There was the possibility that the murderer had done
this, and had afterwards escaped by the window. The drop was
at least twenty feet, however, and a bed of crocuses in full
bloom lay beneath. Neither the flowers nor the earth showed any
sign of having been disturbed, nor were there any marks upon
the narrow strip of grass which separated the house from the
road. Apparently, therefore, it was the young man himself who
had fastened the door. But how did he come by his death? No
one could have climbed up to the window without leaving traces.
Suppose a man had fired through the window, he would indeed
be a remarkable shot who could with a revolver inflict so deadly
a wound. Again, Park Lane is a frequented thoroughfare; there is
a cab stand within a hundred yards of the house. No one had
heard a shot. And yet there was the dead man, and there the
revolver bullet, which had mushroomed out, as soft-nosed bul-
lets will, and so inflicted a wound which must have caused
instantaneous death. Such were the circumstances of the Park
Lane Mystery, which were further complicated by entire absence
of motive, since, as I have said, young Adair was not known to
have any enemy, and no attempt had been made to remove the
money or valuables in the room.
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