The Daily Alaska empire., 1934-06-02
Chapter 20
 RECONSTRUCTION.

A ILL right, let's try to recon.
 A struct the whole thing" said Harper. We've got certain basic facts to serve as foundations and we'll fit them in as we go along. We'll take eight o'clock last night as our starting point. Hamill had just made his report from the call. box. It was showing heavily, there was cold. high wind.
 "Hamill walked along on his beat for three blocks. That would bring it to say. ten minutes past eight. He crossed the street above here but halfway over he changed his mind and came down Powhatan Terrace instead. What made him do that? Obviously. something he saw or something he heard.
 From the spot where Hamill turned of it is doubtful that he could have heard any sound from inside this house. even shot or scream. If there had been a noise loud enough for him to hear. cer. tainly some of the neighbors would have been up anI investigating. We'll have to make inquiries about that" Harper jotted down memo raEdum. adding other pertinent questions from time to time as he pursued the course of the mystery
 Tt is much more likely" he con tinued. that Hamill saw something. What could 1t have been? A light in the house? The electric switch had been turned off at the source. The curtains of this one lighted room were drawn close. That fireplace here's an idea. Jack. Suppose that man stirred up the fire. poked the logs. You know hearth fires don't burn so well on a rainy or snowy night, for damp chimney chokes off the normal draught.
 "A shower of sparks would shoot out the top of the chimney. I've often seen 1t on winter nights There would be something to draw HamilPs attention. This is assum. ing that Hamill knew the house was unoccupied. The whole idea hinges on that. We've got to find out whether he knew the Dufresnes were staying elsewhere"
 That's neat piece of deduc tion." Lafferty advised. but you've overlooked an important point. What Hamill heard was the front door banging about in the wind That was the sound that led Cen nally and Hilleary here so quickly
 'l doubt that" was Harper's re- joinder I've not overlooked that. banging door. The idea that heavy door like this one could go on booming from quarter past eight to nearly ten o'clock without arous- ing the other residents of Powhatan Terrace is nearly impossible. But there again Is something we can in. quire about.
 However. be that as 1t may. we have Officer Hamill coming up the, walk. We're safe in assuming that his suspicious were aroused. Now. did he find the door shut and locked or open and banging? 1t should have been shut and locked If Hamill found it that way. he knocked or rang the bell"
 Wrong again. Steve" Lafferty objected. If he were suspicious he'd go first and have quiet look around the outside of the house. But the footprints in the snow prove that he didn't. he walkeds straight up to the front door without any de tours"
 HARP FER thought that over H You're right about that. Jacks. We're not clear about that door. Assuming that it was locked, from the mere fact that Hamill entered some one must necessarily have opened to him. Here. then. we have our unknown man facing the police man. That would have been the logical place for any shooting If the fellow had been a homicidal maniac. for instance.
 Instead. they go into the break fast-room. through an unlighted hall. Why. in Heavens name? Surely Hamill would have been sus. picious and kept his gun in his hand. Our mystery man then sits down in that chair. lights cigarette. whips out his gun and shoots Hamill in cold blood!
 "On the other hand. assuming that the door was unlocked. and possibly banging. as Hamill's direct approach might indicate. then he'd probably step inside and try to turn on the lights. That resulting in noth. i ing. he'd probably call or whistle 10 attract attention. Perhaps he no ticed the light shining under tie breafast-room door. He would open 1t and look inside.