Dr. MacArthur ignored his silent disapproval and passed on.
“Barton?”
“Against the police, suh. Entirely against them. Their intervention is the way, to my thinking, to muddle the whole thing ... and take an awful chance of making the story public. Something must undoubtedly be done, and done quickly, but what, suh, I frankly do not know.
“One thing which seems to me possible is to have every person connected with the affair given a psychiatric examination by Dr. Hoffbein.”
Hoffbein’s back straightened and he smiled deeply.
“That’s in his line, it seems,” Dr. Barton finished.
“I’m against that ... flat!” Bear Sterling mumbled. “In the first place the only hope of ever catching the murderer is to pretend we are not looking for him. At least twenty people are under suspicion as possibilities. Remove any one of those twenty people and you may be removing the murderer. Every person in connection with that ward in any capacity whatsoever must continue there until the murderer is caught. Otherwise ... we senselessly throw our needle into a hay stack!”
“You’re right, Bear,” MacArthur replied. “Absolutely right!”
“What about the medical student doing routine tests on this ward?” Prissy interposed. “Dr. Heddis said anybody could, with medical knowledge.... What type of lad is he?”
“False clue,” Cub snapped. “He’s been home with the mumps for ten days. The interne on the floor has been doing his work....”