with a cloth. I defy anyone in this room to tell me the exact
moment when I discharged the pistol. I could have shot any of
you, and an outsider not in the secret would never have thought
that I was the culprit. To a certain extent I have reproduced the
conditions under which this shooting occurred.

"At once on being sure of this feature of the case I despatched a
man to Hartford to see this inventor. The man obtained from him a
complete list of all the dealers in New York to whom such devices
had been sold. The man also traced every sale of those dealers.
He did not actually obtain the weapon, but if he is working on
schedule-time according to agreement he is at this moment armed
with a search-warrant and is ransacking every possible place
where the person suspected of this crime could have concealed his
weapon. For, one of the persons intimately connected with this
case purchased not long ago a silencer for a thirty-two-calibre
revolver, and I presume that that person carried the gun and the
silencer at the time of the murder of Kerr Parker."

Kennedy concluded in triumph, his voice high pitched, his eyes
flashing. Yet to all outward appearance not a heart-beat was
quickened. Someone in that room had an amazing store of
self-possession. The fear flitted across my mind that even at the
last Kennedy was baffled.

"I had anticipated some such anti-climax," he continued after a
moment. "I am prepared for it."

He touched a bell, and the door to the next room opened. One of
Kennedy's graduate students stepped in.