovered the body of Lane, Tracy’s uncle.

‘I was reading in my room,’ he said. ‘About two o’clock I heard a noise, so I armed myself and crept out into the hall. Then I heard it again, apparently in the study, so I stole down the corridor, opened the door, and rushed in. I turned on the lights, ran over to the open window, looked out, and saw a man scurry down the ladder, jump off, and run. I fired twice, but evidently missed him,’ he concluded.

‘Were you home all evening, Mr. Tracy?’

‘No. I had just put up the car when I heard the shots and saw a figure dash around the house.’

‘I’ll take a look at your car later, Tracy.

‘Withers, show me exactly how you found Lane before you lifted him to the divan.’

As Withers righted an overturned chair, fitted its legs carefully to four impressions in the rug at the right of a smoking-stand, sat down, and slumped over to the left, Fordney said, ‘That’s enough. Which one of you killed him?’

Why did Fordney make this startling accusation?

57 _Babe Comes Through_

‘Strike two!’ shouted Umpire Starlen.

‘Kill the Umpire! You big bum! Thief!’

Professor Fordney turned in his place directly behind the plate to look at the excited man in the next box, waving an empty pop-bottle. He smiled. Couldn’t blame a chap for getting excited. Starlen did seem to be calling them wrong today. That last one _was_ wide!

What a ball game! Six to three in favor of Philadelphia, last half of the ninth, three on, two out, and three and two on the mighty Babe. The crowd was on its feet, yelling and stamping.

The excited pitcher delivered the next throw quickly. Just as Babe connected with it for a home run a bottle hurtled through the air with terrific force and caught Starlen on the back of the head. He went down like a shot.

Pandemonium broke loose. Women screamed, and a panic was threatened.

‘That’s him! That’s him!’ shouted several people, as a policeman ran down the ramp and grabbed the man who had attracted Fordney’s attention.

‘Tryin’ to get away, are you?’ bellowed the cop.

‘I didn’t do it! Let go of me!’ he cried, as the officer dragged him to the office.

Fordney followed. ‘May I ask a few questions?’ he inquired.

‘Let’s see your score card, young man. H’m, why didn’t you record that last hit? Everything else is here.’

‘Why, I was running at the time. I had an engagement.’

‘I see,’ said Fordney. ‘Officer, you have the wrong man. He didn’t do it.’

How did Fordney know?

58 _A Soldier of Fortune_

‘You’ll find Walter Briggs interesting, Fordney. He’s been all over the world,’ said Attorney Hamilton over the telephone. ‘He’s turned up after two years, claiming his uncle’s fortune. Better dine with us tonight.’

‘Thanks, I’ll be glad to. See you at eight.’

As the three men sat around the dinner-table, Fordney remarked: ‘You’re a fortunate chap, Briggs. What have you been doing in the thirty-two years you have been away from America?’

‘Well, lots of things. Mr. Hamilton, no doubt, told you I went to the Congo with Father when I was three. When he died, I attended school in England. Then I traveled for a while; did a bit of tiger-shooting in Africa, killed elephants in India, and became an ivory-trader, roaming over the Orient four or five years. I finally drifted into Russia, where I was a technical advisor to the Soviet.’

‘What a jolly life you’ve had, Briggs!’

‘Not altogether, Professor. I was in Manchuria, where life was anything but jolly. And then, being in sympathy with the Chinese, I took an active part in the Sino-Japanese War. It was in China I learned of my uncle’s death, so I came to New York immediately.’

‘Are you remaining here?’ asked Hamilton.

‘No. Me for Paris as soon as things are settled.’

After a pleasant evening, the three men parted. Reaching home, Fordney hesitated about telephoning Hamilton. After all, it _was_ his duty to advise him to check Briggs’s story carefully before turning over the inheritance. As for him, he was frankly skeptical!

Are you? Why?

59 _Number Twenty-Six_

‘You fellows _must_ remember that more often than otherwise the little, seemingly inconsequential trifles, placed together, lead to the solution of crime. Never take anything for granted; examine thoroughly what appear to be the most unimportant details. You didn’t do so well with your last lesson,’ said Professor Fordney, addressing his class. ‘Now try your wits at this one.

