"But that couldn't have been, Doctor," the district attorney shouted. "Your testimony is against all the evidence. The gun was fired twice, prior to the time the fire started, and after that the gun was accounted for all the time."

  "How do you know it was accounted for all the time?" Dr Dixon asked.

  "It was locked in a desk."

  "And who had the key to that desk?"

  The district attorney said, "But that's an absurd situation, Your Honour. It assumed a weird, bizarre sequence of events for which there is no evidence."

  Merton Ostrander, on his feet, said from his place in the front row of spectators. "Your Honour, I had that key. It did not leave my possession all night. 1 resent any implication which is being made and demand an opportunity to vindicate myself."

  "Just a minute," the judge observed, banging his gavel for order. "You've already testified, and if the Court wants any more testimony from you, it'll call you to the witness-stand where you'll be under oath and we'll find out what all this is about. I don't want any comment from the spectators."

  The judge ran his hand over his forehead, then scratched at the back of his head thoughtfully.

  Staunton Irvine said, "Your Honour, I think we are all overlooking one very significant factor in the situation. There was present at that house a young woman, Linda Carroll, the niece of Linda Mae Carroll. This young woman was present throughout the entire European trip. It was on the car of this young woman that the concealed heroin was found. This young woman was at the house when the defendant arrived with this automatic weapon and this young woman has now mysteriously vanished. I have tried to serve a subpoena on her and have been unable to locate her. It is in evidence that police have searched for her, and searched in vain. I now believe that my client is entitled to ..."

  "Don't you say a word against my niece," Linda Mae snapped, getting to her feet. "She's a good girl, she'll show up when it's time for her to show up. She isn't going to have her name dragged through the mud, and what's more she's nervous. She ..."

  The judge banged his gavel furiously. "I've repeatedly admonished the spectators," he said, "not to interject comments."

  "I'm not interjecting a comment," Linda Mae said. "I'm trying to keep this Court from making a fool of itself."

  Despite the excitement of the spectators and the decorum of the Court, there was a burst of laughter.

  The judge pounded with the gavel for a moment, then suddenly smiled, and himself seemed to have some difficulty in refraining from laughing. However, he said, "That will do. Sit down, Miss Carroll. The Court will consider this matter in an orderly way."

  Staunton Irvine said, "Your Honour, 1 feel that Merton Ostrander's comments are very definitely in order. While it is true that I am representing the defendant in this action, 1 have known Merton Ostrander for years and can vouch for ..."

  "What are you here for?" the judge interrupted.

  "Why, Your Honour, I'm trying to see that justice is done."

  "You're supposed to be representing this defendant," the judge said.

  "I am, Your Honour, but I cannot help but state that I have known Merton Ostrander and can vouch for his integrity."

  "You don't have to vouch for anyone's integrity," the judge said. "You're supposed to be representing this defendant, and if there's any explanation for what's happened that makes him blameless, you're supposed to call that explanation to the attention of the Court."

  "Even if I know that it is too absurd to be tenable, Your Honour? I too wish to point out the same point which was previously raised, that there was another person present in that house, and ..."

  Rob Trenton suddenly pushed his chair back, got to his feet. "Your Honour," he asked, "do I have the privilege of making any comment?"

  "Not as long as you have an attorney to represent you."

  "Do 1 have the privilege of discharging that attorney?"

  "You do if you wish," the judge said.

  Trenton turned to the attorney. "You're discharged," he said.

  "1 resent that," Irvine said. "I've consistently endeavoured to protect your interests in a way that ..."

  "Never mind talking about what's gone before," Trenton said. "1 want to conduct my own defence from now on, and in order to do it 1 have to discharge you. Therefore, you're discharged. Do you understand that?"

  "I understand it, but I feel that such action, particularly taking place as it does in a public manner, is derogatory to my professional dignity and reputation and ..."

  "All right," the judge interrupted, "you're discharged. Now, young man, you want to say something. What is it?"

  Trenton said, "I want to ask Dr Dixon some more questions."

  "Go right ahead. The Court also has a few questions it would like to have answered. This procedure is probably a little irregular, but we're going to try and get to the bottom of this thing."

  Trenton said to Dr Dixon, "Are there any further facts you have, Doctor, which shed any light on what happened?"

  Dr Dixon's voice was deadly cold in its scientific accuracy. "There are several things. In the first place one wonders why the bullets, exhibits one and two, did not go entirely through the body. They very conveniently remained lodged in the vital organs.

  "If you will examine these bullets carefully you will find certain marks upon them which are virtually identical, yet which were not made by the grooves or lands of the barrel of the weapon, exhibit three.

  "It seems obvious that these are the marks made by pliers; that the bullets were first extracted from the cartridge cases so that some of the powder charge could be removed, that the bullets were then replaced in these weakened cartridge cases and then fired into the body of the deceased.

  "It will be remembered that the fire was out shortly after midnight, that the authorities did not find and inspect the boat until well after daylight.

  "I may further state that this morning 1 recovered a bullet from one of the piles on the little wharf to which the houseboat had been moored. That bullet was apparently a fresh bullet and it had been fired from the automatic which has been introduced in evidence as People's exhibit number three. 1 personally examined that bullet and compared it with a test bullet under a comparison microscope, and as a result, I know that it was fired and fired recently from the same weapon.

