“We have covered just about everything that you have told me, professor,” said the detective. “We have tried to trace Harshaw’s servant. The man’s name is Homer Briggs. We have been unable to locate him.
“We learned at the desk that you and Homer left here two nights ago. About an hour afterward, Harshaw came downstairs and made a telephone call. He went back to his apartment.
“He was not seen after that. The police surgeon who examined the body believes that Harshaw was shot some time before midnight — the same night.”
“Within the last forty-eight hours,” observed Weston.
“Yes,” said Cardona. “I am expecting Doctor Fredericks, now. He is coming in from Long Island. Perhaps he can give us more information.”
The police commissioner was walking about the study, examining the place with curiosity. Cardona began to point out certain objects, and Biscayne intervened to explain a few points of Silas Harshaw’s eccentricities.
“The old man was a great student of chess,” he said, indicating a small table with an inlaid board and expensive chessmen.
“I don’t think he played a great deal, but I know that he spent much time over problems. That is a sign of a mind that is both self-centered and unusual — perhaps an eccentric one.
“He was an expert mechanic, and he was constantly forgetting his important work to toy with other devices. You will find an odd assortment of peculiar contrivances in the room he used for both workshop and laboratory.
“He devoted a great deal of time to chemical experiments. One other oddity was a passing interest he had in crude modeling and sculpture. Here is an indication of it.”