“An important statement made by this witness is that only Mr. Booth had a key to his office safe, which he securely locked on Saturday afternoon. As the safe does not appear to have been tampered with in any way, its unlocking adds to the strange peculiarities surrounding this case.
“David Israel does not know the exact amount of money missing, but estimates it at two or three hundred pounds only. ‘If,’ said he, ‘this had occurred a month ago, the loss would have been very different, as up to that time Mr. Booth made no secret of the fact that he had a large amount—thirty or forty thousand pounds—in securities, locked up in what he considered a burglar and fireproof safe. But the late notorious robberies in the city seemed to have weakened his confidence, for only three weeks ago he transferred the whole of his valuables to the safe keeping of the Bank of New South Wales.’”
The extra special edition of the Evening Times of the same date had the following additional item—
“On learning the details of the office robbery we at once dispatched a reporter to the scene of the crime in Lavender Bay. It will be noted that, according to the statement of David Israel, there was only one key to the city safe, and that was in the possession of his master. If this key was missing, then a motive for what may now be safely called a crime is forthcoming.
“The police authorities had already made a careful inventory of the dead man’s personal effects, and amongst these, taken from the trousers pocket, was a small flat key, said by Mrs. Booth to be, without doubt, that of her husband’s safe.
“So far as the public is concerned, this safety of the key, the abstraction of which was so naturally anticipated by our reporter, makes the mystery still deeper, and banishes what would at first appear to be the motive for at least part of the crime, and the connecting link between the murder on North Shore and the robbery in town.
“Despite the reticence of the police, it is plain to all that they are as puzzled as the public in general to form an acceptable theory as to how the crime was committed.”
CHAPTER II
THE MISFORTUNES OF A B.A. OF LONDON UNIVERSITY
It was Sunday night, or rather in the early darkness of the small hours of Monday morning, that Police-Constable Hobbs wended his slow and deliberate way down the vista of Walker Street. Why the force are trained to step with a measured tread, which proclaims their personality minutes before their arrival, is one of those questions only to be answered by the benevolent supposition that Authority is anxious to warn Criminality that it is coming!
The constable had a dejected air, he put no energy into the trying of doors and windows, and even the sight of a drunk going by short tacks up Junction Street did not restore his animation.