Inspector Morrish rejoined me in the kitchen after telling his men to take the unconscious Crankers away. He was brushing dirt and grass off his pants and shirt as he strolled up to me. “What told you Crankers killed Mr. Rawlings, what did you find in the stove, and how did you know it was in the stove, and…” an exasperated Inspector sputtered. “Upon examination of the room and the body, I also concluded the aquarium had to have been pushed onto Mr. Rawlings, it would have been highly improbable that it would have fallen on him accidentally. That means it was a hasty and clumsy attempt to cover the fact that Mr. Rawlings had been killed with a blow to the back of his head. The heavy aquarium crash was an attempt to cover up the blow. Why was that necessary? The early hour of the confrontation, the fact that Mr. Rawlings never attends to his business concerns before breakfast would suggest he had entered the room and caught someone going through his papers. If a burglar had been caught in the room unexpectedly and had struck and killed Mr. Rawlings, what was he seeking and why not just run from the premise? That he was struck in the back of the head is indicated by the wound there, even though there are also markings from the aquarium. “As far as we can ascertain now, the safe was not the target, since business papers were on the desk and appear to have been gone through.” “But there were papers all over the floor, Mr. Holmes, apparently dropped by Mr. Rawlings when he fell.” Morrish interrupted. “Yes, but upon examination, although there were papers all over the floor, where the body had fallen and spewed out as if knocked from his hand as he pulled the aquarium on top of himself, there were none where there should also have been some. There were papers where the body was supposed to have fallen and scattered all about. There were no papers under the overturned corpse. This means the papers were strewn about after the aquarium was pushed over and after the body was turned over, to give the appearance that the corpse had papers in his hands when the so called accident occurred. This was staged to give the appearance that Mr. Rawlings was in the office to go over some papers before going to work. Something he never did before breakfast as you ascertained from the cook, but something unknown to the newly hired butler. This was also done to hide the fact that since valuables were not missing, but papers were on the desk, someone must have been going through them when Mr. Rawlings caught him. The papers on the floor were also a different type of correspondence than those on the desk, but could have been hastily grabbed from the bookcase where some papers were missing as you pointed out. “I surmise the butler was caught by Mr. Rawlings, but what was so important that he would have to silence Mr. Rawlings, before the cook came to make breakfast? Mr. Rawlings would surely fire him, and he needed to finish his search quickly. Why the aquarium fiasco? Maybe he knew the cook would be up and stirring soon. “I believe he had not found the papers he was looking for yet. He overturned the aquarium to make it seem an accident, chasing the cook out to get help so that he could finish his search for the papers he sought. If the cook came back and saw him going through the papers, he could say he was just cleaning up the mess. He would have left if he could, but the police had arrived just after he found what he had killed for. He had to tough it out until he could get rid of the incriminating evidence and run as soon as he could get from beneath close scrutiny. “What I found in the stove,” I stated as I patted one of the smoldering papers I had retrieved, “was the reason for the killing. It was not among the papers currently in the office, so I knew it had been carried out of there. Crankers had been under close surveillance continuously by the cook and then by the police and had not been given an opportunity to move about freely. He had not been searched yet, since the incident was still being investigated as a possible accident. If he had a piece of paper hidden on his person from that room, it was probably wet since he himself was soaked. If he needed to get rid of it, merely hiding it about the house would be chancy. “I had reasoned what would be my thought process in a similar circumstance. I would have been anxious to get rid of the paper. Now that the supposed accidental death was suspect, a search of my person and the immediate rooms would be done. I couldn’t be found with it without incriminating myself; I couldn’t let it be found hidden about the house, as it would create questions I could not answer. I needed to get rid of it safely. Unless I could eat it, how else could I get rid of it?” “Burn it of course, there was a stove right there in the kitchen. But, it was a warm summer day; I couldn’t just light a fire. But, just a minute, I could if I could get the cook to prepare a hot lunch, I could get rid of the evidence right under the nose of the police by starting the stove fire with it.”