Minute Mysteries [Detectograms] 9 – Ripley · Verses Across
Literature · Crime, Thrillers & Mystery
Minute Mysteries [Detectograms] 9Chapter 8
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Literature · Crime, Thrillers & Mystery
Minute Mysteries [Detectograms] 9
Chapter 8
RipleyEnglish
Death in the Office
When Professor Fordney reached Gifford’s office, he found a policeman already there.
‘Gifford’s dead,’ he was told. ‘What brings you here?’
‘He telephoned me a few minutes ago; said he had been shot; then I had a hard time understanding him. This street is on your beat, isn’t it?’
‘Yes. I heard the shot when I was in Smith’s cigar store. It took me a while to locate it. The door was locked and I had to break in.’
As they walked into an inner office, they saw Gifford’s body, a bullet through the heart, lying in a pool of blood.
Fordney stooped to pick up a revolver.
‘It’s an easy jump to the ground,’ observed the policeman, who was standing by an open window.
‘Did you know, sir,’ he added, ‘that Gifford has been troubled lately by blackmailers?’
‘Yes. The last time I saw him, he told me he had been shot at a couple of weeks ago.’
Fordney walked over to the door and found the lock was sprung, but the key still in it.
‘I suppose,’ ventured the policeman, ‘that the blackmailers got him. They must have locked the door from the inside when they entered, shot him, and then jumped out the window.’
‘No,’ said Fordney, who was examining the key he had removed from the lock. ‘There weren’t any murderers in here. Gifford committed suicide.’
