MYSTERY INEXPLICABLE
The town of Cromer was agog, when, next day, the coroner held his
inquiry.
The afternoon was warm, and the little room usually used as the police
court was packed to suffocation.
The jury--the foreman of which was a stout local butcher--having viewed
the body, the inquest was formally opened, and Mrs. Dean, the first
witness, identified the remains as those of her visitor, Mr. Edward
Craig.
This, the first intimation to the public that Mr. Gregory was not dead
after all, caused the greatest sensation.
In answer to the coroner, Mrs. Dean explained how, with his uncle, old
Mr. Gregory, Craig had taken apartments with her. She had always found
him a quiet, well-conducted young gentleman.
"Was he quite idle?" asked the grave-faced coroner.
"No. Not exactly, sir," replied the witness, looking round the closely
packed room. "He used to do a good deal of writing for his uncle, more
especially after the young man, Mr. Gregory's private secretary, had
been over from Sheffield."
"How often did he come?"
"At intervals of a week or more. He always carried a small despatch-box,
and on those occasions the three would sit together for half the day,
doing their business, with the door closed--and," added the landlady
vigorously, "Mr. Craig had no end of business sometimes, for he received
lots of telegrams. From what I heard him say one day to his Uncle, I
believe he was a betting man, and the telegrams were results of races."
"Ah, probably so," remarked the coroner. "I believe you have not seen
the elder gentleman since the tragic evening of his nephew's death?"
"No, sir. The last I saw of Mr. Gregory was when he wished me
'good-night,' and went to bed, as was his habit, about half-past ten, on
the night previous."
"And, where was the deceased then?"
"My servant Anne had taken up his hot water, and he had already gone to
bed."
"And, did you find next day that the beds had been slept in?"
"Mr. Craig's had, but Mr. Gregory's hadn't," was the reply. Whereat the
eager, listening crowd buzzed and moved uneasily.
The grave-faced county official holding the inquiry, having finished
writing down the replies to his questions upon blue foolscap, looked
across to the row of twelve tradesmen, and exclaimed in his sharp,
brusque manner----
"Have the jury any questions to put to this witness?"
"I'd like to ask, sir," said the fat butcher, "whether this Mr. Gregory
was not a very eccentric and extraordinary man?"
"He was," replied the good woman with a smile. "He always suspected that
people was a-robbin' him. He'd strike out threepence from my weekly
bill, and on the very same day, pay six or seven shillings for a pound
of fresh strawberries."
"During the night you heard nobody leave your house?"
"No, neither me, nor my husband, heard any sound. Of course, our dog
knew both of 'em, and was very friendly, so he'd make no noise."
"I would like to ask you, Mrs. Dean," said another juryman, the
thin-faced manager of a boot-shop, "whether Mr. Craig was in the habit
of receiving any strangers?"
"No," interrupted the coroner, "we are not here to inquire into that. We
are here solely to establish the identity of the deceased and the cause
of his death. The other matters must be left to the police."
"Oh! I beg pardon sir," ejaculated the offending juryman, and sat back
in his chair with a jerk.
George Simmonds, a picturesque figure in his coast-guard uniform, was
called next, and minutely described how he had found deceased, and had,
from his dress, believed him to be old Mr. Gregory. Afterwards he was
cross-examined by the foreman of the jury as to whom he had met during
his patrol that night, and what he knew personally about the dead man.
"I only know that he was a very nice young gentleman," replied the
coast-guard. "Both he and his uncle often used to pass the time o' day
with us out against the flagstaff, and sometimes they'd have a look
through the glass at the passing ships."
The police evidence then followed, and, after that Dr. Sladen, the chief
medical man in Cromer, took the oath and made the following statement,
in clear, business-like tones, the coroner writing it down rapidly.
"Henry Harden Sladen, Doctor of Medicine, 36, Cliff Avenue, Cromer. I
was called to see deceased by the police, at about half-past four on the
morning of the twelfth of June. He was lying upon a public seat on the
East Cliff, and on examination I found that he had been dead about two
hours or more."
