Perkins the butler stole into the mansion. He returned surreptitiously from vacation to do the deed. He trod silently in the passages and halls until he arrived at the bedroom of his employer. He entered the room.

Perkins looked at his employer sleeping. Pathetic. Dissipated. The young man wasn’t worthy of the family name.

Perkins put the pistol in his employer’s hand, put the gun to the temple, and pulled the trigger. It would look like a suicide. Richard Cory was dead.