‘Receiving no reply to my ring and finding the door unlocked, I went in,’ said Albert Lynch. ‘Dawson was seated at his desk shot through the head. Seeing he was dead, I called the police and remained here.’
‘Touch anything, Lynch?’ asked Professor Fordney.
‘No, sir, nothing.’
‘Positive of that, are you?’
‘Absolutely, sir.’
The Professor made a careful examination of the desk and found Dawson had been writing a letter at the bottom of which and covered by the dead man’s hand, was a penned message: ‘A. L. did thi——’ and weakly trailed off.
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?
