Sergeant Holcomb said, “My advice, Sheriff, would be to let Mr. Mason look around without touching anything, and then leave. We can’t do anything as long as he’s here.”
“Why not?” Sheriff Barnes said.
Sergeant Holcomb flushed. “For various reasons. One of them is that before you get done, this man is going to be on the other side of the fence. He’s going to be opposing you, he’s going to be trying to tear down the case you’re building up against the murderer. The more you expose your methods to him, the more he has an opportunity to tear you to pieces on the witness stand.”
Sheriff Barnes said doggedly, “That’s all right. If anybody’s going to be hung for murder on my say-so, I want it to be after a case is built up which can’t be torn down.”
“I’d like to see as much as you care to show me,” Mason said to the sheriff. “I take it, that chalk outline on the floor represents where the body was found when it was first discovered.”
“Yes, that’s right. The gun was found over there about ten feet away, where you’ll notice the outline in chalk.”
“Is it possible that Mr. Sabin could have shot himself?” Mason asked.
“Absolutely impossible according to the testimony of the doctors. What’s more, the gun had been wiped free of fingerprints. Sabin wasn’t wearing gloves. If he’d shot himself, he’d have left some fingerprints on the gun.”
Mason, frowning thoughtfully, said, “Then the murderer didn’t even want it to look like suicide.”
“How so?” the sheriff asked.