Wednesday noon
`` A little while later a shot was heard , and the next morning Leopold Winkler was found with a bullet in his back . The crime was generally taken to be a murder for the sake of robbery . But you and I , and Mr. Herbert Thorne , know very well that it was not . `` You know this since Wednesday noon . Then it was that the idea suddenly came to you , falling like a heavy weight on your soul , the idea that Winkler might not have been killed for the sake of robbery , but because of the hatred that some one bore him . Then it was that you lost your appetite suddenly , that you drove into the city with the excuse of errands to do , in order to read the papers without being seen by any one who knew you . When you came home you searched everywhere in your master 's room : you made an excuse for this search , but what you wanted to find out was whether he had left anything that could betray him .