" He would beat a thief into telling him what he wanted
to know. Thieves have no rights a policeman thinks himself bound
to respect. But when he had to do with men with minds he had other
resources. He tortured his prisoner into confession in the Unger
murder case by locking him up out of reach of a human voice, or
sight of a human face, in the basement of Police Headquarters, and
keeping him there four days, fed by invisible hands. On the fifth
he had him brought up through a tortuous way, where the tools he
had used in murdering his partner were displayed on the walls as
if by accident. Led into the Inspector's presence by the jailer,
he was made to stand while Byrnes finished a letter. Then he turned
his piercing glance upon him with a gesture to sit. The murderer
sank trembling upon a lounge, the only piece of furniture in the
room, and sprang to his feet with a shriek the next instant: it was
the one upon which he had slaughtered his friend, all blood-bespattered
as then. He sprawled upon the floor, a gibbering, horror-stricken
wretch, and confessed his sin.
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