Detective and mystery stories; Stone, Fleming (Fictitious character) -- Fiction
“H’m,” the attorney scanned the paper. “We find, Mr. Lockwood, fresh
finger prints on the chair which stood near Doctor Waring’s desk. Facing
the Doctor’s chair, in fact, as if some one had sat there talking to him.
Did you?”
“No; I never sat down and talked to him. I was always waiting on him in
the matter of bringing books or taking letters for transcription, and in
any case, I either stood, or sat at my desk, never in that chair you
speak of.”
“This man will take the finger prints of all present,” the Attorney
directed, and one and all submitted to the process.
Old Salt Adams was greatly interested.
“But you can’t get the prints of Friend Jap,” he said. “Like’s not, he’d
be of more importance than all of us put together. Me, now, I can’t see
where I come in.”
Yet, after time enough had passed to complete the processes, it was
learned that the finger prints on the shiny black wood of the chair under
discussion were indubitably those of Gordon Lockwood. Also, there were
other prints there, slightly smaller, that Cray immediately assumed to be
those of the missing Japanese.
Lockwood looked more supercilious than usual, if that were possible.
“How can you identify the prints of a man not here?” he asked with an
incredulous look.
“Supposition not identification,” said Cray, gravely. “But we’re
narrowing these things down, and we may yet get identification.”
“Get the Jap back,” advised Old Salt Adams. “That’s your next move, Cray.
Get him, check up his finger prints and all that, and best of all get his
confession. There’s your work cut out for you.”
“Find Doctor Waring’s will,” Mrs. Bates lamented. “There’s your work cut
out for you. I am not unduly mercenary, but when I know how anxious
Doctor Waring was that I should inherit his estate, when I realize what
it meant that he drew this will before our marriage, so urgent was his
desire that all should be mine, you must understand that I do not
willingly forego it all in favor of a distant relative, whom, Mr.
Crimmins tells us, Doctor Waring did not care for at all.”
“I should say not!” and Crimmins looked positive. “It will be an outrage
if Mr. Trask inherits the estate already willed to Mrs. Bates. I stand
ready to do all I can to see justice done in this matter.”
“But justice, as you see it, can only result from finding the will,” said
Cray.
“Yes,” agreed Crimmins, “and the whole matter opens up a new train of
thought. May not the distant cousin, this man Trask be in some way
responsible for the destruction of the will and the death of the
decedent?”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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