The question of forcible entrance was one that proved perplexing for a time. The apartment house, like so many San Francisco buildings, was on a hill, and Darley’s apartment faced the upper side. Entrance by a window would have meant a climb of nearly twenty feet. The door was the better plan — if Cleve could get in this way. But the special lock offered a difficult barrier.
Recalling what he had seen of the apartment on his visits to Darley, Cleve remembered that the place had an unused kitchenette. That would be at the back. Cleve spied the entrance to a fire escape down the hall, and went in that direction. He stepped out on a railed platform.
There he saw a window — the only window at the end of the apartment. He could almost reach it from the fire escape. Climbing over the rail, Cleve reached out and tried the window with one hand. It appeared to be locked, but it rattled loosely.
There was no fear of detection, for this new apartment house was isolated from neighboring buildings. No lights showed from the window above or from the window below.
Cleve jarred the window of the kitchenette. He pushed inward and upward, with his right hand, while his left clung to the rail of the fire-escape platform.
The window yielded suddenly. Only Cleve’s firm grip upon the rail prevented him from falling.
He clambered through the open window and made his way through to the front of the apartment. There, he reached the living room. He turned on a lamp and looked about him.
Cleve had noticed several tables in this room; and now the question arose as to which would be the proper one to search first.
The drawers of one table were unlocked. He rummaged there, but found that they contained few articles and no papers. The second table had locked drawers; this, Cleve decided, must be the one.
He could handle locks after a fashion; but something prompted him to try the third table before he proceeded with the picking.