“It does sound like an association of some kind,” he said coolly. “The cuff link and the affair of the disappearing hypodermic needle point to Maida. The presence and continued presence of Jim Gainsay, plus that somewhat ambiguous wire, point to him. Possibility includes you and the two doctors. And as to Miss Letheny, we have several counts against her. So you see it does look rather like a conspiracy.”
“Nonsense,” I said irritably. “I assure you that all six of us did not band together for the purpose of doing away with Dr. Letheny and his patient.”
“Of course not,” agreed O’Leary soothingly. “Though you must admit, Miss Keate, that there are a good many clues—no, we’ll call them merely facts that intrigue the curious mind—that seem to include all of you.”
“Coincidence,” I said with considerable decision.
O’Leary’s eyebrows went up a little.
“Have it as you will,” he agreed amicably.
“You have forgotten the fact that Fred Hajek’s coat was wet that night when I finally aroused him. Why didn’t you inquire about that at the inquest?”
“I had already done so,” said O’Leary. “He explained that the window in his room was open and that the coat was lying across a chair beside the window when the rain began. He did not waken immediately and it rained on his coat.”
“H’m,” said I skeptically. “How about Dr. Balman? Are you going to take his word for it that he was in his own apartment during the time all this took place? What about that bruise on his face that he said he got running through the orchard? Mightn’t he have got it earlier in the night?” Though my heart reproved me as I spoke, for Dr. Balman, torn from his beloved studies, forced into a thousand responsibilities, worn and haggard and tired and troubled, was a pathetic figure.
“Dr. Balman is too busy a man these days to bother much with questions,” said O’Leary simply. “However, since you have inquired, I have proved his statement. According to the elevator man at the apartment house in which Dr. Balman lives, Dr. Balman arrived from the Letheny’s at twelve-fifteen and did not leave until the same elevator man, who also attends the switchboard during the night, gave him a call from St. Ann’s. The elevator man obligingly listened in to the conversation, had the elevator at the door of Dr. Balman’s apartment immediately, and took the doctor down to the first floor at exactly three minutes after two.”