"Yes."

  "Sixty feet would be twenty yards. That's some K. ' distance to shoot and put two bullets in such a close grouping.

  "I guess so. 1 didn't aim. I just pointed and shot."

  "All right," Dr Dixon said. "Now that you've told me this, 1 don't want you to do any more talking. Your preliminary examination is this afternoon. Have your attorney call me as a witness."

  "My attorney isn't going to put on any evidence," Trenton said. "He says he'll cross-examine the prosecutions witnesses, get all the information he can, and then let the judge bind me over. He says that's what the judge will do anyway, and we'd be foolish to disclose our hand."

  "Nevertheless," Dr Dixon said, "1 want you to insist that your attorney call me as a witness."

  "What can you do if we call you?"

  Dr Dixon said, "I think 1 can help a lot, Rob. 1 want to find the real murderer. I'm going to talk with your lawyer now. I'm going to give him a list of questions that I want him to ask me, and a list of questions that I want him to ask the doctor who originally examined the body and removed the bullets. But you're going to have to help me. I want you to insist that your attorney does exactly as 1 have outlined."

  "He won't want to?"

  "1 don't know. I've tried to talk with him. He wouldn't see me. He said he didn't want to talk about the case. I'm going to try to see him again. I'm going to tell him that if he's going to really help you in your case, he's going to have to see me. I'm going to need your co-operation."

  "The way things are right now, I've been too credulous," Trenton said.

  "And so," Dr Dixon observed sarcastically, "you've decided now to go to the other extreme, is that right?"

  Trenton thought the matter over for a moment or two, then said, "All right, go ahead. You play ball with me and I'm going to play ball with you. Where's Linda Carroll? Do you know?"

  Dr Dixon shook his head.

  "Have you tried to see her?"

  "Quite a few people are trying to see her."

  "Where is she?"

  "No one seems to know."

  "Her aunt knows."

  "If her aunt knows, she isn't telling. She swears she doesn't know."

  "Linda's testimony should be able to help me."

  "She's disappeared."

  "Deliberately?"

  "Apparently so."

  Rob Trenton said morosely, "All right, I've given you what you wanted. Go ahead and do something. What are you sticking around here for?"

  "To answer questions," Dr Dixon said smiling.

  "Well," Rob said, getting up out of the chair and walking over to the barred window, "you've answered them."

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  A big State Police laboratory truck was parked under the shade of a huge oak on the east side of the river.

  Down by the wharf, across the river, a mile away, two uniformed men were moving slowly, studying every inch of the wood.

  At length, one of the men said, "Look here, Gerry. See what you make of this."

  He indicated a section of one of the upthrust piles to which mooring lines had been fastened. There was a section of rotted wood above the place where the lines were tied, and a very careful, very close inspection showed that there had been some disturbance in this rotted wood.

  Using the tip of his finger, the police officer scraped away this rotted wood until he came to wood of a firmer consistency, then carefully using a knife, he uncovered a round hole.

  A field telephone wire ran up to and across the bridge and communicated with the laboratory truck. "Looks like we've found a bullet," Gerry said over the wire. "Better take a look."

  A few moments later, Dr Dixon, in company with one of the technicians from the laboratory truck, drove across the stage bridge and out to the pier. They examined the hole, then Dr Dixon nodded.

  The men carefully sawed through the pile below the hole. When they removed the section of pile it was split with wedges until a .32 calibre bullet could be seen embedded in a hole which had been neatly split into two parts.

  Dr Dixon handed the bullet to the technician. "Let's take a look at this," he said.

  They hurried back to the truck. The comparison microscope was mounted so that electric lights furnished an even illumination.

  The technician centred a bullet marked 'test bullet' on one side of the comparison microscope, and the bullet which had been recovered from the cross-section of pile on the other side. He placed his eyes at the eyepieces of the comparison microscope and began slowly turning a knob which rotated one of the bullets. Abruptly he stopped, turned the knob back a fraction of an inch, then raised his fingers to the screw which adjusted the focus of the microscope.

