The Sheridan Road Mystery | Page 5

of shoulder and depth of chest clearly showed
that he possessed the strength to meet most of the emergencies into
which his work might lead him. His face had none of the hardened
sharpness that usually marks the detective. In fact, although he was
nearly thirty, his face still had a boyish look that made him appear
younger, and taken with his sleek dark hair and mild brown eyes one
would have presumed him to be just an average young business man
rather than a hunter of criminals.
"No details here," he said, a moment later, laying the paper on the table.
"They evidently received the notice just before going to press. Anyway,
there is seldom much mystery about a murder. The men in that precinct
probably have a line on who did it by this time."
"Yes, I know they use my boy only for the big cases," asserted the

mother, and giving him an affectionate pat on the head, she went to her
housework, while Morgan took a book from one of the cases, refilled
his pipe, and settled down to spend a quiet morning in the big chair.
At eleven o'clock the telephone bell rang. Only a few words passed
between Morgan and his caller, but the detective's face lighted up with
interest. The instant he replaced the receiver he sprang to his feet, went
to his bedroom, and hurriedly changed his clothes.
"Mother," he called. "The Chief has just 'phoned me that they have the
biggest case for me that I ever handled. I must go down at once."
His mother came to the door of the room. "Can't you even wait for a
bite of lunch?" she questioned.
"No," he explained, "it is a hurry call. The Chief says we cannot lose a
minute in getting started. I'll have to stop in somewhere after I see the
Chief."
Kissing his mother good-bye, Morgan hurried around to the elevated
station. Fifteen minutes later he opened the Chief's office door.
"Sit down, Morgan," said the Chief, waving his hand toward a chair.
"I've got a case here that'll make even you go some."
As Morgan sat down the Chief gathered up some typewritten sheets
from his desk, and continued; "I didn't like to break up the first day
you've had off in a long time, Morgan, but there was a murder on
Sheridan Road last night--or early, this morning, to be exact--that has
put a real mystery up to the Department. It'll need a man like you to
solve it--if it can be solved. The newspapers had big headlines this
morning, and the public will be watching us on account of the peculiar
nature of the crime."
"I saw something about it in my paper this morning," said Morgan.
"There were no details, however. The notice probably caught the last
edition with little more than the fact that a murder had been
committed."

"Well," exclaimed the Chief, "it's one of the biggest mysteries we've
ever had handed to us. The shot was heard by both the man on the beat
and a tenant in the building, but outside of the stories of these two men,
and the discovery of a blood stain on a rug in a supposedly empty flat,
not another thing has been found. The body is missing, and there is no
trace of how it got out of the flat or where it is now. Here is a report of
all that we know so far. By the way, your partner Tierney made this
report. He happened to be on the job last night, so I told him to stick to
it."
The Chief handed the typewritten sheets to Morgan.
"You will note," he went on, "that the man on beat heard a shot at about
2 A.M.; that he met a tenant from the house who said that he had heard
sounds of a struggle, a shot, and something like the falling of a body.
The police found the flat locked, and after they broke in could find no
one on the premises. Nothing was upset, and there were no signs of the
struggle, said to have taken place. Another peculiar thing is that the
police even overlooked the bloodstain until the tenant who had heard
the shot called their attention to it. Tierney tried to get some more
details this morning, but you will find from his report that none of the
other tenants admit hearing the shot; that the tenant in the flat across
the hall was apparently not at home, and that the janitor says the people
who rent the flat in which the trouble occurred, have been away all
summer. The only really definite information of any kind comes from
this one tenant, Marsh."
"You'll probably find Tierney at the flat,