as a safe guess that he
would endeavor soon to communicate with Beard either in person or by
letter, and the moment he did so he would reveal himself to the
authorities.

Of the utmost importance, however, was the report of the Coroner's
physician. The autopsy on Whitmore's body disclosed that the bullet
which killed the merchant had entered the abdomen at the right side,
traveled upward through the abdominal cavity, escaping the vital organs
in its path until it reached the spleen, which it perforated. The bullet
did not pass out of the body and was held by the Coroner as a gruesome
exhibit, to be used against whomever might be accused of Whitmore's
murder.

It was the path which the bullet had traveled that interested Britz. The
absence of powder marks, the disappearance of the pistol with which the
mortal shot was fired, effectually eliminated the theory of suicide.
Yet, a man seated in a chair, and bent on self-destruction, might easily
have inflicted the wound described by the Coroner's physician. Before
arriving at any definite conclusion, however, as to the position of the
assassin when he sent the bullet into Whitmore's body, the detective
decided to study the enlarged photograph of the wound which he had
ordered the official photographer to make.

He found the picture on his desk at Police Headquarters. Greig had
preceded him by two hours to the building in Mulberry street, and was
deep in the intricacies of the case when Britz summoned him. He entered
the room, followed a moment or two later, by Manning.

"What do you make of it?" asked Britz, holding up the picture.

"Pretty jagged wound," commented Manning.

Britz produced a magnifying glass through which the three men examined
the wound more critically.

"There are two perforations of the skin where the bullet entered," Britz
pointed out. "Undoubtedly they were made by the needle which I picked
off the floor of Whitmore's office."

"Well, what of that?" asked the chief.

"It confirms my belief that I have solved the mystery of how Whitmore
was killed."

"I don't see it," snapped the chief. "If you do, why don't you enlighten
us?"

"Because I can't be positive until I have more evidence," answered
Britz, unmoved by the other's irritation. "However, I believe that
before many days we shall have solved the entire case."

The conversation was interrupted at this juncture by the telephone bell.
Britz lifted the receiver to his ear, made several r