  "The Court will also note that in the event the deceased met his death at some appreciable interval after the fire started, the death was outside of the territorial limitations of this state, because the boat, according to the testimony of witnesses, and according to surveys that 1 have made very carefully, drifted out into the current and then across the stream where it lodged on a sandbar which is actually outside of this state."

  "Isn't there a statute providing for joint jurisdiction in crimes which occur within a reasonable distance of state boundary?" the judge as.K-j

  "lm a doctor, not a lawyer" Dr Dixon said.

  The district attorney said, "There are several statutes. I don't know whether they cover this case or not. There is a statute that when a person intending to commit a crime does anything in this state which culminates in the commission of a crime without the state, the effect is the same as though the crime had been committed entirely in this state, and there% also a statute providing that when an offence is started without the state but is consummated within the boundaries, even though the defendant was out of the state at the time of the commission of that crime, the defendant is liable just as though he were in this state."

  Rob Trenton said, "Well, Your Honour, I'm neither a doctor nor a lawyer, but it seems to me that the conditions mentioned by the district attorney have not been met in this case. If Harvey Richmond was killed by bullets fired before the fire took place, that murder may well have taken place in this state, but if he was killed by fire, even despite the fact there had been a previous blow on the head, it's a question of where the man was killed."

  "Or whether the fire was set deliberately," the judge said.

  The judge pursed his lips, frowned and once more scratched his head, then suddenly turned to the district attorney and said, "Mr District Attorney, as 1 understand it, the Court has the power in this case to bind the defendant over for trial and then, in the event it wishes to do so, release him on bail, or the Court has the power to dismiss the case entirely. Now, as 1 understand it, if the case is dismissed, that doesn't constitute any bar to arresting this man all over again in the event there should be other evidence uncovered which connects him with the crime."

  "No," the district attorney said somewhat dubiously, "I don't suppose it would be any bar, but of course, there is the moral effect, Your Honour. And murder is not a bailable charge."

  "Also," the judge pointed out, "there's another thing you want to take into consideration, Mr Prosecutor, and that is that if the Court binds this man over on this charge, and then you uncover evidence which points to someone else, the fact that an order was made binding this defendant over is also going to have a moral effect. If I were in your shoes I'd rather just forget about this thing for a while and make a further investigation."

  "Of course, Your Honour," the district attorney said, "Dr Beaumont is thoroughly convinced as to the cause of death."

  "Of course he is," the judge said, "and I'm not saying anything against Dr Beaumont. He made a post-mortem until he found what he thought was the cause of death, and then he quit looking because he had found what he was looking for - or he thought he had; but if he'd looked a little farther, he'd have found the same things Dr Dixon did and probably would have reached the same conclusions.

  "The thing that the Court wants to point out to all concerned is the fact that if it hadn't been for Dr Dixon entering the picture and performing a further investigation which disclosed these peculiar facts, which I take it are uncontroverted, the defendant in this case would have been bound over for murder, would undoubtedly have been convicted of first-degree murder and probably executed. The fact that Dr Dixon performed a further post-mortem points a lesson that 1 don't think we should overlook, not any of us.

  "Now then, the Court is going to refuse to bind this defendant over, and as far as the Court is concerned, he is released from custody. The Court feels there's opportunity for a lot of further investigation in this case; and I think this is the fair way to see that such an investigation is conducted in an unbiased and efficient manner. The defendant is released from custody and the Court is adjourned."

  The judge banged his gavel in a form of finality, effectively shutting off the half-hearted protests of the district attorney.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  Rob Trenton observed the surge of spectators crowding towards him, intent upon shaking his hand.

  He moved over quickly to Dr Dixon before the physician could leave the space reserved for attorneys and witnesses. "1 want to thank you," he said.

  "You don't have to," Dr Dixon told him. "I merely performed a complete post-mortem, which I contend should invariably be done in every case of unexplained death, particularly where the circumstances indicate a homicide."

  Rob led him to one side. "I have a favour I want to ask of you."

  "What's that?"

  "Isn't there some way 1 can get out of here without going through that crowd of people?"

  "They're waiting to shake hands with you," Dr Dixon said, his shrewd eyes studying the young man's face. "They want to congratulate you, and make something of a hero of you."

  "I know it," Trenton said, "and if the judge had ruled the other way and bound me over for murder, they'd have been looking at me as though I were a snake."

  Dr Dixon's eyes softened. "What do you want me to do?"

  "I think there's a side door out of here," Rob Trenton said. "I want to get out. Can you show me where it is?"

  Dr Dixon hesitated only briefly, then nodded. "You could go into the door over there which leads to the judge's chambers, as though you were intending to thank the judge for what he'd done, and then you could go down through the corridor and there's a door there that opens on a side street. Come on with me if you want."

  Rob Trenton moved towards the door to the justice's chambers.

  On the other side of the rail, Merton Ostrander gestured that he wanted to see Rob, and Rob, smiling, nodded vaguely, made an ambiguous gesture of his hand, and accompanied Dr Dixon through the door to the judge's chambers.