  "Well?" Dr Dixon asked anxiously.

  "They're the same," the technician said, "fired from the same gun. Take a look."

  Dr Dixon settled himself on the stool vacated by the technician, applied his eyes to the microscope, studied the two bullets carefully. "That does it," he said. "We've had to stretch our jurisdiction to get the evidence, but this is it. They were both fired from the same gun."

  "Where does that leave us?" the technician asked.

  There was the ghost of a twinkle in Dr Dixon's eyes. "That leaves us with three bullets and two empty cartridge cases."

  "Then we're short one cartridge case."

  "On the contrary," Dr Dixon said, "we're long one bullet."

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  The preliminary hearing of Robert Trenton for the murder of Harvey Richmond was very much of a cut-and-dried procedure so far as the People's case was concerned.

  Having proven the identity of the charred corpse by a chart of the teeth and the testimony of a dentist, Norton Berkeley, the prosecutor, called Dr Nathan Beaumont to the stand.

  Dr Beaumont, crisply professional, testified that he had been called to the burned houseboat, that he had been shown the charred remains of the deceased by the sheriff; that he had at first decided death was from burning, but in order to make certain, had taken X-ray photographs of the charred body. These X-ray photographs had disclosed the presence of two bullets. He had, therefore, carefully probed for and located the bullets. From their position in the body, he would say that one of them had completely perforated the heart, the other had been immediately above the heart, puncturing a large blood vessel. In the doctor's opinion, either bullet would have been instantly fatal.

  The doctor testified that he had marked these bullets so he could identify them, and had delivered them to the coroner. The two bullets, which he now produced to be introduced in evidence, were the same bullets he had taken from the charred body. He would give it as his opinion that death was produced

  by gunshot wounds, that in fact he would go further and state death was caused by the two bullets he had produced.

  On cross-examination, Staunton Irvine, the attorney representing Rob Trenton, having studied the list of questions which Dr Dixon had told Trenton to deliver to his attorney, launched a somewhat half-hearted cross-examination.

  "Had the investigation stopped when the bullets were found?"

  Dr Beaumont fixed the attorney with a scornful eye and said patronisingly, "I was employed to find the cause of death. I found the cause of death."

  "And then you ceased to investigate, Doctor?"

  "Having found that for which I was searching, I ceased searching - which is a natural thing to do."

  "Was there evidence of haemorrhage in the vicinity of the bullets?"

  "There was. That is, there was as much evidence as you could expect. The body had been charred, literally cooked."

  "You're certain that these bullets were the cause of death?"

  "As certain as I am that I'm sitting here."

  Dr Beaumont impatiently glanced at his wristwatch.

  "That's all," Irvine said.

  The doctor was excused. The next witness was a ballistic expert who introduced the .32 automatic into evidence, produced a test bullet which had been fired from it and identified the two bullets as having been fired from that particular .32 automatic

  "Call Merton Ostrander," the district attorney said.

  Merton Ostrander arose and said, "I feel that I can contribute nothing and ..."

  "Come forward and be sworn," the district attorney said.

  "I prefer not to."

  "Your preferences have nothing whatever to do with it," the judge said. "Come forward, young man, hold up your right hand and be sworn."

  Ostrander hesitated, then, with quite obvious reluctance, walked down the aisle, opened the swinging gate in the bar which separated the litigants, witnesses and attorneys from the others, and advanced towards the witness-stand, where he was sworn.

  "Sit right down there," the judge said..

  "Now then," District Attorney Berkeley said in a loud, dramatic voice, "I have here, Your Honour, a hostile witness. It's going to be necessary to ask him some leading questions. He is testifying with obvious reluctance and ..."

  "Go ahead," the judge said. "1 will be able to see the attitude of the witness without having someone point it out to me."

  The district attorney said, "Mr Ostrander, I'll call your attention to the night of the twentieth. Did you know the defendant at that time?"

