“I was waiting for that question,” he said slowly, “and wondering when it would come, for I had not yet determined how I would reply to it. The fact is, Mr. Carter, I believe that even the coroner and the physicians will find it difficult to determine at first how Orizaba was killed; but nevertheless, although I have not examined the body, save to look at one spot where I expected to find something, I can tell you what killed him.”
“Then tell me.”
“He was killed with a glass needle, three inches in length, and of the size of a common darning needle. Orizaba’s hair grew very low on the back of his neck, and the weapon I have described was jabbed into the vertebra at that point.”
“So that death was almost instantaneous, I suppose?”
“It must have been.”
“Now, how do you know that he was killed as you describe?”
“Because I looked at that spot to find out.”
“Why did you look there?”
“Because I expected to find what I did find.”
“Why?”