it with my other notes and papers pertaining to the Benson case. The following is a verbatim copy:
Hypothesis
Mrs. Anna Platz shot and killed Alvin Benson on the night of June 13th.
Place
She lived in the house, and admitted being there at the time the shot was fired.
Opportunity
She was alone in the house with Benson.
All the windows were either barred or locked on the inside. The front door was locked. There was no other means of ingress.
Her presence in the living-room was natural: she might have entered ostensibly to ask Benson a domestic question.
Her standing directly in front of him would not necessarily have caused him to look up. Hence, his reading attitude.
Who else could have come so close to him for the purpose of shooting him, without attracting his attention?
He would not have cared how he appeared before his housekeeper. He had become accustomed to being seen by her without his teeth and toupee and in négligé condition.
Living in the house, she was able to choose a propitious moment for the crime.