  "I did. Yes, sir."

  "Did you see the defendant on that night?"

  "Yes, sir."

  "Did he have some weapon with him?"

  Ostrander hesitated.

  "Answer the question," snapped the district attorney.

  "Yes, sir, he did."

  "Have you ever seen this .32 automatic before?" the district attorney asked, and then added, "Let the record show that 1 am handing the witness People's exhibit number three."

  "1 ... 1 believe I have."

  "Don't you know?"

  "Yes."

  "Have you?"

  "Yes." "Where?"

  "I saw it late on the evening of the twentieth, or rather earlier, on the morning of the twenty-first." . "At about what time?" "Around two o'clock in the morning." "And who had that weapon?" Ostrander changed position.

  "Mr Ostrander, I asked you a question. Who had that weapon?"

  "Robert Trenton." "The defendant?" "Yes, sir."

  "Did he make any statement in connection with it?" "He said that he had been held a captive and had made his escape, and that he had taken this weapon with him to protect himself."

  "And did he say anything about having shot it?"

  "Yes. He said he had fired it."

  "How many times?"

  "Twice."

  "At what?"

  "At ... well, in order to force someone on the houseboat to keep his distance; to keep that person from coming ashore." "And where was it this conversation took place?" "At the home of Linda Mae Carroll." "What's the address?"

  "Two hundred and five East Robinson Street, Falthaven."

  "Who was present?"

  "Linda Mae Carroll, her niece Linda Carroll, Robert Trenton and I."

  "Anyone else?" "No one else."

  "How did it happen that you were there, Mr Ostrander?"

  "I had been in contact with Miss Linda Carroll earlier in the day. I decided to try and locate her at the residence of her aunt, Linda Mae Carroll. At that time it was quite late in the evening and ..."

  "How late?"

  "Well, 1 would say it was around eleven o'clock or eleven-thirty, perhaps a little later."

  "Very well, go on. What happened?"

  "And Linda Mae Carroll, that's Miss Carroll's aunt, had retired for the night. She got up, however, and very graciously insisted that 1 stay all night, when it later appeared I'd missed the bus."

  "Cross-examine," the district attorney said.

  Staunton Irvine said belligerently, "How do you know this is the same weapon that you saw?"

  "There was a question about notifying the police," Ostrander said, "and after some discussion it was decided to wait until morning, and go back to the place where the ... well, where the trouble had occurred, and look around a bit."

  "Why?"

  "Well, it was ... it was late, about two o'clock in the morning and we thought things would keep. Robert Trenton was labouring under a misapprehension."

  "What was the misapprehension?"

  "He thought that ... well, it seemed that the automobile which ... I guess I hadn't better go into that."

  "What 1 am getting at is, how do you know it is the same gun?"

  "Because we wrote down the numbers on the gun, and then it was locked in the desk at the suggestion of one of the parties."

  "Who made that suggestion? Do you know?"

  "I think Linda Mae Carroll did."

  "And who had the key to the desk?"

  "Why, I believe ..." "Did yauT

  "Yes."

  "You're certain of that?"

  "Yes."

  "No further questions," Irvine said, and, turning to Trenton whispered, "I'm afraid to cross-examine him. He keeps making it worse."

  "Just a moment," the district attorney said, as Ostrander started to leave the witness-stand. "There are a few questions on redirect examination. You said something about an automobile which had been a subject of discussion. What was that about?"

  "Objected to as incompetent, irrelevant, and immaterial and not proper redirect examination," Irvine said.

  "But," the district attorney announced suavely, "you brought out the facts concerning this conversation in your cross-examination. Having shown a part of the conversation, I'm certainly entitled to show all of it."

  "Objection overruled," the judge said. "Answer the question."

  Ostrander said, uncomfortably, "Robert Trenton thought perhaps the automobile, which had been loaned him by Miss Carroll, had been used in connection with some sort of... well, some illegal activity."