"Any signs of violence?" inquired the coroner, looking up sharply at the
witness, and readjusting his gold-rimmed glasses.
"None whatever."
"Yes, Dr. Sladen?"
"Yesterday afternoon," continued the witness, "I made a post-mortem
examination in conjunction with Dr. Copping, of Cromer, and found the
body to be that of a young man about twenty-five years old, of somewhat
athletic build. All the organs were quite normal. There was an old wound
under the left shoulder, apparently a bullet wound, and two rather
curious scars on the right forearm, which, we agreed, had been received
while fencing. We, however, could find no trace of disease or injury."
"Then to what do you attribute death?" inquired the coroner.
"Well, I came to the conclusion that the young man had been suddenly
asphyxiated, but how, is a perfect mystery," responded the doctor. "It
would be difficult to asphyxiate any one in the open air without leaving
any mark of strangulation."
"I take it that you discovered no mark?"
"Not the slightest."
"Then you do not think death was due to natural causes?"
"It was due to asphyxiation--a rapid, almost instantaneous death it must
have been--but it was not due to natural causes."
"Briefly put, then, you consider that the deceased was the victim of
foul play?"
"Yes. The young man was murdered, without a doubt," replied the doctor,
slowly. "But so ingeniously was the crime committed, that no trace of
the methods by which death was accomplished has been left. The assassin,
whoever he was, must have been a perfect artist in crime."
"Why do you think so?" asked the coroner.
"For several reasons," was the reply. "The victim must have been sitting
upon the seat when suddenly attacked. He rose to defend himself and, as
he did so, he was struck down by a deadly blow which caused him to
stagger, reel, and fall lifeless some distance away from the seat. Yet
there is no bruise upon him--no sign of any blow having been struck. His
respiratory organs suddenly became paralysed, and he expired--a most
mysterious and yet instant death."
"But is there no way, that you--as a medical man--can account for such a
death, Dr. Sladen?" asked the coroner dryly.
"There are several ways, but none in which death could ensue in such
circumstances and with such an utter absence of symptoms. If death had
occurred naturally we should have been quickly able to detect the fact."
After one or two pointless questions had been put to the witness by
members of the jury, his place was taken by his colleague, Dr. Copping,
a pushing young medico who, though he had only been in Cromer a year,
had a rapidly-growing practice.
In every particular he corroborated Dr. Sladen's evidence, and gave it
as his professional opinion that the young man had met with foul play,
but how, was a complete mystery.
"You do not suspect poison, I take it?" asked the coroner, looking up
from his writing.
"Poison is entirely out of the question," was Dr. Copping's reply. "The
deceased was asphyxiated, and died almost instantly. How it was done, I
fail to understand and can formulate no theory."
The public, seated at the back of the court, were so silent that one
could have heard the dropping of the proverbial pin. They had expected
some remarkable revelations from the medical men, but were somewhat
disappointed.
After the evidence of Inspector Treeton had been taken, the coroner, in
a few brief words, put the matter before the jury.
It was, he said, a case which presented several very remarkable
features, not the least being the fact that the nephew had gone out in
the night, dressed in his uncle's clothes and made up to resemble the
elder man. That fact made it evident that there was some unusual motive
for going out that night on the part of the deceased man--either a
humorous one, or one not altogether honest. The latter seemed the most
reasonable theory. The young man evidently went out to keep a tryst in
the early morning, and while waiting on the seat, was suddenly attacked
and murdered.
