“The connecting link is this,” he said; “the day after the murder, during the coroner’s inquest, our bright young friend, McGuire, noticed on Mr. Hoyt’s coat an odor familiar to him as a remedy used to burn for whooping-cough. The scent is strong and unmistakable and clings ineradicably to a garment that has been worn, even for a few moments where the remedy is used. Mrs. Robbio’s children had the whooping-cough; she was using the remedy the day the murderer stopped in at her little shop and threatening her with this very dirk, forced her to deliver the message he dictated to the police station.
“It was a clever ruse and would have remained undetected, but for the quick-witted youth who noticed the odor, and remembered it when whooping-cough was mentioned.”
“A string of lies,” sneered Hoyt. “Made up by the notorious street gamin who glories in his sobriquet of liar!”
Still unheeding, Stone went on.
“In search for a motive for the murder of Rowland Trowbridge by Leslie Hoyt, I examined the will of the deceased, and discovered, what I am prepared to prove, that it is, in part, a forgery. The instrument was duly drawn up by Judge Hoyt, as lawyer for the testator. It was duly witnessed, and after,——”
Fleming Stone paused and looked fixedly at Hoyt, and the latter at last quailed before that accusing glance.
“And after, at his leisure, the lawyer inserted on the same typewriter, and with greatest care, the words, ‘and herself become the wife of Leslie Hoyt.’ This clause was not written or dictated by Mr. Trowbridge, it was inserted after his death, by his lawyer.”
“You can’t prove that!” cried Hoyt springing to his feet.
“I can easily prove it,” declared Stone; “It is written on a new ribbon known to have been put into the typewriter, the afternoon the murder took place. And, too, it is of slightly different slant and level from the rest. Of course, it was only by microscopic investigation I discovered these facts, but they are most clearly proven.”
“Gee! he’s goin’ to brash it out!” exclaimed Fibsy, under his breath, as Hoyt rose, with vengeance in his eye.