Jimmy recognized several of the men and women on the porch as
reporters and feature writers. These, knowing that Jimmy's paper
was the one that sprung the story, made a concerted rush for him.
He fended them off. He told them that beyond what had been printed
he knew nothing. Asked about Professor Brierly, he told them that
he had not seen the old scientist for more than fifteen hours;
that his paper in New York had handled that end. He assured them
that beyond the bare announcement over the phone that Schurman had
been murdered, he knew nothing new.
At this moment the grizzled negro came to the door of the porch
and gestured to Jimmy. He said to the reporter when Jimmy came
near him:
"The jedge, Mistuh Hale, sez for you--all to come in an' see him
and the otheh gempmen."
Aside from the eleven men he had first met the day before, there
were in the big, comfortable living-room, Professor Brierly and
District Attorney McCall. He felt and saw that all of them were
looking at him.
He was shocked at the appearance of some of the men. They seemed
to have shrunken in size. There was a furtive air about some of
them; stark fear, fear of the unknown danger, shone in the eyes of
a number of the men present.
"Mr. Hale, it is not your fault, but you are indirectly
responsible for the presence of all those men and women out there.
It is a very distressing thing. Newspapers have their place and
uses, of course; we all recognize that, but we cannot at a time
like this be besieged by a horde of men and women, not all of
whom, I regret to say, have the delicacy to show the kindness and
consideration--"
"I get you, Judge. The thing to do, of course, is to tell them
that you will issue periodic announcements about the developments
in the case. They will all understand that, I am sure, and respect
your wishes for privacy at other times."
"Yes, of course, that is the simple, the obvious thing to do. Will
you act for us, Mr. Hale. Tell them--"
"Sorry, Judge, I should like to act in this capacity. But I also
am a newspaper man out on a story and I should be in a false
position. I can help you with advice, but that is as far as I
dare, as far as I can go in such a matter. I can assure you that
everything you tell me in confidence will not be printed without
your permission. Your comrades here who know me, Judge, will vouch
for me, perhaps."
Marshall, McGuire and Fletcher nodded.
Mr. Marshall, at Jimmy's suggestion, went out to the porch and
told the assembled newspaper men of the decision they had reached
concerning the issuing of statements for the press. When he
returned, Professor Brierly said:
"In this case, Hale, how will you treat information that you
acquire through your contact with me. Would it be honorable--"
"I've thought of that, Professor. I shall not use any information
I get through my living at your camp that all the others are not
permitted to use. This, of course, does not apply to matters that
I would have learned without knowing Professor Brierly."
Some of the men present wrinkled their brows in perplexity. They
had difficulty following such a nice point of ethics. But they
dropped the matter by mutual consent. After all it was a slight
matter in the face of the great tragedy facing them.
Jimmy turned his attention to Professor Brierly, who had been
talking when he was ushered into the room. The other men settled
themselves back to listen. The old scientist was saying:
"August Schurman was murdered, Wrigley was really drowned. I do
not know at this time whether or not some outside influence was
responsible for his drowning. I merely had myself flown to the New
Jersey sea coast town, where they were keeping the body. My
examination was hasty, but enough to determine that he was
drowned; death was really due to that."
There was a dead silence in the room. The calm unemotional voice
of Professor Brierly in this room of utter fear set Jimmy's spine
tingling. Once more, for the third or the fourth time since he had
come upon these men, he was struck with the odd notion that it was
not real; that he was witnessing a play in which the actors did
not know their lines and were missing their cues. It was the
grotesque bordering on the terrible, the tragic.
"And Schurman, Professor?"
Jimmy almost jumped, as did some of the others on this breaking in
of his thoughts. They also were evidently immersed in their own
thoughts. It was Goldberg and Vasiliewski, who, as if actuated by
a single impulse, had broken the silence.
"Schurman," answered Professor Brierly slowly, "was murdered;
there is no question about that." Something clicked in Jimmy's
mind. He had missed something from Professor Brierly's speech.
There was not his wonted incisiveness and crispness. The reporter
looked sharply at the old man. Jimmy's mind cleared; he became
convinced that Professor Brierly was hiding something, was
withholding something he had learned in New York. He did not, as
he was accustomed to do, explain in elaborate detail. Former
Police Commissioner McGuire asked:
"Murdered! How was he murdered? The information is that he was
hung. What a strange way of murdering a man."
Professor Brierly nodded. He said: "He was found dead, hanging
from a hook in his living-room, but he was dead when he was hung."
Marshall burst out:
"Why did you go to New York, Professor?" Still speaking slowly,
Professor Brierly answered: "I was engaged by the New York Eagle
to undertake the trip for the purpose of viewing both bodies. I
also had another reason. Since I am plunged into this investigation
it may be necessary for me to have certain instruments, instruments
of precision, for the purpose of conducting certain inquiries and
for making certain tests."
"Why, Professor," exclaimed Justice Higginbotham. "You need not
have gone to the trouble for the second reason you give.
"It is likely that my workshop and laboratory contain everything
you might need."
The professor's eyes lit up with a gleam of interest.
