“This discovery, made by Detective Cardona and myself, explains the death of Henry Marchand. He was the victim of his own snare!”
“His own snare?” questioned Lukens.
“Positively,” replied the inspector. “We all know the precautions the man adopted — the closet, protected by tear gas; the safe, with its electric alarm.
“The drawer” — he tapped the desk — “which he seemed most anxious to guard, was protected by the poisoned needle!”
RODNEY PAGET broke the few moments of silence which followed.
“It’s rather surprising,” he said, “that Mister Marchand should have done this. He must have had enough wisdom to know that he would need some other method of opening the drawer. It doesn’t sound logical—”
The inspector smiled as he held up his hand in interruption.
“Marchand was fully prepared,” he said. He drew the thimble from his pocket. “Cardona found this in the desk. The old man had it handy, so that he could open the secret compartment without injury. In fact, it was this very thimble that prevented Cardona from suffering the same fate as Marchand.
“By some freak of fate, the old man forgot to put the thimble on his finger. It was probably due to his condition after the long journey.”
Doctor Lukens nodded. He turned toward Paget as though to corroborate Inspector Klein’s theory.