Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1917-12-27

"Only casually. What did 1t, doc?"
The medical man had turned from the
body, looking at Marcus. The detec-
tive crossed the room to his side and
followed.
DIR. Clampett pointed to a bullet
wound in the left breast in which he
had left his probe to show direction of
the perforation. She had been shot
from a position above her head, as
suming she was standing or sitting
erect at the time, or approximately
ninety degrees angle. The bullet had
pierced the left ventricle OF the heart.
"Shot in the elevator from above,
said Marcus, and smiled.
"Send her to the morgue, sergeant"
commanded the surgeon. "Pll be
around by nine and make a more thor
ouyh investigation. Here's the bullet"
He handed Marcus twisted bit of
lead. 1T had to pierce a rib on its
route" he said in explanation OF its
mutilation.
"Id guess it's thirty-eight," said
Marcus, appraising its weight in the
palm of his hand, then passing it to
me.
"Thirty eight or forty-one," hazard
ed. "Is it all here, doc?"
He was putting his instruments into
their case. 1.-THE bullet? Oh, yes. A
particle may have been scraped off,
but not enough to bother the scales.
They will give you the caliber all
right" handed the bit of evidence to
Marcus.
Patrolman Cobb and the wagon
man carried the body out and drove
away, most of the curious disappear
ing with it; the surgeon refused my
invitation to refreshment in my rooms,
hurrying home in his runabout, and
Marcus and took the elevator for the
sixth floor. He would have just one
before getting back to report. I let
him have the Morris chair and placed
bottle of Scotch and a siphon at his
elbow.
what do you make of it?" he ask
ed, when he had taken the first edge
off fatigue and wiped his lips.
anyone hear pistol shot?" l re-
turned.
Nobody has reported it. l haven't
interviewed all the tenants. This is
exclusively a male hang-out, isn't it,"
Bachelors all, supposedly. Particu-
larly respectable, too; so have been
led to understand"
"Tll have to rout lot of them from
sleep. Someone must have heard that
shot"
"Yes, If she was shot in the eleva-
tor, there will be no difficulty there. I
couldn't have missed hearing it my
self. l was awake enough"
"But you say you didn't"
II didn't, therefore she wasn't shot
in the elevator. Get that idea out of
your mind, Marcus. She was dead
when she went into the lift"
The detective considered. "Per-
haps," he said finally, but it was not
convincing. "You may have been doz-
ing or it happened several floors down.
You are on the top, aren't you?"
Eyes. suppose whoever shot her
ran up to this floor then down to
grade for excitement, eh? That your
theory?"
You heard the elevator going down;
was it from this floor?"
1T was. / am certain of that"
ut could not have been the fifth"
less evident"
"The person who shot her was not
in the elevator She was shot from
above"
"And she ran the elevator up and
down time or two, then sat down in
the corner and forgot to pin her hat"
I remarked sarcastically. Cor else the
murderer ran up the stairs to this
floor and pushed the car button to
bring it up, then ran down five flights
and punched the knob to run it down.
1t doesn't sound right, Marcus. The
elevator was empty at five minutes to
two when l came up in 1t. Twenty
five minutes later l heard it go down
from the sixth floor. 1t may have car
ried the girls dead body; it may have
been empty; but there was no shot
fired between that time and my dis
covery of the corpse a minute later.
There are two ways of sending
that elevator from the sixth floor to
the first; one is to press the button
inside, after you have closed the door
and latched it; the other is to press a
button in the hall downstairs. Get me
clearly, Marcus. You can't step in
side that elevator, press the button,
then slide out and watch it slip away
from you. 1t won't answer the button
until the door is closed. I've walked
up these stairs too many times, ours
ing, not to know that an open door is
bar to that elevators performing its
functions"
"She was shot from above" per-
sisted Marcus.
"Botheration, yes, Lean forward in
that chair, Marcus - more-more!
Now shoot, standing here. What's
the angler" pointed my finger at
his breast.