‘Anyone been here since?’
Kelley’s noisy entrance interrupted the butler’s ‘No, sir.’
‘Smith broke his neck. I found this on him,’ he remarked, handing the Professor a note.
Ill health and financial trouble have made life a burden. I’m leaving my bedroom for the last time. A three-story drop and my misery will be over.
Smith
‘His suicide will be a blow to the oil industry,’ Kelley mused, as Fordney sat down at the desk and began to write with Smith’s fountain pen.
‘His death will be, Inspector,’ said Fordney. ‘Better get the servants together. This is murder—not suicide!’
[What reason did Fordney have for making such a statement?]
52
Who?
‘I was trying to stop the flow with this, Professor,’ said Weeds, the butler, indicating a blood-covered towel he had just removed from the bed, ‘when Jones struck at me and I dropped it.’
‘And I’m sorry I missed!’ angrily exclaimed Jones, the colored chauffeur.