The peaceful nature of the old man’s demise clearly indicated the possibilities of the master hand that had engineered the deaths of Silas Harshaw and Louis Glenn.
But this crime — if crime it was — seemed more perplexing than either of the other two.
Peering under the desk, Cardona spied a wastebasket and brought it forth. He saw a few papers in it. They proved to be printed circulars.
The detective shook his head as he looked at Roger Biscayne. Then he replaced the wastebasket.
As he did so, Cardona spied something on the floor beneath the desk. In another moment, the detective had stooped, and was exhibiting two crumpled objects — one an envelope, the other a sheet of paper.
Unfolding the paper, Cardona spread it upon the desk. With Biscayne peering over his shoulder, Cardona pointed quickly to the characters that appeared upon the crumpled sheet.
There were words there — typed in letters identical with those that had appeared in the death messages:
DEAR SUTTON: YOU WILL FIND YOUR GOLD-HEADED CANE ON THE SHELF OF THE CLOSET UNDER YOUR FRONT STAIRS. DANA.
Eagerly, Cardona swung toward Richard Sutton, who was standing at the other side of the room.
“Did your father have a gold-headed cane?” questioned the detective.