The Photographer's Evidence; Or, Clever but CrookedCarter, Nicholas (House name)
General
The Photographer's Evidence; Or, Clever but Crooked
Carter, Nicholas (House name)
Detective and mystery stories; Dime novels; Popular literature
“What do you mean?” he demanded.
“It’s my business to be here,” said Nick, coldly. “I am a detective,
and my name is Nicholas Carter.”
“Oh!” exclaimed the undertaker, and his eyes grew large. He did not
seem to be able to take them off the famous man, of whom he had heard
so much. “Oh!” he added, after a pause.
“If that makes a difference,” said Nick, “you may show us the body.”
“Certainly, anything you want, Mr. Carter. Only too proud.”
He led the way to a back room, and for a minute or two Nick and Patsy
stood there studying the still, cold form.
“Can I do anything more for you?” asked the undertaker, as they turned
away.
“No, thank you.”
“I suppose you’ll see the clergyman’s friend, won’t you?”
“Do you mean Mr. Folsom?”
“Yes, sir. The hotel people, you see, Mr. Carter, told me to take
charge of the body, and I supposed it would be a kind of charity case,
as, of course, the hotel people had no interest in the unfortunate man.
But if Mr. Folsom was his friend, perhaps he’d like to order a better
casket, don’t you see. If——”
“I’ll speak to Mr. Folsom about it.”
“Thank you, sir. Perhaps you’d like to look at some of my caskets, and
advise Mr. Folsom——”
“I’ll leave that to him.”
“Oh! very well, sir; but if you don’t mind speaking to him about the
matter. It would be too bad to bury a clergyman in an ordinary——”
By this time Nick and Patsy were out of hearing.
When they were about halfway to the hotel, Nick remarked:
“It wasn’t suicide.”
“No,” responded Patsy. “I could see that. The thing that killed him was
the breaking of the back of his skull on the sidewalk; but he had a
black and blue mark over the right eye. That wasn’t made by his fall.”
“Certainly not. It was made by the blow that sent him reeling through
the window.”
“That information will make your friend Folsom feel better, won’t it?”
“I judge so, as his telegram told me that he feared suicide, and hoped
that it was murder.
“But,” added Nick, “I don’t think I shall be in a hurry to ease
Folsom’s mind. We’ll wait till we have heard the whole story before
letting him know what we think. It may be handy to give out the report
that we believe it a case of suicide.”
“I’m on,” said Patsy.
They found Kerr and Folsom waiting for them in room fourteen, and they
sat down at once to dinner.
While they were eating, Kerr told the whole story as far as he knew it.
Naturally, he mentioned Claymore’s name as the witness to Hank Low’s
threats.
“Who is this Claymore?” asked Nick, as he lighted a cigar at the end of
the meal.
“He’s a Denver business man,” replied Kerr. “I have no acquaintance
with him. I believe he hasn’t been here more than a year or so.”
“Less than a year, I guess,” said Folsom.
“Why, do you know him?” asked Nick.
“No,” replied Folsom, “except as I have talked with him this afternoon,
but I remember now that his name is on the letters sent out by the oil
company of which Judson was president. Claymore is the secretary of the
concern, I believe.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account