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It was because Detective-Lieutenant Britz was endowed with a rare combination of talents that enabled him to direct the work of others, even while participating actively in the physical search for evidence, that he ranked as the foremost detective of the Central Office. Had he been merely a shrewd, capable, resourceful investigator, he could never have attained to his present eminence.
Something far deeper than mere gratitude shone in his eyes, and was reflected in the agitated countenance of the girl. "I came to tell you that I broke my engagement to Lester Ward," she said in quivering voice. Cautiously Britz peered at the couple through the iron grating of his cell.
Collins trembled and grew cold. She looked entreatingly from the detective to the lawyer, as if seeking some explanation of this new and entirely unexpected blow. Britz, noting the helpless bewilderment of the woman, experienced a painful contraction of heart, as if it were ordained that he must share the suffering which he had inflicted on her.
Luckstone and his clients sat like beings who felt the ground slipping from under them, yet were helpless in the paralyzing fear that had seized them. The coroner's eyes traveled from Britz to Manning and Greig, as if seeking confirmation of the detective's statement. But he found only amazement written in their features.
"Muldoon," he said to the policeman, "notify the coroner and hold Mr. Beard as a material witness until he arrives. After that, you will carry out the instructions of the coroner." Motioning to Greig to follow, Britz left the apartment.
To the chief it had looked as if Britz were running around in a circle, hopelessly bewildered, mistrusting every palpable lead as a new pitfall. There were reasons for Manning's anxiety. The department could not afford to "fall down" on this conspicuous case.
He found Manning and Greig seated at his desk scrutinizing the papers. "Anything of value in them?" asked Britz. "Not yet," returned the chief. "But we haven't finished with them." Britz applied himself to the documents, his eyes racing through them in futile search of something that might shed a welcome illumination on the dark complexities of the case.
Britz proceeded to the Night Court, where he found the Magistrate dispensing justice with the bored impatience of one grown tired of hearing the monotonous repetition of trite excuses. Accustomed as he had grown to contact with vice and crime, Britz invariably entered this courtroom with a feeling of depression. There is little enough romance attached to crime.
I have already solved that." Greig stared at his superior in undisguised amazement. "Why er how was it done?" he stammered. In reply, Britz produced the needle which he had found at the feet of the murdered man. "Examine this and see if it doesn't solve the puzzle," he said. Greig looked a long while at the long, thin, glistening instrument.
"In view of all the circumstances I believe we're justified in permitting him to go on his own recognizance. Since Mr. Beard's story will undoubtedly be substantiated by the others, Ward's acquittal is a foregone conclusion. How soon can you hold the inquest?" "I can impanel a coroner's jury to-morrow. But why this hurry?" Britz shot a significant glance at Beard and Miss Burden.
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