“That’s the strange part of it. Her purse, with over a hundred dollars in it, which lay under the necklace, wasn’t touched.”
“Does she usually leave valuables around in that casual way?”
“Well, you see, she’s always stayed at the Denton and she felt perfectly secure here.”
“Any other thefts in the hotel?”
“Not that I can discover. But one of the guests on the same floor with Mrs. Hale saw a fellow acting queerly that same night. There he sits, yonder, at that table. I’ll ask him to come over.”
The guest, an elderly man, already interested in the case, was willing enough to tell all he knew.
“I was awakened by some one fumbling at my door and making a clinking noise,” he explained. “I called out. Nobody answered. Almost immediately I heard a noise across the hall. I opened my door. A man was fussing at the keyhole of the room opposite. He was very clumsy. I said, ‘is that your room?’ He didn’t even look at me. In a moment he started down the hallway. He walked very fast, and I could hear him muttering to himself. He seemed to be carrying something in front of him with both hands. It was his keys, I suppose. Anyway I could hear it clink. At the end of the hall he stopped, turned to the door at the left and fumbled at the keyhole for quite a while. I could bear his keys clink again. This time, I suppose, he had the right room, for be unlocked it and went in. I listened for fifteen or twenty minutes. There was nothing further.”
Average Jones looked at Kirby with lifted brows of inquiry. Kirby nodded, indicating that the end room was Mrs. Hales’.
“How was the man dressed?” asked Average Jones.
“Grayish dressing-gown and bed-slippers. He was tall and had gray hair.”