“You see, I saw it,” he whispered.
“Saw what?”
“Saw who killed the patient in Room 18!”
For a breathless second I wondered if the man had taken leave of his senses. His gray face, his evident fright, the way his eyes shifted about, first peering in one direction and then another, convinced me of his sincerity. He must be speaking the truth. It was evident, too, and I did not wonder at it, that he was in a mortal terror of his knowledge.
“How was it? What did you see?” I whispered too.
“Well, it was this way,” he began so slowly as to nearly drive me frantic with impatience. “It was this way: I had a bad toothache that night. It wouldn’t let me sleep and the hot night seemed to make it worse. I finally got up and came upstairs to get Dr. Hajek to give me something for it. I knocked and knocked at his door but I couldn’t wake him, so——”
“What time was that?” I asked.
“I don’t know exactly. I think about one o’clock. Anyway I went back to the basement and still couldn’t get any peace from the tooth. It ached and ached and I got up and tried to rouse Dr. Hajek again. I couldn’t wake him—you see, he wasn’t there at all. So I let myself out of the main door and walked around the corner of the hospital. Sometimes Dr. Letheny would sit up late and I thought that if there was a light in his study, I could get something for my tooth from him. It was the darkest night I have ever seen.”
He paused to shake his head dolefully.
“Anyway, pretty soon I saw a sort of green light up there on the hill, and knew that Dr. Letheny was reading late. Well, I started toward the path and it was so dark I could hardly find my way. When I got to the end of the south wing, I could see that the south door was open, and could see the light over the chart desk. The wing looked almost as dark as it did outside.” He stopped, drew out a blue bandanna handkerchief and wiped his forehead, though it was chilly out there on the bridge.