“I did, sir,” he replied.
“What time was that?”
“Just eight o’clock, sir—that’s my usual time for opening the office.”
“Tell us exactly how you found him, Hancock.”
“I opened the door of Mr. Herapath’s private room, sir, to pull up the blinds and open the window. When I walked in I saw him lying across the hearth-rug. Then I noticed the—the revolver.”
“And of course that gave you a turn. What did you do? Go into the room?”
“No, sir! I shut the door again, went straight to the telephone and rang up the police-station. Then I waited at the front door till the inspector there came along.”
“Was the front door fastened as usual when you went to it at that time?”
“It was fastened as it always is, sir, by the latch. It was Mr. Herapath’s particular orders that it never should be fastened any other way at night, because he sometimes came in at night, with his latch-key.”
“Just so. Now these offices are quite apart and distinct from the rest of the building—mark that, inspector! There’s no way out of them into the building, nor any way out of the building into them. In fact, the only entrance into these offices is by the front door. Isn’t that so, Hancock?”