A VISIT FROM SCOTLAND YARD

Chief Detective Inspector Horace Huntly of Scotland Yard, visiting the United States on a confidential mission, closely examined the bullet hole in the lower pane of the study window. He stepped back and gauged the angle of fire. “Quite so,” he murmured.

Professor Fordney and the chief inspector found the lights off in the Connecticut study of Leslie Melton, the mysterious South African. The shades were lowered halfway over closed windows. Melton’s corpse was slumped in a chair by an east window. A .45 caliber bullet had gone through Melton’s head and the window glass behind him. The shot was fired from the left of the body between 9:30 and 10:30 p.m. It was now 11:55.

Fordney handed the .45 caliber revolver he picked up from the floor to the chief inspector, parted the curtains, raised the shade and stabbed a beam from his flashlight at a second recently-made bullet hole near the top of the upper windowpane.

“Extraordinary,” said Chief Inspector Huntly. “Only one shot has been fired from this gun, so…”

“And here it is,” announced Sergeant Cargo, entering the room. “Found it in the flower bed outside the window. It’s a .45—from that gun all right.”

“But,” interjected the chief inspector, “two shots must have been fired even though appearances of the gun indicate otherwise. Better look about for that second bullet, sergeant.”

“That won’t be necessary,” said the Professor.

“But I don’t understand,” Huntly exclaimed.

“It’s quite obvious,” Fordney chuckled. “Only one shot was fired.”

What is your explanation of the single shot and the two bullet holes in the windowpane? Turn page for solution.