"Indeed they do, and I may yet avail myself of them, but I wired
yesterday for additional instruments, and early this morning I
stopped at my place, where I obtained a few things I needed." He
arose to go, but Justice Marshall detained him:
"You did not tell us the details of the death of the two men you
saw in New York and Bradley Beach, Professor. You say Schurman was
murdered. Won't you tell us about it?"
Jimmy was once more conscious of a hesitancy in Professor
Brierly's manner. Jimmy was quite certain that if the old man were
not such a forthright individual he should have used evasive
tactics at this time. After a brief pause, scrutinizing briefly
the faces in front of him, he resumed his seat.
"Schurman was murdered by being struck at the base of his skull.
The blow fractured one and dislocated another one of the vertebrae
causing asphyxia, which made it easy for the examiner to conclude
that he had been asphyxiated by the rope with which he was hung."
Once more the reporter was conscious of an unwonted hesitancy in
the old scientist's manner. He cast another glance about the
semicircle of strained faces; then went on: "After he was struck
the fatal blow, he was hung to a hook high up on the wall of his
bedroom. Schurman occupied a small apartment on West Fourteenth
Street, one formerly occupied as a theatrical boarding house, when
that was the theatrical district.
"Entrance into his apartment was affected by an expert cracksman,
the New York police say. Schurman had a small safe. The marks on
the safe and the method in which entrance was affected makes the
police believe that they may be able to find the man.
"There was an additional factor. There was a small electric
refrigerator which was open when the body was found. There were
some soiled dishes on the table in the kitchen. It appeared that
an enormous quantity of food had been eaten. On one of the shelves
of the refrigerator there was an apple, a green apple in which
there were teeth marks.
"Someone had evidently bitten into this apple and found it too
green for eating. The maid, who came to the apartment once a day
to clean up, was able to estimate the amount of food that had been
eaten since she had last visited the place. Six eggs were eaten at
this meal.
"This woman found Schurman's body yesterday morning. The condition
of the body showed that it had been dead nearly twenty-four hours.
The condition of the stomach showed that he had not eaten for
about six hours prior to death, and no eggs then. A quick search
by the police placed him in a small restaurant near his apartment,
about two o'clock on the morning he was found. Thus it may be
assumed that the person who murdered Schurman is the person who
consumed that enormous amount of food. The police say they have
one additional bit of evidence they would rather not divulge."
At this point in the recital McGuire jumped up. His features were
alight with a mixture of ferocity and the zeal of the hunter. He
growled:
"The bird who did that left his visiting card!"
All eyes were turned in his direction.
He continued:
"Cracksmen, criminals of all kinds have their idiosyncrasies,
their peculiarities. They do certain things and thus leave a broad
trail for the police to follow. The police know these peculiarities,
they have a record of them. Here is a bird who does an unusual thing,
he eats an enormous quantity of food. He is an expert; he has probably
done it before. The police are sure to get him. During my tenure of
office as Police Commissioner of New York, I have seen it work out this
way lots of times. They never learn, the criminals don't; they never
learn."
McCall nodded. "You're right, Commissioner. Professor Brierly
suggested that yesterday, when he was discussing the murder of
Morris Miller. The murderer in that case left even more pronounced
clues than this one you are now discussing. Professor Brierly then
said that the police must surely have a record of a man who does
things in such a way."
"Sure to have," responded McGuire. He arose and stretched his
short huge bulk. "This is something like it. We now have something
tangible, something definite. It was the damnable inaction that
was beginning to get on my nerves. I'm going to use your phone,
Judge."
They heard his voice rumbling at the telephone in the adjoining
room. They were still conscious of his deep growling voice when
Professor Brierly, Jimmy and McCall departed.
The two younger men succeeded in warding off from Professor
Brierly the barrage of questions that was fired at him by the
horde of men and women who still waited about, hoping for a crumb
of information in addition to that which had been furnished.
When they were free of the crowd of newspaper men, Jimmy asked:
"Did the police tell you, Professor, what the additional bit of
evidence was?"
"Yes, when I convinced them it was not suicide they made a more
extended search of the apartment. It was then they learned that an
expert cracksman had entered, that an expert had opened the safe
without blowing it open or forcing it open. This cracksman,
however, did things in a way that only about half a dozen men in
the country do it and the police have all of them tagged.
"The additional individual evidence was entirely accidental. They
found under the safe a small nail file. On its smooth portion they
found a clear thumb and forefinger print. They were rather
mysterious about it, so evidently they think they can lay their
hands on the man who left this print. Off hand, I should say that
finding the man who did it and fixing the guilt definitely should
be rather easy."
He stopped, shook his head in some perplexity, and murmured:
"There is something about the whole devilish business that just
won't fit, won't fit into all the known facts, won't fit into
observation and experience; won't fit--" The rest was too low for
Jimmy to hear.
Professor Brierly refused the offer of the pilot of the plane that
was gently rocking near the wharf. Getting into McCall's boat with
its owner, they got under way, followed by Jimmy Hale and his
youthful pilot, Harry Stoy.