appalling event. I was working at Willie, Carr & Raymond Law Firm at the time as a new partner, and I joined the firm for about a year.One morning, when Willie and Mr. Carl were away temporarily, a young man with a frightened expression suddenly appeared in the office.As soon as I saw him, I immediately stood up and asked without thinking, "What's going on? Isn't there some bad news?" "I've come to see Mr. Willey. Is he there?" "No," I replied, "he left for Washington this morning on impromptu business and won't be back until tomorrow, but if you could tell me—"

"Tell you, sir?" he replied, looking me over with a cold, determined look.Then he seemed to be quite satisfied with me, so he continued: "There is no reason why you can't tell, and this matter is not a secret. The purpose of my coming is to tell him that Mr. Leavenworth has passed away." "Mr. Leavenworth!" I exclaimed in surprise, and staggered back a step.Mr. Leavenworth is not only an old customer of our company, but also a good friend of Mr. Willey. "Yes, he was murdered. He was sitting at his study desk and got shot through the head by unknown people."

"Shoot! Murder!" I could hardly believe my ears. "How did it happen? When?" I asked, gasping. "Last night, or so we thought, but it was only discovered this morning. I am Mr. Leavenworth's private secretary," he explained. "I am staying at his house. This shooting has been horrific," He continued, "Especially for the ladies." "Horror?" I repeated. "Mr. Willie must have been shocked by what he heard." "They're helpless," he said, in a low, matter-of-fact tone--which I later found to be characteristic of him--"Miss Leavenworth, I mean--Mr. Leavenworth's niece We—have an interrogation today, and they need the presence of someone who can guide them. As Mr. Willie was their uncle's best friend in life, they naturally asked me to come to him. I don't know what to do next."

"I'm a stranger to the ladies," I said hesitantly, "but if it can be of any help to them, and I have such respect for their uncle—" The look in the secretary's eyes made me speechless.His eyes stared at me, and his pupils suddenly dilated, as if he could see through me. "I don't know," he finally said, frowning slightly, obviously he didn't like the turn of events very much, "maybe it's just the way to go, ladies shouldn't be alone—" "Stop talking, I'm leaving now." Then I sat down and left a hasty note to Mr. Willey.After making some necessary preparations, I followed the secretary to the street.

"Now," I said, "tell me all you know of this horror." "Everything you know? A few words will suffice. Last night, as usual, he was sitting at his desk in the study when I left him, and we found him this morning sitting in the same place, almost completely Same location, but with an additional bullet wound on the head, about the size of the tip of my little finger." "do you died?" "Dead, the whole body is stiff." "It's horrible!" I exclaimed.After a while, I thought about it and asked, "Could it be suicide?" "Impossible. The gun that committed the crime has not been found so far."

"But if it was murder, what was the motive? How could Mr. Leavenworth be so nice as to make enemies? If it was theft—" "It wasn't theft, nothing was lost," he interrupted me. "The whole thing is very strange." "Strange?" "Very bizarre." I turned around and looked curiously at the person who had come to tip me off.A bizarre murder takes place in a house whose occupants are well worth studying.But the expression of the man next to me couldn't provide me with the slightest basis for imagination.I looked away almost immediately and asked, "Are the ladies frightened?"

He took at least five or six steps forward before answering. "If you're not frightened, isn't it too unreasonable?" I don't know whether it was because of the expression on his face at the time, or because of the answer itself, I suddenly felt that mentioning the two ladies to this reserved and boring secretary seemed a bit violating a taboo.I had heard that they were very versatile and attractive women, and I was a little disapproving of his reaction.So I was relieved to see the Fifth Avenue stagecoach close at hand. "We'll talk later," I said. "The carriage is here."

But once we sat in, we found it impossible to talk about it.I have therefore taken the time to reflect on what I know of Mr. Leavenworth.I discovered that all I knew of him was that he was a retired businessman of considerable wealth and social standing.Since he had no children of his own, he adopted two nieces, one of whom has become his legal heir.One of the eccentricities which Mr. Willey has alluded to of this gentleman was the favor of one niece in the will to the exclusion of the other.Other than that, I know very little about his habits and relationships. When we arrived, the front door was full of people.I hardly had time to observe this deep house compound on the corner of the street, so I was pushed and squeezed by the crowd to the wide stone steps.I was seized by the crowd and managed to break free, especially a shoe shiner and a butcher boy who held me tightly, as if they thought they could sneak into the house if they just grabbed my arms.I climbed the stairs to find that the secretary, by a stroke of luck, had managed to walk up to me and hastily pressed the doorbell.The door opened instantly, and through the crack I recognized the face of one of our town detectives.

"Mr. Gritz!" I exclaimed. "Nice to meet you," he replied, "come in, Mr. Raymond." He pulled us in quietly, then grinned at the disappointed crowd outside. "You shouldn't be surprised to see me here," he said, holding out his hand while glancing at my companion. "Not surprised," I replied, and then vaguely felt that I should introduce the young man next to me, "This is, this is... Sorry, I don't know your name yet." I looked at you with a questioning look. Looking at my companion, "This is the private secretary of the late Mr. Leavenworth," I added hastily.

