"But now you are talking about a sly, clever operator, Schnell. This is a plain case of homicide and burglary." _Plain?_ Was he kidding himself? I smiled crookedly. "Chief, there is no doubt in my mind that our crook intended to clean out Gordon Andrews' safe without disturbing a soul. But the imminent awakening of Andrews presented a physical threat that had to be silenced immediately." "So that is the work of your sly thief?" "Chief, just remember that Gordon Andrews was an eccentric old sourpuss who hated to do business with bankers. Now let's suppose that Andrews had awakened in the morning to find his safe cleaned out. He screeches for the cops. We come a-roaring in with the fingerprint detail and the safe specialists and the break-in experts. We find," I said with a wave of my hand, "everything just as we found it here and now. So we look Gordon Andrews in the eye and tell him that no one _could_ get in, no one _had_ gotten in, and that we suspect him of cleaning out his own safe and yelling 'Copper' to make trouble for the Mayor and the Commissioner, who refused to appoint him a special detail of city employees for bodyguards last year." "Go on, Schnell," said Chief Weston with deadly patience. "The homicide was a spur-of-the-moment necessity. Had it been planned, the crook would have plugged Andrews with the old man's personal Banker's Special, which he kept on the bedside table, and made it look like suicide." "Know a lot about Andrews, don't you, Schnell?" "What do you mean, Chief?" "About the Banker's Special." "I have an excellent memory," I said. "Andrews had a license for the thing. The serial number is 233,467,819 and the gun and license were acquired on August seventh, 1951." * * * * * The Chief sarcastically grunted, "Has it been fired since?" "It was fired six times at the date of delivery by the police laboratory for the land-mark records," I said. "Let's not try being funny, Schnell. This is a serious business. Andrews was an eccentric old curmudgeon, but he was also a philanthropist, and the papers will be after our throats if we don't come up with this super-criminal." "He's going to be damned tough, Chief." "Okay, this is your project. Nothing else matters until he's caught and convicted--of homicide committed during the course of grand robbery, meaning automatic hot seat." I nodded slowly. "Just remember, Schnell--the whole department's behind you," Chief Weston assured me.