“This job may have been done during the day.”
“But there is always some one in the house.”
“I will look farther presently,” said Nick, not inclined to argue the point. “Let me see the Vandyke letter, also the envelope, if you have it.”
Mantell took them from a pigeonhole in the desk and placed them in the detective’s hand.
Nick turned to the window and began to inspect them with his lens, which he had not replaced in his pocket. He did not read the letter, which covered several closely written sheets, and in which he apparently had no interest aside from the paper on which it was written.
“A man handling a tool small enough to pick the lock of a desk is very likely to soil the balls of his thumb and fingers with the metal,” he remarked, after several moments. “There are faint marks and smooches both on this envelope and the backs of several sheets of the paper.”
“I did not observe them,” said Mantell, noting the detective’s subtle intonation. “What do you make of them, Carter?”
“They look very much like finger prints,” said Nick. “Patsy——”
“Yes, chief.”
Patsy had foreseen what was coming and was alert on the instant.