“Then with you and Norcross at one vestibule and the porter at the other, and no sound from the interior of the car, I think it can safely be assumed that Tilghman was poisoned between the time the train first pulled into the Atlanta station and your return to the smoking car from your luncheon, Shively,” argued McLane. “How long a time elapsed while you were at luncheon?”
“Let me see—about twenty-five minutes, I imagine.”
“And how long was the train detained at Atlanta?”
“Two hours; but passengers commenced returning fully half an hour before the train started north,” Shively paused. “The mystery surrounding this crime has had a powerful attraction for me, and I have of my own volition employed Pinkerton detectives. They report that the hunt has narrowed down to two men—Yoshida Ito and Julian Barclay.”
“What is the evidence against the Jap, Ito?” asked McLane.
“Sifted down it amounts to little,” admitted Shively slowly. “Ito and Tilghman had a fisticuff shortly before we reached Atlanta; Tilghman compared the Jap to a yellow negro; and Ito on being questioned after the discovery of the crime, gave as his alibi that he was at the public library in Atlanta at the time the crime was committed. However, the hour’s difference in central and eastern time nullifies that alibi—he may have committed the crime and still have been at the library.”
“Then the chief evidence against the Jap is the question of time,” said McLane with growing impatience. “You also contend that Ito took offense at an implied insult given thirty or forty minutes before the train reached Atlanta. Now, I myself do not believe that crime was ever committed on impulse. It was too well planned and devilish in its ingenuity.”
“That is no argument against a Japanese having been the criminal,” said Calhoun dryly. “They are the most silent, relentless people in the world. To me the plot smacks of the East, and is more far reaching than we yet imagine, and embraces the murder of James Patterson.”
“What!” ejaculated Shively. “You think the two crimes have a bearing on each other?”
“I do.”