"This," said Harding. "That, at present, investigation into the motives and movements of the various suspects is not getting us any forrarder, because though anyone might have done it, there is no proof that any one of them did. Therefore we must change our plan of attack. Now there are just two pieces of evidence which seem to he totally unrelated to any of the people I've mentioned. One is the slip of paper with the word There scrawled on it, which was found under the General's hand; the other is the fact that there were no finger-prints on the handle of the safe."
The Superintendent looked him over with tolerant amusement. "I thought you'd come to the conclusion, Harding, that this wasn't a murder with robbery thrown in?"
"I had. But I am no longer so sure of that."
"Well, if there weren't any finger-prints on the safe handle — which there weren't, because I was there when our man took them — I don't see what you want to start thinking about robbery for, and that's a fact."
"But there should have been finger-prints," said Harding quietly.
"How do you mean, should have been?" demanded the Superintendent. "Whose finger-prints?"
"The General's," replied Harding. "At eleven o'clock he opened that safe to put something in it, and according to Mrs. Halliday he was not wearing gloves."
"You mean," said the Sergeant slowly, "you mean that someone had hold of that handle after the General touched it? And, what's more, wiped it carefully afterwards?"
"Of course," said Harding.