But around Beard things were transpiring, although the detectives spying on him in the Tombs had been unable to acquaint themselves with the precise nature of the moves he was making to accomplish his release from prison.
No trace had been obtained of the butler who vanished with the documents which Britz had gathered in Beard's home.

But of the servant's eventual capture Britz had not the slightest doubt.

It was a safe guess that he would endeavor soon to communicate with Beard either in person or by letter, and the moment he did so he would reveal himself to the authorities.
Of the utmost importance, however, was the report of the Coroner's physician.

The autopsy on Whitmore's body disclosed that the bullet which killed the merchant had entered the abdomen at the right side, traveled upward through the abdominal cavity, escaping the vital organs in its path until it reached the spleen, which it perforated.

The bullet did not pass out of the body and was held by the Coroner as a gruesome exhibit, to be used against whomever might be accused of Whitmore's murder.
It was the path which the bullet had traveled that interested Britz.