  "Do you mean the smuggling of narcotics?"

  "Yes."

  "Well, why didn't you say so then?"

  "1 ... it's a subject 1 don't care to go into."

  "We're investigating a murder," the judge reprimanded. "Your personal feelings are to be relegated to the background, sir. You're a witness. Do you understand that?"

  "Yes, Your Honour," Ostrander said.

  "Proceed," the judge ordered.

  "Just what was that conversation?"

  "Well, after we arrived in port. Miss Linda Carroll wanted Robert Trenton to drive the automobile. Some friends were meeting her and she suggested that he drive the automobile home and then she would pick it up later. Well, Trenton told us he'd had a flat tyre and in looking around on the underside of the car he'd found a bulge. He told us he purchased a cold chisel and removed this metallic pocket which had been welded to the car, and ... well, there was some dope in there."

  "Indeed?" the district attorney said sarcastically. "And at this conversation did Mr Trenton say what he had done with this dope?"

  "He buried it."

  "And he accused Miss Caroll of having been guilty of smuggling?"

  "Not that, but he ... he said he was trying to get an explanation."

  "And you conveniently forgot to tell the police all about this, didn't you?"

  "I haven't been asked before."

  "1 see," the district attorney said significantly, and then added, "Do you know where Miss Linda Carroll is now?"

  "No, sir. I do not."

  "Very well, that's all," the district attorney said, and then, with something of a sneer at counsel for the defence, said, "Does counsel lor the defence have any further questions on re-cross- examination?"

  "None, Your Honour," Irvine said uncomfortably.

  "Call Linda Mae Carroll to the stand," the district attorney announced triumphantly.

  Linda Mae Carroll took the oath, seated herself on the stand, pointed her nose at the district attorney and clamped her lips together.

  "You've heard Mr Merton Ostrander's testimony?" "Yes."

  "Is it correct?"

  "Yes, 1 suppose so."

  "What time did this conversation with Mr Trenton take place?"

  "Right around two o'clock in the morning, I think it was."

  "And Trenton produced this gun for your inspection?"

  "Well, he produced it."

  "And what did you do with it?"

  "Told Merton Ostrander to lock it up right away. I didn't want to have a gun hanging around the house. 1 asked him if it was loaded and he took out the clip and showed me that it was loaded. I believe the clip was full except for two shells. I told him to put the clip back and lock that gun up somewhere."

  "Then what did you do?"

  "I remembered the desk had a lock on it, so I had him put it in the desk and 1 suggested Merton Ostrander keep the key."

  "Was there any conversation about your niece having been a party to smuggling?"

  "Certainly not."

  "You heard what Mr Ostrander said, didn't you?"

  "That," Linda Mae Carroll said with dignity, "is something else again. Robert Trenton was merely describing something that had happened to the automobile. It didn't have anything to do with my niece."

  "Your recollection of the conversation is approximately the same as that of Mr Ostrander? You have nothing to add to his testimony?"

  "I guess that's about it," she said, "but don't you think for a minute that Rob Trenton aimed that gun at this man, fired and hit him. He just pointed it in the man's general direction and fired to frighten that man; and don't you think for a minute that he's a good enough shot to put two shots within a space no bigger than the size of your hand, at night... that's absurd."

  "We are not asking you for your opinion, Madam," the judge said sharply.

  "Do you know where your niece, Linda Carroll, is?" the district attorney asked.

  "i do not," she snapped at him. "All I know is that she's been hounded to death by policemen and newspapermen until she's on the verge of a nervous breakdown, and she's gone to some place to try and get a little privacy. I dont know where it is, and if 1 did I wouldn't tell you. She'll show up at the proper time, don't worry about that."

  "This is the proper time," the district attorney said.

  "That may be what you think, but I don't need you to do my thinking for me. I'll know when's the proper time, and so will she."

  "You know, do you not, that we have made every effort to locate her?"