"Oh," he answered, "Secretary! The coroner is looking for you, sir." "Is the coroner here?" "Yes. The jury has just gone upstairs to examine the body. Will you go with them?" "No, I don't think it's necessary. I'm only here to help the ladies. Mr. Willey isn't here." "Besides, you feel that this is an opportunity that cannot be missed," he went on. "It is. Since you are here, and this case is sure to be very sensational, I take it for granted that you, a young and promising Lawyers, you should want to participate in all aspects of this case. But everything is still up to you to judge."

I had a hard time suppressing a feeling of disgust. "I'll just go." I said. "Very well, then come with me." Just as I was about to go upstairs, I heard the sound of the jury going downstairs, so I had to retreat to the rest area between the reception room and the living room with Mr. Gritz.At this point I had a chance to speak: "The young man said it couldn't be a robbery." "That's right!" His eyes were fixed on the neighboring doorknob. "Nothing is missing—" "And when it was discovered this morning, none of the doors and windows of the house had been damaged." "He didn't tell me that, so—" I shuddered, "the murderer must have been in the house all night." Mr. Gritz smiled sullenly at the doorknob. "That doorknob looks ugly!" I said. Mr. Gritz immediately frowned at it. Here I must first say that Mr. Gritz is not the kind of tall, lean, sharp-eyed figure.On the contrary, he is chubby and gentle, his eyes are never sharp, and even a little loose.His eyes never rest on you.To tell the truth, if his eyes were fixed on anything, it was mostly unimportant objects, such as vases, inkwells, books or buttons.He seems to have a special feeling for these things, and he takes them as his confidants, hiding his thoughts in them.As for the distance between him, or his ideas, and you, it is as remote as a church steeple.And now, Mr. Gritz, as I said, is in intimate psychic communication with that ugly doorknob. "It's ugly," I repeated. His eyes moved to my cufflinks. "Come on," he said, "while at last there are no idlers in the way." He led the way up the steps, but stopped suddenly on the landing. "Mr. Raymond," he said, "I don't say much about personal and professional secrets, but this case depends on getting the right leads in the first place. We're not dealing with ordinary criminals, we're dealing with criminals." A genius murderer. Sometimes an ignorant mind holds more valuable clues than the most highly trained intellectual. If something like this happens, remember I'm yours. Don't gossip Root, just call me. Because it's going to be a big case, a really big case. Now, come on!" "But what about the ladies?" "Upstairs in the room. Sorrowful, of course, but fairly composed, I'm told." He leaned towards the door, opened it, and beckoned me to go in. For a moment everything was in darkness, but after a while my eyes adjusted to the light in the room.We could tell we were in a study. "This is where he was found," he said, "in this part of the room." Taking a few steps forward, he laid his hands on the large baizeen table that occupied the The central location of the whole house. "You can tell that the desk is facing the door." He crossed the room and stopped at the threshold at the end of a narrow passage that led to a room ahead. "The deceased was found sitting in a chair with his back to the passage, so the murderer must have passed through the passage when he committed the crime, and stopped, so to speak, about here." Mr. Gritz's foot was firmly planted on the carpet at a point about a foot from the threshold of the passage just mentioned. "But..." I interrupted him hastily. "There's no 'but,'" he exclaimed. "We've looked at the whole scenario." He showed no interest in furthering the subject, turned quickly, and walked swiftly ahead of me, down the aisle just mentioned. "Wine cabinet, wardrobe, toilet facilities, towel rack." We walked quickly down the aisle, and he explained like a guide, waving his hands from side to side, and concluded with "Mr. Leavenworth's private room".What appeared before us was Mr. Leavenworth's comfortable room. Mr. Leavenworth's private room!This is exactly where "he" is, this terrible, blood-stained "he", who was a living person yesterday.Walking to the bed where the heavy curtain was hung, I raised my hand to push the curtain away, but Mr. Gritz took over, revealing the cold and calm face lying on the pillow.That face was so natural, I couldn't help but start staring at him. "His death came so suddenly that the features were not distorted," he said, turning his head aside to reveal a terrible gash on the back of his skull. Unnoticed. Surgical knowledge will convince you that such a wound could not have been his own. It was a deliberate murder." I took a sudden step back in horror, when I saw a door in the opposite wall leading to the hall.This door seems to be the only entrance to the outside of this room other than the passage we just passed.I can't help but suspect that the murderer came in from here, and then made a detour to the study.Mr. Gritz saw the doubt in my eyes, and his own eyes fell on the chandelier--he said hastily and perfunctorily: "The door is locked from the inside. It may or may not come in from there. Going to draw conclusions." Noticing that the surface of the bed hadn't been messed up, I asked, "He wasn't in bed, was he?" "No, it took ten hours from the time the tragedy occurred to when it was discovered. This is enough time for the murderer to observe the situation and prepare for what will happen next." "Murderer? Who do you suspect?" I whispered. He looked at the ring on my finger indifferently. "Everyone, or nobody. My job is not to suspect, but to detect." He lowered the curtain in his hand and led me out of the room. The coroner's inquest is about to begin, and I feel a strong desire to be a part of it, so I ask Mr. Gritz to inform the ladies that Mr. Willey cannot come, so I will do it in my place to give any information concerning the misfortune. event assistance.I walked down to the hall downstairs and took a seat among the crowd.