“I’m almost ready to dismiss the notion of a murderer at all.” “Why so?” demanded both the others. “Because there was no murder, probably.” “How do you make that out?” queried Bain. “From the nature of the wounds that caused death.” “They look to me to be just such wounds as would be made by a blow with a heavy club.” “Several blows with a heavy club might have caused such wounds. But the blows would have had to be delivered peculiarly. A circle on the skull, six inches in diameter, impinging on the right ear, is crushed in. If you can imagine a man swinging a baseball bat at the height of his shoulder, repeatedly and with great force, at the victim’s head, you can infer such a crushing in of the bone. My imagination hardly carries me so far.” “Beating down from above would be the natural way,” said Bain. “Certainly. No such blow ever made that wound.” “Then how was it made?” asked Sedgwick. “Probably by a fall from the cliff to the rocks below.” “And the fall broke the manacle from the right wrist?” “The broken manacle was never on the right wrist.” “That’s merely conjecture,” said the lawyer. “No; it’s certainty. A blow heavy enough to break that iron, old as it is, must have left a mark on the flesh. There was no mark.” “Why should any one put one handcuff on a woman and leave the other dangling?” “Suppose the other was not left dangling?” “Where was it, then?” “On the wrist of some other person, possibly.” “A man had chained the woman to himself?” said Sedgwick incredulously. “More probably the other way round.” “That’s even more unbelievable.” “Not if you consider the evidence. You will remember that your mysterious visitor, while talking with you, carried a heavy bundle. The manacles were, I infer, in that.” “But what conceivable motive could the dead woman have in dressing herself up like a party, going to meet a man, and chaining him to herself?” “When you have a bizarre crime you must look for bizarre motives. Just at present I’m dealing with facts. The iron was on the left wrist of the body; therefore, it was on the right wrist of the unknown companion. It is natural to perform a quick deft act like snapping on a handcuff, with the right hand. Hence, presumably, your visitor was the one who clamped the cuffs.” “And the man broke off his?” “Yes. But only after a struggle, undoubtedly. If I could find a man with a badly bruised right wrist, I should consider the trail’s end in sight. You’ll make inquiries, will you, Mr. Bain?” “I will, and I’ll keep an eye on Len Schlager and the doc. Anything more now? If not, I’ll say good night.” After the lawyer had made his way into the darkness, Kent turned to his host. “This affair is really becoming a very pretty problem. Why didn’t you tell me of your meeting with Simon P. Groot?” “Who?” “The patriarch in the circus wagon.” “Oh! I’d forgotten. Why, when I was trying to trail the woman, I chanced upon him and asked if he had seen her. He hadn’t.”