else emerged. Biranne had locked the door.' 'Locked the door of Radeechy's room? On the inside? T 'Yes. McGrath said, «And then Mr Biranne let me in».' 'Was McGrath telling the truth?' 'I'm assuming so.' 'I suppose one might – do it instinctively?' 'An odd instinct. Of course the door could only have been locked for a moment. McGrath reached the door, he reckons, less than a minute after the shot. But why was it locked at all? However, wait, there's more. I began to think then about that scene, what might have happened in those few moments, and I noticed something which I ought to have noticed straight away as soon as I saw the police photographs.' 'What?' 'Radeechy was left-handed.' 'I never spotted that. So –?' 'No, you mightn't have. But one left-handed man notices another. One of the few serious conversations I ever had with Radeechy was about the causes of left-handedness. He told me he was completely helpless with his right hand.' 'Well –?' 'The gun was lying on the desk beside Radeechy's right hand.' 'Good heavens,' said Octavian. Then he said, 'I suppose he might have used his right hand –?' 'No. You just imagine shooting yourself with your left hand.' 'Might it have fallen there somehow out of his other hand?' 'Impossible, I think. I looked at the photographs carefully.' 'So what follows?' 'Wait a minute. Now Biranne did say that he'd moved the gun – ' 'Yes, but he said he only moved it an inch to see Radeechy's face and then pushed it back where it was.' 'Precisely – ' 'Oh God,' said Octavian, 'you don't think that Biranne killed him, do you?' 'No, I don't – ' 'Biranne hasn't the temperament, and besides why – ' 'I don't know about Biranne's temperament. Anyway, find the motive and the temperament will look after itself.' 'Of course that could be the perfect crime, couldn't it. Go into a man's room, shoot him, and then «discover» the body.' 'Possibly. Though consider the difficulties in this case. The shot was fired from very close quarters into the mouth. However, let me go on with the tale. I went over to Scotland Yard. You remember I asked you to get the to say a word to those boys over there. Evidently he did, because they were all dying to help me for a change. I wanted to check the fingerprints on the revolver, to see whether they were left-hand prints and whether they were in the right place.' 'And –?' 'They were left-hand prints all right, and they were, as far as I could see, in the proper place. Not that that proves anything conclusive, but at any rate he'd had his hand on the gun in such a way that he could have fired it himself. Now Biranne said he'd touched the gun. How did he say this? Did he seem particularly nervous and upset? T I 'Yes!' said Octavian. 'But we were all jolly nervous and upset! We're not used to death after lunch!' 'Naturally. Well, there were Biranne's fingerprints all right upon the barrel of the gun only. You remember he gave his fingerprints to the police.' 'Yes. Rather officiously, I thought at the time. None of this proves he didn't shoot Radeechy, wipe the gun clean and press the thing into Radeechy's hand. Hence perhaps the locked door.' 'No. But if he'd had the knowledge to press it into Radeechy's left hand he'd have had the knowledge to leave the gun on the left side of the desk.' 'That's true. I suppose that lets Biranne out. Unless it's all fiendish cunning…' 'No, no, I don't believe anything of that sort. Well, to continue. I then followed up an idea I'd had. You remember those old-fashioned stiff starched collars Radeechy used to wear?' 'Yes.' 'Biranne's fingerprints were also on Radeechy's collar.' 'On his collar? You don't think there was a fight or something?, 'I rather doubt that. There was no other evidence of a fight. I think it means that Biranne moved the body.' 'An odd thing to do. And he didn't say he did. Why ever –?, 'You remember,' said Ducane, 'that you were puzzled because there was no suicide note, it seemed so out of character? T 'You think – You think Biranne searched the body and took away the note?' 'Well, it's a possibility. If Biranne and Radeechy were in something together, Biranne might have been afraid of what Radeechy might have in his pockets. I feel sure he searched the body, whether to get hold of the suicide note or of something else. The mistake with the gun also suggests that Biranne was taken by surprise. He panicked, knew he'd only got a moment for his search, locked the door – a rather dangerous thing to do – and then, one can picture it, pushed the gun out of the way, pulled Radeechy back in the chair in order to get at all his pockets. Then when he'd let Radeechy fall back on the desk he instinctively put the gun beside his right hand.' 'Could be, could be,' said Octavian. 'I thought at the time at least I didn't think, it was just vaguely in my mind – how neatly the gun was lying beside the right hand. Whereas it might have fallen anywhere but there.' 'Yes,' said Ducane ruefully. 'I thought of that afterwards. I'm afraid I haven't been very bright, Octavian. And I ought to have noticed at once that the gun was on the wrong side, and if I'd been there I might have, only in the photographs it was harder to see.' 'But isn't it an odd coincidence that Biranne was there, the nearest person, when it happened? Can we be certain Biranne didn't – kill him – it's an awful idea and I can't believe it, but it is all so strange.' 'We can't be certain, but I don't believe Biranne killed him. If he had he would have pressed the gun into Radeechy's right hand or laid it on the left side of the desk. He wouldn't have got one thing right and the other thing wrong. I don't believe it anyway. As for the coincidence – well, it might be a coincidence. Or Radeechy might have done it suddenly as a result of something Biranne said to him. We don't know that Biranne wasn't in the room before the shot. Or Radeechy might have summoned Biranne to see him do it.' 'It's weird,' said Octavian. 'And pretty disconcerting. Radeechy didn't know anything which had any security interest, but Biranne knows practically the whole bag of tricks. What could they have been up to?» 'Not that, I feel pretty sure,' said Ducane. 'No. I think it's something much odder, something to do with Radeechy's magic.' 'McGrath didn't say anything what Biranne did at Radeechy's place?' 'No. McGrath just saw him arriving there. I think McGrath was telling the truth. I frightened him a bit.' 'We've sacked the blighter now, by the way.' 'That's all right. I'm afraid I've got everything I can out of him.' 'What did the Scotland Yard boys think of all this? Won't they want to take it over? T 'They don't know! I took the fingerprints myself. I told them some yarn.' 'Mmm. Let's not be in trouble later!' 'Let me decide this, Octavian. We shall have to tell the police. But I don't want Biranne startled just yet.' 'You're not going to ask him to explain? T 'Not yet. I want to do this thing properly. I want another lead. I want Helen of Troy. She's the missing link now.' Ducane's Bentley moved slowly along with the rush hour traffic over the curved terracotta-coloured surface
