ng a
heavy, upholstered chair back into position. His moving of similar
articles of furniture had made the sounds heard by Murphy.

Stepping suddenly into the room, Murphy inquired, with a note of
sarcasm in his voice, "Kind of busy, ain't you?"

Marsh turned abruptly. If they expected to see any signs of
confusion on his face they were disappointed, for he simply smiled
cheerfully.

"Just following out a line of thought," he answered.

"What's the big idea!" asked the plain-clothes man, suspiciously, as
he also stepped into the room and carefully looked over the man
before him.

"Well, detectives in novels always search minutely for things which
may not be apparent to the eye. When confronted with so deep a
mystery as this one, I thought the application of a little of the
story book stuff might do no harm."

"Huh!" snorted the plain-clothes man, as Marsh finished giving this
information. "You're more than commonly interested in this affair,
ain't you?"

"Naturally," agreed Marsh. "Remember, I live just below, and
wouldn't like to be murdered in my bed some night. To hear a murder
over your head is a bit disconcerting."

"How the devil do we know there's been a murder?" shot back the
plain-clothes man. "We've only got your word for it."

"But this officer also heard the shot," and Marsh turned toward
Murphy. "He was looking for the trouble when I met him."

"Yes," Murphy admitted. "I heard the shot, but I only got your word
for it that it was here. If there was a murder, what became of the
body?"

"That is for you gentlemen to find out," Marsh snapped back, now
evidently alive to the fact that these men were regarding him with
something approaching suspicion. "I have already done more than my
share of the work. I have discovered visible proof THAT THERE WAS A
MURDER!"

This information startled the group of policemen. Hasty glances
swept the room for a moment. Then the plain-clothes man remarked,
with a meaning smile, "Well, I'M from Missouri."

Marsh walked over to where the policemen stood.

"Take a look around," he began. "There are certain accepted ways of
placing the furniture in a room. When there is a radical departure
from such placing, an inquiring mind is led to wonder. Notice the
chair I was just moving. It is located almost in the center of the
room--obviously not its regular position. So why was it there?"

"Say, you'd make some detective!" came in an admiring tone from
Murphy. The oth