The Murderer is a Fox Read Online Free PDF

in the theft.
What's left?"

    "The only other thing
on a will," shrugged Hendrix, "is the name of the testator,
but that certainly can't be—"

    "Why can't it be?"
asked Ellery.

    "The name Bayard Fox?"
ejaculated the Prosecutor.

    "It's not just a name,
Mr. Hendrix," said Ellery gently. "It's a signature."

    "Signature?"

    "Bayard Fox's
signature?" said Dakin blankly.

    Ellery nodded. "Bayard
Fox's signature. What's more, Bayard Fox's indisputably authentic
signature. If there's one place a man would be careful to have a
good, clear, unimpeachable specimen of his signature, it would be in
his will."

    And there was silence.

    "I don't understand.
Queen," said the Prosecutor finally.

    "Me neither,"
groaned Dakin.

    "But it's so simple!"
cried Ellery, leaping from his chair. "Doesn't Bayard Fox's
signature have a significance in this case? Dakin, you ought to be
able to answer that! Because we found Bayard Fox's signature in a
certain place today, everyone's given up!"

    "The Bayard Fox
signature in Garback's record-book of prescription renewals!"
said the Chief slowly.

    "Of course. Now re-examine the facts. Last night, after twelve years, someone broke
into Bayard Fox's house and stole an obsolete document whose only
possible value to the thief, as we've just seen, was the authentic
signature Bayard Fox signed to it twelve and a half years ago. That
was last night. And what happens this morning? A piece of new
evidence comes to light, the crux of which is a Bayard Fox signature! Coincidence, would you say, Mr. Hendrix?"

    "The thief wanted a
specimen of Fox's signature," gasped the Prosecutor, "in
order to forge a Bayard Fox signature in Garback's old record-book!"

    "Yes, Mr. Hendrix. If
you'll have that entry in Garback's ledger examined by an expert, I'm
sure he'll find that a previous, authentic entry in that space was
eradicated and the Bayard Fox prescription-renewal entry cleverly
written in over it. A palimpsest, by thunder! I never thought I'd
find that in Wrightsville!"

    "Then the note about
the prescription number in Garback's handwriting," muttered
Hendrix, "must be a forgery, too."

    "Undoubtedly. For that
the thief needed to look no farther than the ledger itself—it
contains hundreds and hundreds of samples of Garback's writing. But a
sample of Bayard Fox's signature was another matter. He decided the
old residence of Bayard Fox, which had remained untouched since the
murder, would be a likely place to find one. So he broke in and
ransacked it, starting with the breakfront and drum-table in the
livingroom, being unsuccessful, and hunting further. In the study he
tackled the desk. Unsuccessful there, too, he tackled the secretary.
And then he came across a locked drawer. He could scarcely have
resisted forcing it to see if the drawer might not contain what he
was looking for. And he was lucky—he found an old will."

    â€œ'He'-'he'!â€