EQMM 1942-09 by Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine

Author:Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine [Magazine, Ellery Queen’s Mystery]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: detective
Publisher: The American Mercury
Published: 1942-03-15T00:00:00+00:00

The Solution

Scene 9: The Same, Later

Ellery: This has been my simplest case in a long time.

Velie: Thar she blows!

Inspector: Pipe down, Moby Dick! Go on, son. Simple, eh?

Ellery: Extremely. Who left that trail of bloody hand-smears on the wall of the hallway? Mousie himself? No, Mousie died instantly, according to Dr. Prouty’s report. So the blood-trail was left by Mousie’s killer. Does the trail tell us who that killer was? Yes, indeed.

Nikki: Just like that! May I ask how, Mr. Queen?

Ellery: (Chuckling) Geography, Nikki, geography. Visualize the hallway. I said it runs east and west — that the room in which Mousie was murdered is at the western end of the hall — that the killer, in feeling his way along the hall in the dark as he fled from the scene of the crime left bloody hand-marks on the north wall...

Velie: Whoa! Lemme get this. Hall runs east an’ west — marks are on the north wall...

Inspector: Killer’s leaving... he’s going east, facing east... his hand keeps touching the north wall...

Ellery: If he’s facing east, to which side of him is the north wall?

Nikki: His left side! He was feeling his way along the north, or left, side of the hall!

Ellery: Yes, and when a person feels his way in the dark, which of his hands will he inevitably grope with?

Inspector: The hand he always favors, of course.

Ellery: Of course. So if the killer felt his way along the left side, he was using his left hand — consequently, we know the killer is left-handed.

Velie: That’s right, by gosh. A southpaw! We gotta look for a southpaw.

Inspector: (Thoughtfully) We’ve already narrowed the list of suspects to just four: Prizefighter Kilgore, Ball player Slats Mayo, Jockey Peewee Robbin, and Swimmer Dotty Dale...

Nikki: But which one of the four is left-handed?

Ellery: Let’s see. Johnnie Kilgore, the prize-fighter? No! Remember Sam Buckley’s broadcast of the Kilgore-Logan fight? Every one of Kilgore’s punches was a right-hand punch — in fact, Buckley characterized Kilgore over the air as “the best right-handed puncher since Dempsey!”

Velie: So Kilgore’s right-handed an’ he’s out. How about—?

Ellery: Slats Mayo, the pitcher? Well, in the ninth inning of that no-hit game Mayo hurled, Buckley described Mayo’s pitching delivery — how he raised his “mighty right arm” to throw the ball that struck out the last batter! Buckley even described Mayo as “the sensational right-hander!”

Inspector: So the baseball player’s not left-handed, either. How about Peewee Robbin, the jockey? I don’t seem to recall—

Ellery: Again Buckley’s broadcast gave us the clue, dad. In the stretch the jockey had to use his whip on Bloodstone. When he dropped the whip, Buckley described Peewee as slapping the horse with his right hand! So the jockey, too, is right-handed.

Nikki: So that leaves... Oh, dear!

Ellery: (Grimly) Yes, Nikki — the swimmer, Dotty Dale.

Velie: But we gotta find out if she’s left-handed, Mr. Queen—

Ellery: I didn’t have to, Sergeant. Three of the four suspects being right-handed, I knew Dotty Dale, being the only remaining possibility, must be left-handed.

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