“Now for the floor—help me with the rugs. Right—hullo.”
As they moved the second rug they disclosed a revolver lying on the floor. Collins picked it up.
“Service revolver—Webley—now obsolete⸺” He broke the revolver carefully.
“Five full and one empty—seems obvious—too obvious.” He was always disappointed if a problem proved quite easy of solution.
“Well, we must wait for the bullet—I hope it doesn’t fit⸺”
Sinclair laughed. “I don’t believe you care in the least whether the murderer is punished or not, as long as you have something interesting to solve.”
“Oh, I must say I like something abstruse; but never mind.
“Now for footprints. On this soft pile carpet they ought to show, thanks to our precautions.”
He went down on his knees, and examined the carpet carefully.
The other took a chair and watched.