
"THANKS for the tip, Roke," sneered Lence, lighting his cigarette. "I thought you were bluffing with that
gat, until you reminded me that the shot would not be heard. I forgot that the near-by apartments were
vacant.
"I'd like to help you out of misery" - Lence paused as he picked up the torn pieces of Cyro's letter and
the translation that went with them - "but it would not be artistic. You might pass for a suicide, the way
you're dying. A second bullet - through your brain - would be a give-away."
The glass of water was standing on the desk; beside it lay Lence's handkerchief. Lence polished the sides
of the glass; then tipped it with his elbow. The glass toppled from the table. It broke upon the fringe of a
rug and its contents trickled along the floor.
"Maybe they'll think you were going to try poison, Roke," suggested Lence. "Maybe they won't. It
doesn't matter, either way. They won't weep over a con man gone to blighty. This, however, is most
important."
Lence was polishing the handle of his revolver. Stopping by Roke's side, he grasped the dying man's
sleeve and tugged a hand into view. He shoved his own gun into Roke's fist. Roke's fingers loosened; but
one digit caught the trigger guard. The gun remained.
In case the police inspected the murder bullet, the gun Lence had substituted in Rowden's hand would be
proven the one which had fired the shot. Lence was building up a suicide theory.
A bulge showed in the dying man's coat. With professional skill, Lence thrust his hand into Roke's inside
pocket and produced a bulky wallet. Opening it, Lence drew forth a wad of bank notes.
He looked at his victim's huddled form and laughed at Roke's paled expression. The gun was dangling
neatly from Roke's fingers, as though the hand had relaxed without completely losing hold. Roke's eyes
were closed. His shoulders heaved and sank as he breathed.
"Twenty-five grand," chuckled Lence, as he counted the money that he had extracted. "I'm glad you
brought it from the safe-deposit vault, Roke. It would have been useless there. You don't need it any
longer, Roke.
"A man doesn't commit suicide while he still has a bank-roll the size of this one. Let me see: Ten dollars,
twenty, thirty - you're a flashy-looking chap, Roke. You'd carry at least a hundred. I'll raise the ante."
Lence added two twenties and a fifty to the three tens. He took two fives and a one from his own pocket
and added them to make a total of one hundred and thirty-one dollars. He replaced the small sum in the
wallet.
Carefully avoiding the blood that stained Roke's shirt-front, Lence slipped the wallet back into the inside
pocket. Edging the dying man's body along the floor, he uncovered the revolver that Roke had dropped.
Lence picked up Roke's unused gun. He eyed the victim and observed that Roke was almost motionless.
Slow, moaning gasps came with painful monotony. Roke gave no other sign of life.
Stepping to the wastebasket, Lence dug out a fistful of torn paper. He began to examine fragments of
envelopes. The third one was half an envelope that bore a New Orleans postmark. The next fragment
looked like the missing half. Lence compared them. The two fitted.
There was no return address on the envelope. Lence recalled that Roke had not mentioned the book
shop until he had opened the letter. Thrusting the torn pieces into his pocket, the murderous con man
started toward the rear of the apartment.