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Page 87
"What are they?" Mackay asked, unaware that Kennedy needed little
prompting once he felt inclined to talk out some matter puzzling
him.
"One is the process of reasoning from the possible suspects to
the act itself--in other words, putting the emphasis on the
motive. A second is the reverse of the first, involving a study
of the crime for clues and making deductions from the inevitable
earmarks of the person for the purpose of discovering his
identity. The third method, except for some investigations across
the water, is distinctly my own, the scientific.
"In all sciences," Kennedy went on, warming to his subject,
"progress is made by a careful tabulation of proved facts. The
scientific method is the method of exact knowledge. Thus, in
crime, those things are of value to us which by an infinite
series of empiric observations have been established and have
become incontrovertible. The familiar example, of course, is
fingerprints. Nearly everyone knows that no two men have the same
markings; that the same man displays a pattern which is
unchanging from birth to the grave.
"No less certain is the fact that human blood differs from the
blood of animals, that in faint variations the blood of no two
people is alike, that the blood of any living thing, man or
beast, is affected by various things--an infinite number almost--
most of which are positively known to modern medical
investigators.
"In this case my principal scientific clue is the blood left upon
the portiere by the man who took the needle the night following
the murder. Next in importance is the fact, demonstrated by me,
that some one at the studio wiped a hypodermic on a towel after
inoculating himself with antivenin. Of course I am presuming that
this latter man inoculated himself and not some one else, because
it is obvious. If necessary I can prove it later, however, by
analyzing the trace of blood. That is not the point. The point is
that whoever removed the needle pricked himself and yet did not
die of the venom--unless it was a person not under our
observation, an unlikely premise. Therefore, because of this last
fact, and because again it is obvious, I expect to find that the
same individual inoculated himself with antivenin and removed the
needle from the portiere; and I expect to prove it beyond
possibility of doubt by an analysis of his blood. A sample of the
blood from this person will be identical with the spot on the
portiere, and--much the easier test--will contain traces of the
antitoxin.
"With that much accomplished, a little of the, well--third
degree, will bring about a confession. It is circumstantial
evidence of the strongest sort. Not only does a man take
precautions against a given poison, but he is proved to be the
one who removed the needle actually responsible for Miss Lamar's
death.
"My handicap, however, is that I have no justifiable excuse for
taking a sample of blood from each of the people we suspect, or
feel we might suspect. For that reason I was waiting until one of
the other detective methods should narrow the field of suspicion.
Now that there is the menace of another attempt to take a life I
am forced to act. To-morrow we will get samples of blood from
everyone by artifice--or force!
"Meanwhile--" He hastened to continue, as though afraid we might
interrupt to break his train of thought. "Meanwhile, to-night,
let us see if it is possible to accomplish something by the
deductive method.
"Already I have gone into an analysis starting from the nature of
the crime and reasoning to the type of criminal responsible. The
guilty man--or woman--is a person of high intelligence, added to
genuine cleverness. But for the results accomplished in this
laboratory we would be without a clue; our hands would be tied
completely. Both Miss Lamar and Werner were killed by unusual
poisons; deadly, and almost impossible to trace. There was a
crowd of people about in each case; yet we have no witnesses. Now
who, out of all our people with possible motives, are intelligent
enough and clever enough to be guilty?"
Kennedy glanced first at me, then at Mackay.
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