“And the handkerchiefs show the presence of the diamonds here, and also the grab made for them by the old man. She must have taken them before I got into the room, although I was only a second behind her. What does it all mean, chief? Is it possible that Mrs. Maynard knows who killed her husband?”
Nick made no reply. He stood in the hallway looking down at a footprint left in the dust by the girl. He ended by taking a tape from his pocket and measuring it. Then he went to the door at the south end of the front hall and turned the knob. The door was locked, but he had it open in a moment.
No one was in sight as he glanced down the hall in the wing. He stepped inside and tried the door to the front room. It, too, was locked, but was soon opened with his picklock. One glance at the interior showed the detective that it was the room occupied by the maid.
It was in perfect order, except that the robe, just taken from the other part of the house, lay across the back of a chair, and the handkerchiefs, just taken from the dresser of her mistress, lay on the bed. So Mrs. Maynard had not really regained them, after all!
“Well,” thought the detective, “she may have ordered the girl to get them out of sight. It is a wonder to me that she did not think of that sooner. We should have been all at sea had she ordered that floor swept early this morning.”
Nick went to where his assistant stood and announced that he had about concluded his work there.
“What did you find in the closet?” Chick asked.
Nick did not reply immediately. He seemed to be in one of his brooding moods. He walked back to the rear room again and stood at the closet door with his measuring tape in his hands. Again he went to the room where the dead man lay and studied the position of the body and the character of the wound which had resulted in instant death. Once more he went over the hall leading to the door of the west room, this time using a glass on every inch of it. Chick, standing at the door of Charley’s room, heard him mutter:
“It isn’t possible. I surely must be mistaken. And yet here it is; in black and red, literally. It is too brutal to be true! Too brutal! Too unnatural!”