Free Murder in the Library by Steve Demaree

outside?”
    “It’ll be hard, Chief,
but I think Lou and I’ll be okay. If things begin to be too much for us, I’ll
let you know. But we’d like a chance to solve this one.”
    The Chief looked at Lou,
who nodded in agreement.
    “Okay, it’s yours for
the time being. I’m not putting any time limit on you, but I’ll be watching. If
I feel the strain is too much for you, I’m calling someone else in.
Understand?”
    “Of course we do,
Chief.”
    “Now, get busy, but
don’t burn the midnight oil. I’m going home. If you need anything, you’ve got
my number.”
    We left the room. The
Chief walked toward the front door. Lou and I headed to the library. As it
turned out, Frank had more information.
    Frank looked up as we
entered the room and motioned for us to come over. He’d found a mark on the
Colonel’s throat that resembled a pin prick. His guess was that the Colonel was
shot with a blowgun or some such apparatus, only the poisoned dart was nowhere
to be found. Louie complicated things even more when he reported that the
camera showed that no one had entered or left the room between the time the
Colonel left the room at 8:53, and when Lou and I unlocked the door at 3:23,
and to the best of his knowledge no one had circumvented the Colonel’s
invention that kept others from entering the library through the passageway.
Louie said someone could’ve done it, but it would’ve taken far longer than a
murderer would’ve wanted to remain in the house. Because the camera was
operational, and the Colonel hadn’t entered the library through the customary
door, that meant that when he returned from his errand that he had entered the
library through the secret passageway. But why that way, instead of the way he
usually entered? Could it be that someone held a weapon on the Colonel and
forced his or her way into the library and didn’t want to be photographed in
the process? Still, that didn’t compute, either. If someone had forced the
Colonel into the library and shot him with a poisoned dart, how did that person
get out? Only the Colonel knew how to open the passageway exit from the inside,
and no one was hiding in the room below. Officers had checked that area
thoroughly. I continued to look for a scenario where someone could’ve entered
and exited the room without anyone knowing. Oh, where was John Dickson Carr,
the author of the locked room mysteries, when I needed him?
    While we were no closer
to solving the case, a new development transpired just after we found out this
information. An officer knocked on the library door and informed me that there
was a man at the front door who wanted to talk to the man in charge. Curious,
Lou and I followed the officer to the front door.
    I opened the door and
eyeballed the man who stood there. He was of medium height and weight and
looked to be around my age. As far as I knew, he was no one I’d seen before.
    “Are you the officer in
charge?”
    “I might be. And who
might you be?”
    “I’m Bob Downey. I live
next door. Did something happen here today?”
    “Why do you ask?”
    “Well, there seems to be
a lot of police here, many of them in uniform.”
    “Maybe we’re having a
meeting about the policeman’s fund.”
    “Listen, I’ve some
information you might be interested in.”
    “Such as?”
    “Such as I saw someone
enter this house this afternoon. Someone I’d never seen before, and someone who
looked out of place here.”
    “Go on.”
    “See, this house sets
back farther from the street than mine does, so I’ve a good view of this porch.
Well, I was walking by my window when I saw something out of the corner of my
eye. A man was almost at the front door of this house, almost where I am now. What
caused me to stop and look was that not only didn’t I recognize him, but he
looked out of place on this street. See, he had long, unkempt hair and a beard.
I thought he was a bum, and he’d come to my house next, so I was surprised
when  he