“What——”
“It’s all right, Tucker.” Dr. Stone’s voice was once more a calm stream. “Lady will merely hold him. He’s your man.”
Ten minutes later Lawton, King and Waring were gone, glad to be free and away. Ran Freeman, white and sullen, sat handcuffed in one of the big chairs. Captain Tucker, having telephoned for a policeman to relieve him until the Coroner arrived, came back to the living-room.
“I still don’t get it, Doctor,” he said ruefully. “After Lady trailed to King’s room——”
“That was a laid trail,” Dr. Stone told him. “Anthony had warned them there was a dog that could track. Would a man deliberately invite detection by leaving a trail right to his door? However, some one of the four had been in the room. Which one? Probably the one with most at stake. Lawton stood to suffer in a small business. Waring and King would have lost their jobs. But Freeman stood to lose the Panner fortune.
“King told us he had not been in the room, or unpacked his bag, or been to bed. So far as the bed and the bag were concerned it had to be the truth, for it was a story too easily disproved if he had lied. By the same reasoning, knowing that there was a dog in the neighborhood that could follow scent, he would not have made a trail to his own room if he had committed murder. Therefore, when the trail led to a room in which there was a rumpled bed and a bag partly unpacked, one fact was obvious. King was not the man.
“He said he had gone out twice. But Cagge said somebody had come in three times. Did you notice the open window in King’s room? The ceilings down here are low—a blind man can feel these things. The second floor wouldn’t be far from the ground. Whoever killed Anthony knew King was out of the house. Therefore, after the crime, he purposely left the silk handkerchief to give the dog a scent. Then, going to King’s room, he mussed the bed, dragged clothing out of the bag, and dropped out the window. No doubt you’ll find deep footprints where he dropped. Going into the room and out the window, he probably reasoned, brought the trail to King’s room and ended it there.
“He was the third man Cagge heard come in. He must have brought Anthony’s manuscript back into the house with him intending to dispose of it later. But King must have come back almost on his heels. Not wanting to be found with the manuscript he dropped it and fled. Perhaps he reasoned that King, finding it, would destroy it, anyway. If I had any doubts at all they were gone when we came downstairs. The four men were eating. Lady, circling the table, stopped at Freeman’s chair. She had found the scent again. I don’t think Freeman meant to kill. His idea was to steal the book. But Anthony awoke. Am I right?”
Freeman had recovered some of his nerve. “Do you expect any jury to convict on the testimony of a dog?” he demanded.
“Tucker,” said Dr. Stone, “will you look at his right hand?”