‘“I know it sounds fishy, Inspector,”’ continued he, reading from a paper, ‘“but I was walkin’ along Sixteenth Street mindin’ my business. When I gets in front of number 26 I hears a dame scream ‘Help! Murder!’ so I dashed up the steps to the house, pushed open the door, and rushed in. As I was halfway through the hall, a big guy steps out of a room and says, ‘Ah, there, Mr. Farrell, just in time!’ I asks him what’s goin’ on, and just then three coppers came in and takes me, this guy, and a woman, in. Neither one of them would talk to me on the way, so I don’t know what it’s all about.”

‘“I’m going around myself,” replied the Inspector. “I’ll talk with you when I get back.”

‘As Kelley turned the knob at number 26, the door was violently pushed open in his face.

‘“Sorry,” said Detective Bradford. “Just going back to Headquarters. Found plenty of dope all right. Here’s something you’ll be interested in,” showing Kelley a man’s hat initialed “D.F.” “There are three packets of cocaine under the sweatband.”

‘This story, of course, is fictitious,’ said Fordney, putting down the paper, ‘but it illustrates my point. There’s just one, small, unimportant detail that’s wrong. To repeat, you _must learn_ to detect inconsistencies quickly, however insignificant. Quickly, now!’

Do _you_ get it?

In the next few anecdotes you will see the Professor at work and at play, on cases both serious and amusing, involving pure deduction.

As in the preceding cases, however, every fact, with the clue necessary to the solution, is given. There is only one right and logical answer to each—to be deduced from the evidence presented.

Time yourself; see how long it takes _you_ to deduce the answer. And then, after you have solved or missed them, try them on your friends. They make a fascinating game—and there are lots of people who don’t play bridge.

60 _The Pullman Car Murder_

‘Tell your story to Professor Fordney,’ said the superintendent, introducing the conductor.

‘Well,’ said Jackson, ‘last night just after we left Albany, lower eight let out a terrifying shriek. I was standing at one end of the car, the maid, porter, and brakeman at the other end. We met at the berth as Briggs was gasping his last from a knife wound in the heart. I immediately had both doors of the car guarded as well as the doors to the washrooms. Every berth was occupied, and by this time the passengers were milling around in the aisle.

‘I began to look for the missing knife with which Briggs had been killed. Every passenger, even the maid, brakeman, and porter, every inch of the car and all baggage, were searched, but still we failed to find it.

‘The window-sills were covered with freshly fallen snow and an examination proved that none of them had been opened. No one had left the car and no one had entered either washroom. I knew the knife must be in the car—but where?

‘Washington, our old Negro porter, really discovered the murderer’s identity by “scrutinizin’ ’em all.”

‘I know your reputation, Professor, so you will probably have little difficulty in determining how Washington located the assassin, but I’ll bet you can’t tell me where I found the knife.’

Jackson’s face fell as Fordney quickly replied, ‘As there was only one possible place it could have been, you found it....’

How long did it take _you_ to discover the knife?

61 _Forgery_

‘Can it be possible that this has happened to me!’ thought Everett Taber, as he stood in the National Bank of New York ready to deposit his fortune. Having completed his arrangements late the day before with the bank’s executives, he was the first patron of the morning. Standing alone in the bank’s commodious quarters, he regretted he had no one with whom to share his happiness.

Suddenly, as he was making out his deposit slip, he decided to use his own name, Everett Mead, instead of his stepfather’s name, by which he had been known most of his life. It would be a simple matter to arrange this with the officials later. As he blotted the deposit slip, Everett Mead felt a new sense of poise and self-assurance take possession of him. He gazed fondly at the name which proclaimed him a wealthy man. By changing it he could completely sever former associations and start life anew. What a wonderful day it was!

The cashier, impressed with the amount of the deposit, was very obliging and wondered, as he thought of his own meager salary, how it would feel to have so much money.

‘I see you are left-handed, Mr. Mead,’ he said, in an effort to appear interested in such an important personage.

‘Yes,’ smilingly.

