The Sheridan Road Mystery | Page 7

the covers and lie close. They don't
put on bath robes and run out on the street to be the first to give a report.
Then the janitor tells me that he's seen this man around a lot in the
daytime--'no visible means of support,' you might say. Both Murphy
and I remember that Marsh referred to his wife. The janitor says he's
pretty sure that he never saw any woman around the flat. And when I
asked Marsh this morning to let me talk to his wife, he said she was not
in."
"You probably noticed in my report that it was this Marsh who showed
us the bloodstain under the chair. You know, we came out of the
kitchen and caught that guy in the act of pulling a chair over the spot.
He said he was replacing the chair where he found it. I've been
wondering whether he wasn't actually covering up the spot himself.
When we caught him in the act, maybe he just decided to bluff it out."
"The Department didn't make any mistake when they shifted you into
the Detective Bureau, Tierney," said Morgan, laughing. "Has the Chief
assigned you to any other case for my day off?"

"No," replied Tierney. "When the Chief told me to come back and meet
you here I figured he wanted me to stick to this case with you."
"So I thought," agreed Morgan. "But I want to be left alone here for
awhile. You scout around and see if you can find out something more
about this tenant across the hall. Do you know his name?"
"Clark Atwood, it says on the mail box downstairs."
"All right, Tierney. See what you can look up in this neighborhood. I'll
get in touch with you later. By the way, you had better leave that key
with me."
Tierney handed over the key to the padlock, and with a cheery "So
long," started off.
Morgan, left to himself, began a careful inspection of the apartment.
Although assured that the apartment had been unoccupied, his first act
was to discover, if possible, any signs of recent habitation. Convinced
by the blood spot that the principal part of whatever had happened had
taken place in the front room, he decided to leave that room until the
last. Running all the shades to the top of the windows as he passed
from the front to the rear of the apartment, Morgan made the place as
light as possible. He began his examination with the kitchen. The
fastenings on the windows were closed, and the undisturbed condition
of the dust indicated that they had not been touched for a long period.
A careful inspection of the glass and woodwork showed no finger
marks or any attempt to open the catches. The bolt on the back door
was unfastened, but as the report stated that the police had found this
bolt in place, it was obvious that it had simply been left open by the
police. Morgan carefully scrutinized the condition of the bolt. After
pushing it back into place the difference in brightness of the protected
and unprotected parts convinced him that the bolt had been closed for
some time.
He also noted that the key was missing from the lock. However, this
fact had been referred to in the report, and it could make little
difference if the bolt itself had been fastened. As a matter of fact,

during his search of the pantry, he discovered the key on top of the ice
box. A layer of dust indicated that the key had not been touched for a
long time. His thorough investigation of the pantry revealed no
evidence of recent use. The ice box was dry as a bone, with the musty
smell of long disuse. A touch of the finger on various dishes and pieces
of glassware showed that these also were covered with a film of dust.
Before leaving the kitchen, Morgan glanced into the sink, to ascertain if,
as often happens, the murderer had washed his hands there. There was
a reddish stain about the outlet, but as Morgan found this covered with
dust her surmised that a long time had elapsed since any water had been
run in the sink. This stain was presumably the rust which usually
gathers in a long unused sink or basin.
The small maid's room off the kitchen had certainly not been in use.
Only the bare mattress was on the bed, and Morgan noticed that as his
own feet left imprints in the dust on the floor, it was not likely that
anyone else could have been in the room without leaving similar traces.
Next he thoroughly searched the dining room. As this room usually
seems to be the favorite gathering point, both for