"That was unnecessary. He simply removed the
curtain screen, which is so designed that it can be taken down and put
up as easily as a window shade. He carried the screen--his own hands
protected by gloves, I suppose--to where Sprague's right hand lay _palm
upward_, on the floor, and pressed the thumb and forefinger against the
catches, making fingerprints all right, but they were reversed--as I
discovered when it occurred to me to examine the photographs of
Sprague's fingerprints in Carraway's office today. Miles could not turn
the stiff hand over without bruising the dead flesh; consequently the
print of the forefinger was on the catch where the thumb would normally
have left its mark--and vice versa.... Before I forget it, I should also
tell you that I found a master key hanging on the keyboard in the
butler's pantry. Big houses, with their many locks, are usually provided
with a master key, and Miles undoubtedly used that one to gain entrance
into my room after midnight Saturday morning."
"Where did you find the vise?" Strawn asked.
"In the tool chest right here, where he had also placed the reamer he
had bought. The vise probably belonged to Miles originally, but he was
taking no chances on anything's being found in his possession, provided
we tumbled to _how_ the two crimes were committed.
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