EQMM 2007-05 by Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine

Author:Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine [Magazine, Ellery Queen’s Mystery]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Jason Tenumbra's apartment was in the midst of being cleaned and straightened when Nikki, Ellery, and Harry were escorted back into the study by Stanley Santos, who wore a smile that Ellery took for smug. Arranged on the glass desk, now sparkling clean, were several items. Santos stopped at the desk and turned around to face the others.

"Mr. Queen, during the last few weeks I've read a few of your books. They were okay for their time. Pretty good stuff. And after I read a few, I decided that you might enjoy hearing the solution to this case at the scene of the crime. That's something I could picture you doing. Of course, you might have filled the room full of possible culprits first. I'll dispense with that since, as I told you from the beginning, there is no surprise ending here.

"What I did want to demonstrate to my partner, and to you,” he eyed Ellery, “is that as good as your so-called deductive approach used to be, there just isn't much need for it anymore. While you folks were tromping about town interviewing everyone you could think of, I did what modern detectives do. I gathered the physical evidence, sent it off to the lab, and waited for the results. And the results, my friends, tell the whole story. We live in an absolutely marvelous technological age."

Santos turned to the table and, with a flourish, picked up a small leather case. “Exhibit One,” he said, passing the case to Harry Burke. “This is a set of scalpels that we located in Dr. Djuna's apartment. Look at the inscription embossed on the inside cover."

Harry opened the box and read, “To Quinn, Best wishes as you embark into the field of medicine. Jason Tenumbra."

"That box was kept in a small display cabinet in Djuna's living room. And look again—see anything missing?"

The box contained four scalpels of varying sizes. A spot that could have held a fifth was empty.

"Exhibit Two,” Santos continued, and picked up a scalpel from the glass desktop. “The murder weapon. Not only does it fit precisely into the open space in the carrying box,” and Santos demonstrated, “it also is a precise match to the other four scalpels. Same manufacturer, same metal alloy. The boys in the lab verified it and we were even able to trace it back to the manufacturer on the Internet using the serial number on the underside of the box. So, what do we know? We know that the weapon that murdered Dr. Tenumbra was a knife he had given to Dr. Djuna. Surprise, surprise, surprise!"

Santos treated them to another smile before turning back to the desk. He next picked up a plastic card the size of a credit card and presented this to Harry Burke.

"Exhibit Three, the magnetic entry card that gave Dr. Djuna uninhibited access to Dr. Tenumbra's apartment. The card was left in the middle of Dr. Djuna's desk in his apartment. So there was no reason to worry about the names on the concierge's list.

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