"Well, gentlemen," he went on, removing his glasses, and polishing them
with his handkerchief, "it is for you to return your verdict--to say how
this young man met with his death, to-day, or, if you consider it
advisable, you can, of course, adjourn this inquiry in order to obtain
additional evidence. Personally, I do not see whence any additional
evidence can come. We have heard the depositions of all concerned, and
if you decide that it is a case of wilful murder, as both Dr. Sladen and
Dr. Copping have unhesitatingly stated it to be, the rest must be left
to the police, who will no doubt use their utmost endeavours to discover
the identity of this 'artist in crime,' as Dr. Sladen put it, who is
responsible for this young man's death. So far as I am concerned, and I
have acted as coroner for this district for twenty-three years, I have
never before held an inquiry into a case which has presented so many
puzzling features. Even the method by which the victim was done to death
is inexplicable. The whole thing, gentlemen, is inexplicable, and, as
far as we can discern, there is no motive for the crime. It is, of
course, for you to arrive at a verdict now, or to adjourn for a week.
Perhaps you will consult together."
The twelve Norfolk tradesmen, under the leadership of the obese butcher,
whispered together for a few moments and were quickly agreed.
The coroner's officer, a tall constable, standing near the door, saw
that the foreman wished to speak, and shouted: "Silence!"
"We will return our verdict at once, Mr. Coroner," said the butcher. "We
find that deceased was murdered."
"That is your verdict, eh? Then it will read, 'that deceased was
wilfully murdered by some person or persons unknown.' Is that what you
all agree?" he asked in his quick, business-like manner.
"Yes, sir. That is our verdict," was the response.
"Any dissentients?" asked the official. But there was none.
"Then the rest must be left to the police," said the coroner, resuming
his writing.
At those words, the public, disappointed at the lack of gory details,
began to file out into the street, while the jury were discharged.
Who was the murderer? That was the question upon every one's tongue.
And where was Vernon Gregory, the quaint, eccentric old fellow who had
become such a notable figure in Cromer streets and along the asphalted
parade. What had become of him?
The police had, of course, made no mention in their evidence of the
search in the rooms occupied by the two men--of the discovery of the
splendid treasure of gold and jewels--or of the fact that the real Mr.
Vernon Gregory had died while on a voyage to India.
With Frayne, I walked back to the police-station, where we found that no
trace had yet been discovered of the old man. He had disappeared swiftly
and completely, probably in clothes which in no way resembled those he
habitually wore, for, as his pocket-book and other things were found in
the cape worn by his nephew, we assumed that they were actually the
uncle's. Therefore, it would be but natural that old Gregory would have
left the house wearing clothes suitable to a younger man.
The fact that Lola had visited him told me much.
Gregory, whoever he was, was certainly no amateur in the art of
disguise. In all probability he now presented the appearance of a man of
thirty or so, and in no way resembled the eccentric old gentleman who
looked like a poet and whose habits were so regular.
That there was a mystery, a strange, amazing mystery, I knew
instinctively. Edward Craig had, I felt confident, fallen the victim of
a bitter and terrible vengeance--had been ingeniously done to death by
one whose hand was that of a relentless slayer.
So, as I walked past the grey old church of Cromer, back to the _Hôtel
de Paris_, I pondered deeply.
My own particular knowledge I kept a fast secret to myself. Among that
heterogeneous collection of treasures had been one object which I
recognized--an object I had seen and handled once before, in very
different circumstances.
How came it in that old sea-chest, and in the possession of the man who
was now exposed as an impostor?
Mr. Day, the chief officer of the coast-guard, passed me by and saluted.
But I was so preoccupied that I scarcely noticed him.
I had crossed by the path leading through the churchyard, and arrived
at the corner of Jetty Street--a narrow, old-fashioned lane which leads
along to the cliff-top in front of the _Hôtel de Paris_, and where an
inclined slope goes down to the pier.
Suddenly, on raising my eyes at a passer-by, my gaze met that of a tall,
thin, pale-faced, rather gentlemanly man in a dark grey suit, and
wearing a grey felt hat.
The stranger, without noticing me, went on with unconcern.
But in that second I had recognized him. We had met before, and in that
instant I had fixed him as the one man who knew the truth regarding that
remarkable secret I had now set out to investigate.
I halted aghast, and half-turned upon my heel to greet him.