Page 217

"When I left the men were playing roulette. I looked in as I went back,
and Judson had a gun in his hand. He said; 'I found it, Jack.' I saw he
was very drunk, and I told him to put it up, I'd got mine. It had
occurred to me that I'd better warn Haggerty to be careful, and I
started along the verandah to tell him not to shoot except to scare. I
had only gone a few steps when I heard a shot, and ran back. Mr. Lucas
was on the floor dead, and Judson was as the lady said. He must have
gone out while I was bending over the body."
Q. "Did you see the revolver in his hand?"
A. "No."
Q. "How long between your warning Mr. Clark and the shot?"
A. "I suppose I'd gone a dozen yards."
Q. "Were you present when the revolver was found?"
A. "No, sir."
Q. "Did you see Judson Clark again?"
A. "No, sir. From what I gather he went straight to the corral and got
his horse."
Q. "You entered the room as Mrs. Lucas came in the door?"
A. "Well, she's wrong about that. She was there a little ahead of me.
She'd reached the body before I got in. She was stooping over it."
Bassett looked up from his reading.
"I want you to get this, Livingstone," he said. "How did she reach the
billiard room? Where was it in the house?"
"Off the end of the living-room."
"A large living-room?"
"Forty or forty-five feet, about."
"Will you draw it for me, roughly?"
He passed over a pad and pencil, and Dick made a hasty outline. Bassett
watched with growing satisfaction.
"Here's the point," he said, when Dick had finished. "She was there
before Donaldson, or at the same time," as Dick made an impatient
movement. "But he had only a dozen yards to go. She was in her room,
upstairs. To get down in that time she had to leave her room, descend
a staircase, cross a hall and run the length of the living-room,
forty-five feet. If the case had ever gone to trial she'd have had to do
some explaining."
"She or Donaldson," Dick said obstinately.
Bassett read on: Jean Melis called and sworn.
Q. "Your name?"
A. "Jean Melis."
Q. "Have you an American residence, Mr. Melis?"