  "It just happens," Dr Dixon said smilingly, "that 1 have my car parked out here and I'll give you a ride across the bridge. Something seems to tell me it will be a little better for you to get out of the state."

  "Flight?" Rob asked.

  "Changing your base of operations," Dr Dixon said. "And incidentally leaving the jurisdiction of a hostile district attorney who has sustained wounds to his vanity and his political prestige, and who may, therefore, try to recover lost ground by having you rearrested if he can only find some 'new' evidence. After an hour or two he'll remember that the two smugglers who are in custody are only too willing to buy themselves immunity by turning 'state's evidence'. When that happens it'll be well for you to be in another state, and to resist extradition."

  They moved down the corridor, out of the side door and found that as yet no one, not even the reporters, had anticipated such a move. The crowd was still either in the courtroom or milling around the doors on the main street, and Dr Dixon and Rob Trenton entered the physician's car and glided down the road without attracting any attention.

  "I hope you realise," Rob said, "that, regardless of what the district attorney may do, I'm just starting on this thing."

  Dr Dixon looked at him in a sidelong glance of shrewd appraisal, then said conversationally, "I presume you know that Harvey Richmond was investigating the death of Madame Charteux. The body was exhumed and it was found there was enough arsenic in it to have killed a horse."

  "So 1 understand," Trenton said.

  "And," Dr Dixon went on, "just in order to keep the record straight, you'll remember that the Customs men took two capsules containing a white powder from your bath robe, capsules which you said Merton Ostrander had given you to settle your stomach?"

  Trenton glanced at him sharply.

  Dr Dixon's face was enigmatic, completely without expression. His eyes were concentrated on the road ahead.

  "Go on," Trenton said.

  "1 don't know exactly what you have in mind," Dr Dixon went on, "but the Customs men turned those capsules over to Harvey Richmond. When we searched his effects we couldn't find those two capsules."

  "Good heavens!" Rob said. "1 hope you didn't think I thought the solution would be that simple."

  Dr Dixon flashed him a keen-eyed glance. "I'm glad to hear you say that, young man. I'm afraid the solution isn't simple at all, but rather complex."

  "What else do you know?" Trenton asked.

  "Very little for certain," Dr Dixon said. "We have, of course, investigated all of the parties concerned, to the best of our ability. Linda Mae Carroll and Linda Carroll were in South America two years ago. Linda Mae Carroll was in Europe a year ago, and Linda Carroll was in Africa. They evidently like to travel."

  "Where did they get their money?"

  "Apparently Linda's father died, left her some money and some money to his sister, Linda Mae Carroll."

  "Just money?" Trenton asked.

  "Well, there was a fair amount of cash, quite a few stocks and some savings bonds, and there were three pieces of property, farm property of three hundred and twenty acres, and the Londonwood apartment building, which went to Linda Carroll, and the house in Falthaven which went to Linda Mae Carroll."

  "How much of a search has been made for Linda Carroll?"

  "No very great search. She has an apartment at 1940 Chestnut Avenue, Londonwood, the apartment house where her father lived. Linda Carroll went there immediately after she returned from her European trip. For some reason she seemed to want privacy and apparently gave that address to no one. When she obtained her passport she had been living with Linda Mae at the Falthaven address, so she used that passport address in this European trip.

  "It would seem that both you and Merton Ostrander went to call on her at the Falthaven address. Linda Mae gave you both a run-around, but Ostrander was more lucky than you. He actually ran into Linda when she came to call on her aunt, presumably to give the aunt some instructions."

  "What sort of instructions?"

  Dr Dixon's face was completely impassive. "I'm afraid that that's as far as we can go. You apparently know the rest of it as well as we do."

  Dr Dixon eased his car across the big concrete bridge, said, "Well, you're now in a new state. Where do you want to get off?"

  "I think I'd like to get off in Londonwood, if it's all right with you."

  "She isn't there," Dr Dixon said.

  "I know. 1 think I'd like to get off there just the same." "Any place in particular?"

  "Well," Rob Trenton replied, "perhaps ... no, just let me out anywhere."

  Dr Dixon drove in silence until they entered Londonwood, then stopped the car near the centre of the town. "How's this?" he asked.

  "That's fine," Rob Trenton said.

  Dr Dixon shook hands.

  "1 can't begin to tell you how grateful I am," Rob Trenton said.

  "You don't have to be grateful," Dr Dixon said. "I merely performed a medico-legal necropsy to determine the cause of death."

  "And what you found proved me innocent," Rob reminded him.

  Dr Dixon nodded. "That's fine as far as you're concerned, but we have a responsibility. We have to find the real murderer."

  Rob Trenton looked at him sharply. "Any clues?" he asked.

  Dr Dixon said, dryly, "You may use your own judgment, young man. Harvey Richmond didn't go aboard that boat voluntarily. From what you have told me and what the police have been able to find, I know that Richmond had a line on the smugglers. He had constructed a blind from which he could watch the houseboat with binoculars. He was planning to make a raid on it that night. I think he'd have had the raid sooner if the boat hadn't been moored across the river, which put it out of the jurisdiction of the State Police.