He left the bank without further conversation. Less than an hour later his name had been forged to a check for five thousand dollars, despite the fact that no one knew he had changed his name and no one had seen him make out his deposit slip.

Professor Fordney, acquainted with the facts, knew immediately how the forgery had been accomplished. Do you?

62 _The Christmas Eve Tragedy_

‘Professor Fordney,’ said Sheriff Brown, of Lake Dalton, ‘I came to New York to ask your help in clearing up the murder of Horace Perkins at Luckley Lodge.’

‘Sit down and tell me about it,’ invited Fordney.

‘The family chauffeur, returning from the station at ten o’clock on Christmas Eve, found Perkins lying in a field, five yards off the Lodge drive, with his skull bashed in.’

‘He telephoned me immediately and I instructed him to see that nothing was disturbed. Arriving fifteen minutes later, I personally examined the ground so no clues would be destroyed.

‘The _only_ footprints to be found were six of Perkins’s leading from the drive to the spot where he lay. Around the body were a number of deep impressions about two inches square. It had been snowing all day until half an hour before the discovery of Perkins.

‘Leading away from the body and ending at the main road, two hundred yards distant, were four lines of these same impressions, about three and a half feet apart in length and about fourteen inches in width. In some places, however, they were badly run together.

‘A stranger in our parts is quickly noted and investigation failed to reveal a recent one. There were absolutely no other clues and I could find no motive for the crime. It has me stumped, Professor,’ concluded Brown.

‘Give me a little time,’ said Fordney. ‘Perhaps I can help. I’ll call you at your hotel.’

An hour later, he said over the telephone, ‘Sheriff, look for a man who.... Such a person only could possibly have committed the murder.’

What did Fordney say to Brown?

63 _A Knight of the Bath_

‘You’ve heard me speak of my eccentric friend, Joe Leimert, haven’t you, Professor?’ inquired Jud. ‘Great character! His costly new Los Angeles penthouse is the despair of architects, but it reflects Joe, who cares little for the opinions of others. Particularly in the matter of baths is his independence reflected. While he has six of them, he is fondest of the one leading off his own room.

‘It is a large all-tile bath twenty-four feet long, fifteen wide, and seven high, without a single window. He went in to bathe a few days ago, locked the door on the inside, as was his habit, and turned the cold water full on. When he went to turn it off, he found to his dismay that the mechanism controlling the drain and the taps was out of order. He couldn’t let the water out and he couldn’t turn the tap off. Neither could he unlock the door, and it was impossible to make himself heard. What a predicament! There he was in a locked bath with no window, couldn’t open or break down the door, couldn’t let the water out, or turn it off, and he had no way of attracting attention.

‘Such a situation might have disturbed most people, but not Joe. He leisurely proceeded with his bath and, when finished, nonchalantly departed.’

‘My dear Jud,’ smiled the Professor, ‘your friend was indeed eccentric. Of course, there was only one way out for him.’

This one’s easy, don’t you think?

64 _Murder in the First Degree_

‘Well, Inspector, we have your man,’ said Fordney as he walked into the office. ‘He gave us a merry chase, though.

‘What a cool one this murderer is! He calmly ate his dinner while planning the crime. He didn’t give the cashier a chance—just brutally shot him down in cold blood—and all for thirty dollars. I tell you, Inspector, a man doesn’t need much incentive to commit murder these days. After shooting the cashier, he made a fast get-away in a waiting car.

‘Fortunately, there was a policeman having dinner in the restaurant at the time, and he gave orders that nothing was to be disturbed at the table where the suspected murderer had eaten.

‘There are several witnesses who will identify him, including the waitress who served him, but no jury will convict on that alone.

‘While I found none of the suspect’s fingerprints, personal effects, or physical traces at or on the table, I did find there a sure means of conviction. I am positive he calmly premeditated this outrage while eating his dinner.’

‘I hope you’re right, Professor,’ said Inspector Kelley, ‘but both he and his attorney seem confident. They claim the gun was discharged accidentally.’

‘They’ll never get away with that. The Prosecuting Attorney will be able to prove that this man deliberately planned the crime while eating his dinner. It’s murder in the first degree!’

How did the Professor know the crime was premeditated?

