"The colonel guy?" The doctor's voice showed his puzzlement.

"Yes, the chap that's working with Kenneth on the Darcy case."

"Seen him? No, I haven't."

"He was here looking for you a little while ago. Seemed quite anxious
about meeting you. Here he is now. Say, if he lets out anything we
can use against Darcy--you know, legitimate stuff--pass it on to me and
Thong, will you? You know we've got to go on the stand, and, between
you and me, our case ain't any too strong."

"That's right. I'll let you know what I hear," and the two ended their
half-whispered talk as Colonel Ashley entered police headquarters.

It was his third visit to headquarters that day in search of Doctor
Warren, and he would state the object of his seeking to none other.
Now he smiled at the man he had been looking for. They had met
previously.

"Ah, good afternoon, Doctor Warren. I've been looking for you," was
the colonel's greeting. "If you're not busy, sir, I'd like just a few
minutes of your time--officially, of course."

"Always ready for duty, Colonel. I guess you military men know that we
doctors are in a sort of class with yourselves when it comes to that."

"You're right. Now I won't be much more than a minute, and what I want
to ask you, I can propound right here as well as anywhere. You know
I'm working to save Darcy?"

"So I've heard."

"Well, you examined Mrs. Darcy soon after she was found dead. You may,
or you may not, have formed an opinion as to _who_ killed her, but I
judge you are positive as to _how_ she was killed--I mean the nature of
the wound."

"There were two wounds you know--a fracture of the skull just back of
the right ear, and a stab wound in the left side which punctured the
heart. Either would have caused death."

"Can you tell which killed her?"

"I should say the stab wound, but I can not be positive. You
understand, Colonel, that I am to go on the stand for the prosecution
and tell all I know about this case."

"Oh, yes, I realize that, of course. You are practically a witness
against Darcy. And I don't, for one moment, wish you to think that I
am trying to get advance information to use in his favor. This is
simply in the matter of justice, the ends of which I know you wish to
serve, as I do myself. So if I ask anything improper please stop me.
But since you will testify about these wounds, and since you have
already pretty well described them to the newspaper reporters, it can
do no harm to repeat the details to me."

"None in the least, Colonel."

"Then you feel sure the stab wound killed her?"

"Reasonably so. Of course, as I said, either blow could have caused
death, but blows on the head, even when the skull is badly fractured,
as in this case, do not invariably cause death instantly. In fact the
victim usually lingers for several hours in an unconscious state. Not
so, however, in the case of a stab wound in or near the heart. That is
almost always fatal within a short space of time--a minute or two. So,
while it is possible that Mrs. Darcy was first stunned by a blow on the
head, which eventually would have killed her, I think death almost at
once followed the stab wound."

"Could both have been delivered by the same person?"

"Of course. First the blow on the head, followed by the stab wound."

"And there were no other injuries on the body?"

"None, except minor bruises caused by the fall to the floor. But they
were superficial."

"Nothing else?"

"No--um let me see--no, I think not."

"Are you _sure_, Dr. Warren?"

The colonel's voice had a strange ring in it.

"Why, yes, I am sure. I was about to say that there was a slight
abrasion in the palm of the left hand, a sort of scratch or puncture,
as though from a pin, but as she was in the jewelry business and, as I
understand it, often made slight repairs herself to brooches and pins
brought in, this could easily be accounted for."

"A slight abrasion in the left hand you say?"

"Yes. But I don't attach any importance to that. It was so slight
that I and my assistant only gave it a passing glance. It hardly
penetrated the skin."



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