until ten o'clock. ThenI knocked again and tried the door, but it was locked. That made meuneasy, because he never locked his bedroom door before. I banged at thedoor and called out, but there wasn't a sound. Then I ran to the policestation."
Horn was evidently as alarmed as was the young valet. But Muller'scheeks were flushed and a flash of secret joy, of pleasurableexpectation, brightened his deep-set, grey eyes. He sat quitemotionless, but every nerve in his body was alive and tingling. Thehumble-looking little man had become quite another and a decidedlyinteresting person. He laid his thin, nervous hand on the carriage door.
"We are not there yet," said the commissioner.
"No, but it's the third house from here," replied Muller.
"You know where everybody lives, don't you?" smiled Horn.
"Nearly everybody," answered Muller gently, as the cab stopped beforean attractive little villa surrounded by its own garden, as were most ofthe houses in this quiet, aristocratic part of the town.
The house was two stories high, but the upper windows were closed andtightly curtained. This upper story was the apartment occupied bythe owner of the house, who was now in Italy with his invalid wife.Otherwise the dainty little villa, built in the fashionable Nurembergstyle, with heavy wooden doors and lozenged-paned windows, had nooccupants except Professor Fellner and his servant. With its gracefuloutlines and well-planned garden, the dwelling had a most attractiveappearance. Opposite it was the broad avenue known as the Promenade, andbeyond this were open fields. To the right and to the left were similarvillas in their gardens.
Dummel opened the door and the three men entered the house. Thecommissioner and the valet went in first, Muller following them moreslowly. His sharp eyes glanced quickly over the coloured tiles of theflooring, over the white steps and the carpeted hallway beyond. Once hebent quickly and picked up something, then he walked on with his usualquiet manner, out of which every trace of excitement had now vanished.
The dull winter sun seemed only to make the gloom of the dark vestibulemore visible. Johann turned up the light, and Horn, who had visited theProfessor several times and knew the situation of the rooms, wentat once to the heavy, carved and iron trimmed door of the study. Heattempted to open the door, but it resisted all pressure. The heavykey was in the inner side of the big lock with its medieval ironornamentation. But the key was turned so that the lower part of the lockwas free, a round opening of unusual size. Horn made sure of this byholding a lighted match to the door.
"You are right," he said to the valet, "the door is locked from theinside. We'll have to go through the bedroom. Johann, bring me a chiselor a hatchet. Muller, you stay here and open the door when the doctorcomes."
Muller nodded. Johann disappeared, returning in a few moments with asmall hatchet, and followed the commissioner through the dining-room. Itwas an attractive apartment with its high wooden panelling and its daintybreakfast table. But a slight shiver ran through the commissioner'sframe as he realised that some misfortune, some crime even might bewaiting for them on the other side of the closed door. The bedroom dooralso was locked on the inside, and after some moments of knocking andcalling, Horn set the hatchet to the framework just as the bell of thehouse-door pealed out.
With a cracking and tearing of wood the bedroom door fell open, and inthe same moment Muller and the physician passed through the dining-room.Johann hurried into the bedroom to open the window-shutters, and theothers gathered in the doorway. A single look showed each of the menthat the bed was untouched, and they passed on through the room. Thedoor from the bedroom to the study stood open. In the latter room theshutters were tightly closed, and the lamp had long since gone out. Butsufficient light fell through the open bedroom door for the men to seethe figure of the Professor seated at his desk, and when Johann hadopened the shutters, it was plain to all that the silent figure beforethem was that of a corpse.
"Heart disease, probably," murmured the physician, as he touched the icyforehead. Then he felt the pulse of the stiffened hand from which thepen had fallen in the moment of death, raised the drooping head andlifted up the half-closed eyelids. The eyes were glazed.
The others looked on in silence. Horn was very pale, and his usuallycalm face showed great emotion. Johann seemed quite beside himself, thetears rolled down his cheeks unhindered. Muller stood without a signof life, his sallow face seemed made of bronze; he was watching andlistening. He seemed to hear and see what no one else could see or hear.He smiled slightly when the doctor spoke of "heart disease," and hiseyes fell on the revolver that lay near the dead man's hand on the desk.Then he shook his head, and then he started suddenly. Horn noticed themovement; it was in the moment when the physician raised up the sunkenfigure that had fallen half over the desk.
"He was killed by a bullet," said Muller.
"Yes, that was it," replied the doctor. With the raising of the body thedead man's waistcoat fell back into its usual position, and they couldsee a little round hole in his shirt. The doctor opened the shirt bosomand pointed to a little wound in the Professor's left breast. There werescarcely three or four drops of blood visible. The hemorrhage had beeninternal.
"He must have died at once, without suffering," said the physician.
"He killed himself--he killed himself," murmured Johann, as ifbewildered.
"It's strange that he should have found time to lay down the revolverbefore he died," remarked Horn. Johann put out his hand and raised theweapon before Horn could prevent him. "Leave that pistol where it was,"commanded the commissioner. "We have to look into this matter moreclosely."
The doctor turned quickly. "You think it was a murder?" he exclaimed."The doors were both locked on the inside--where could the murderer be?"
"I don't pretend to see him myself yet. But our rule is to leave thingsas they are discovered, until the official examination. Muller, did youshut the outer door?"
"Yes, sir; here is the key."
"Johann, are there any more keys for the outer door?"
"Yes, sir. One more, that is, for the third was lost some months ago.The Professor's own key ought to be in the drawer of the little tablebeside the bed."
"Will you please look for it, Muller?"
Muller went into the bedroom and soon returned with the key, which hehanded to the commissioner. The detective had found something elsein the little table drawer--a tortoise-shell hairpin, which he hadcarefully hidden in his own pocket before rejoining the others.
Horn turned to the servant again. "How many times have you been out ofthe apartment since last night?"
"Once only, sir, to go to the police station to fetch you."
"And you locked the door behind you?"
"Why, yes, sir. You saw that I had to turn the key twice to let you in."
Horn and Muller both looked the young man over very carefully. He seemedperfectly innocent, and their suspicion that he might have turnedthe key in pretense only, soon vanished. It would have been a foolishsuspicion anyway. If he were in league with the murderer, he could havelet the latter escape with much more safety during the night. Hornlet his eyes wander about the rooms again, and said slowly: "Then themurderer is still here--or else--"
"Or else?" asked the doctor.
"Or else we have a strange riddle to solve."
Johann had laid the pistol down again. Muller stretched forth hishand and took it up. He looked at it a moment, then handed it to thecommissioner. "We have to do with a murder here. There was not a shotfired from this revolver, for every chamber is still loaded. And thereis no other weapon in sight," said the detective quietly.
"Yes, he was murdered. This revolver is fully loaded. Let us begin thesearch at once." Horn was more excited than he cared to show.
Johann looked about in alarm, but when he saw the others beginning topeer into every corner and every cupboard, he himself joined in theman-hunt. A quarter of an hour later, the four men relinquished theirfruitless efforts and gathered beside the corpse again.
"Doctor, will you have the kindnes
s to report to the head Commissionerof Police, and to order the taking away of the body? We will look aboutfor some motive for this murder in the meantime," said Horn, as he heldout his hand to the physician.
Muller walked out to the door of the house with the doctor.
"Do you think this valet did it?" asked the physician softly.
"He? Oh, dear, no," replied the detective scornfully.
"You think he's too stupid? But this stupidity might be feigned."
"It's real enough, doctor."
"But what do you think about it--you, who have the gift of seeing morethan other people see, even if it does bring you into disfavour with thePowers that Be?"
"Then you don't believe me