— III —HOWELLS DELIVERS HIMSELF
TO THE ABANDONED ROOM
For a long time no one spoke. The body of Silas Blackburn had been alone in a locked room, yet before their eyes it lay, turned on its side, as if to inform them of the fashion of this murder. The tiny hole at the base of the brain, the blood-stain on the pillow, which the head had concealed, offered their mute and ghastly testimony.
Doctor Groom was the first to relax. He raised his great, hairy hand to the bed-post and grasped it. His rumbling voice lacked its usual authority. It vibrated with a childish wonder:
“I’m reminded that it isn’t the first time there’s been blood from a man’s head on that pillow.”
Katherine nodded.
“What do you mean?” the detective snarled. “There’s only one answer to this. There must have been a mecha