65 _A Rendezvous with Death_

‘One runs into unique conspiracies in my work,’ said Professor Fordney over his after-dinner coffee. ‘Here is the clue to that Stone case you are all interested in,’ he continued, passing the following newspaper advertisement:

WANTED. Competent private secretary. Unusual salary and opportunity for young man speaking Spanish. Culture and refinement necessary qualifications. Address KR 164.

‘I don’t see how that gave you a lead. Looks innocent enough to me,’ remarked one of the guests.

‘Well,’ said the Professor, ‘that ad furnished the strongest link in my chain of evidence. I had information that Jack Carroll was infatuated with Stone’s wife. At the suggestion of his wife, Stone answered this ad and received a reply requesting him to call for a personal interview. That interview was with death!

‘Mrs. Stone, when questioned, said she and her husband had not been on particularly friendly terms recently and that the last she saw of him was when he left for White Plains to see about the position.

‘I called at the newspaper office and was informed that the ad had been inserted by Jonathan Gills, Pomeroy Hotel. They remembered it because Mr. Gills had telephoned asking if there were any replies to his ad. Despite the affirmative answer, they had never been called for. I found Jonathan Gills was unknown at the Pomeroy Hotel.

‘I learned from Mrs. Stone that her husband had answered the ad in long-hand and that he was left-handed and a very poor penman.

‘Pondering the matter, though puzzled at first, I finally hit upon the manner in which Stone had been led to his death,’ concluded Fordney.

How do _you_ think it was done?

66 _A Rum Regatta_

‘Here’s a story that should amuse you, Jean,’ said Professor Fordney to his efficient and charming secretary.

He laughed heartily as he handed her a letter from his old friend, George Collins, government investigator in Florida.

Jean read the following:

An old sailor sitting on the sands of Nassau mending his fishing net was approached by three rum-runners shortly after the break of dawn. They came seeking his advice in connection with a wager they had made among themselves the night before.

The three of them, having sampled too freely of the liquor they were to take the next day to Miami, had put up three thousand dollars as a prize for the owner of the last boat to reach Miami. The fact that their boss was in a hurry for the liquor had been completely forgotten.

Sobered, they realized the ridiculousness of the wager but while anxious to reach Miami as quickly as possible, they all agreed it was not to be changed.

The old sailor continued weaving the cords into his net with slow deliberation. In a few minutes, calling them to his side, he whispered exactly the same advice into the ear of each.

A smile spread over his weather-beaten face and he chuckled as the three rum-runners raced to the boats and started for Miami at top speed.

‘It is amusing,’ laughed Jean, ‘but he forgot to say what the old sailor whispered!’

‘That’s for you to figure out, young lady. I’ve never been a rum-runner, but I’ve got the answer.’

What advice did the old sailor whisper to the rum-runners?

67 _Who is the Heir?_

‘As the Île de France slipped from her berth, Europe-bound, John Morgan, the brother of New York’s largest theatrical producer, waved good-bye to his family on the dock,’ said Professor Fordney.

‘Arriving in Paris a week later, he registered at the Hôtel Crillon. At two o’clock next morning, he called the office and demanded he be given another suite immediately, saying he didn’t like the view from his present rooms. This, despite the fact that he had occupied—in fact, insisted upon—this suite many times in the past.

‘Because of his prominence and wealth, he was accommodated at once.

‘Moving on to Berlin four days later, he registered at the Hotel Adlon. The manager, anxious to please a brother of the internationally known producer, greeted him personally. He afterward remarked how worried Mr. Morgan appeared at the time.

‘At two o’clock in the morning a repetition of the Paris occurrence took place.

‘From Berlin he went in turn to London, Copenhagen, Brussels, Vienna, Bucharest, and Sofia, spending exactly four days in each place. He then went to Teheran, Persia. He explained to the American Consul there that he had come to Persia to sample at first hand the celebrated wines of Shiraz, and also to continue his search for one Mirah Svari, a mystic he had met in New York, and for whom he had sought vainly all over Europe.

‘On the fourth day in Teheran, he was found dead of an overdose of hashish, in a squalid house in an unsavory quarter.