"YOU are on the wrong track, Mr. Crewe," said Gillett, who was
determined not to part with the theory he had built up round the
evidence he had collected. "I was positive the murder took place in
the house. This man Jauncey, whom I mentioned, can swear that he heard
a shot fired. And more than that, he can swear that he was hit by the
bullet. This is the bullet that was extracted from his wound in the
left arm. It fits this revolver."
"My dear Gillett, I don't dispute any of these things," said Crewe.
"They merely support my contention that the murder was not committed
at the farm, but that the body was brought there, and that the man who
took the body there took certain steps with the object of creating the
impression that the tragedy took place in the room in which the body
was found."
"What evidence have you of that?" asked Sergeant Westaway, coming to
the aid of his official superior.
"The bullet that killed Lumsden went clear through his body--so much
was decided at the post-mortem examination," Crewe said. "But that fact
was also evident from a cursory examination of the body, as we saw it
in the chair. You will remember that I drew attention to the fact when
we were looking at the body. Your theory is that the shot was fired as
Lumsden was standing at the window, with his back towards his murderer,
that the bullet went through him, through the window, and lodged in
the arm of this man Jauncey who stated he was outside in the garden.
But the course of the bullet through Lumsden's body was slightly
upward. How in that case could it strike downward and wound a man on
the ground ten or twelve feet below the windows on the first story?"
"The bullet might have been deflected by the glass of the window," said
Gillett.
"It might have been, but it is highly improbable that ordinary
window-glass would deflect a bullet--even a spent one. In any case this
bullet hit the cherry-tree outside the window before hitting Jauncey.
You will find that it cut the bark of the cherry-tree--the mark is 4
ft. 4½ inches from the ground."
"Then it was the cherry-tree that deflected it?" said Sergeant Westaway.
"Yes and no," said Crewe. "Certainly its course was deflected downwards
after hitting the cherry-tree--I assume that Jauncey was close to the
tree. But if it had not been travelling downwards, it would have hit
the tree much higher up--somewhere near the level of the window. The
bullet that hit Jauncey was fired in the room in which we saw the body,
but it was fired by the man who took the body to the farm, with the
intention of giving the impression that the crime took place there.
Knowing that the bullet which killed Lumsden had gone through his body,
he placed the body in a chair near the window and then fired a shot
through the window. He made the mistake of going close up to the window
to fire, and as a result he fired downwards instead of on a level at
the height of the wound in Lumsden's body."
"If that is all you have to support your theory----" began Detective
Gillett.
"It isn't all," said Crewe, with a slight indication of impatience. "It
is only my first point. You will recall that on the stairs there were
indications that a wet rag had been used for wiping away some traces
or stains. Inspector Payne suggested that the rag had been used to
wipe away muddy boot-marks on the stairs--the traces of these boots.
These boots were not worn by the man as he went upstairs; he put them
on afterwards. Presently I will tell you why he did. But the marks
on the stairs were not the marks of muddy boots. They were stains of
blood which dropped from the dead man's wound, as his body was carried
upstairs. These marks are in the hall leading to the stairs and on the
landing leading to the room in which the body was placed. In the room
itself no attempt to remove the blood-stains was made, because they
were an indication that the shooting took place there. If he had been
aware that there was a stain of blood on the latch-key which he took
from the dead man's pocket, he would have washed it away."
"If he had possession of the key in order to get the body into the
house in the way you state, Mr. Crewe, why did he break into the house?
Remember one of the downstairs windows was forced."
"It was forced by the man who took the body there. But he forced it
in breaking out of the house--not in breaking into it. He wanted to
give the impression that some one had broken into the house, but he
was pressed for time--he was anxious to get away. In searching for a
rag in the kitchen with which to wipe out the blood-stains, he saw
these boots. They belonged to Lumsden, as you have said, but it was
more likely that Lumsden kept them in the kitchen than in the barn or
cowshed. This man--let us call him the murderer--saw in the boots a
means of averting suspicion from himself. He decided to leave clues
that would suggest that the murderer broke into the house. But, instead
of going out of the front door and breaking into the house, he forced
the window from inside the room. Then, with these boots on, he climbed
out of the window backwards, and when he reached the ground he walked
backwards across the garden bed to the path in order to give the
impression that some one had walked forwards across the bed to the
window.
"You saw from the sash of the window that the catch had been forced
back by a knife, but apparently you overlooked the fact that the marks
of the knife are much broader at the top, where the catch is, than at
the bottom, where the knife would enter if the catch had been forced
by some one outside. It was at the top, near the catch, and not at
the bottom below it, that the knife was inserted; that is to say, the
knife was used by some one inside the room. The footprints outside the
window showed that they were made by a person walking backwards; the
impression from the toe to the ball of the foot being very distinct and
the rest of the foot indistinct. A person in walking backwards puts
down his toes first, and gradually brings the rest of his foot down;
a person walking forwards puts his heel down first and then puts down
the rest of his foot as he brings his weight forward. Our man, having
made his way to the garden path from the window, walked along the path
to the motor-car at the gate, probably carrying his own boots in his
hand. As soon as he entered his car he drove off along the road in the
direction of Staveley with the lights out. He took a risk in travelling
in the dark, and in spite of the fact that he knew the road well he
came to grief before he reached Staveley."
"How do you know all this?" asked Gillett. "How do you know he had a
car?" He had not given up his own theory in favour of Crewe's, but he
realized that Crewe's theory was the more striking one.
"In Marsland's statement he said that his horse swerved from something
in the dark as he was coming down the Cliff road, and fell lame," said
Crewe. "The horse shied at the motor-car as it passed. Marsland neither
saw nor heard the car because of the darkness, intensified by the
storm, and because of the roar of the wind and waves."
"You don't really expect us to regard the swerving of the horse as
proof there was a motor-car there?" demanded Gillett, with a superior
smile.
"Contributory proof," said Crewe. "If you went along the cliff road,
as I did on leaving the farm after meeting you there, you would
have noticed that the danger post nearest the farm was out of the
perpendicular. That was not the case previous to the night of the
storm. This motor-car without lights bumped into it. The mark of
the wheels where the car had left the road was quite plain when I
looked--it had not been obliterated by the rain. Four miles away the
car was run into the ditch and overturned. I saw it as Sir George
Granville and I drove along to Cliff Farm on Saturday morning. If
you want information concerning it and the person who drove it you
can obtain it at Gosford's garage at Staveley. The car was hired from
Gosford."
"By whom?" asked Gillett.
"By a man named Arnold Brett, who was a very close friend of the dead
man."
"I know all about Brett from Inspector Murchison," said Gillett. "He
rang me up about him and promised to let me know when he came back
to his lodgings at Staveley. He said that Brett was a close friend
of Lumsden's, and would probably be able to give us some useful
information when he returns."
"When will he return?" asked Crewe.
"You think he has cleared out?" suggested Gillett.
"I'm sure of it," was the reply.
"Murchison gave the impression that he was sure to come back--that
he had left Staveley the day before the murder. I understood from
Murchison that Brett is doing some secret service work for the
Government, and that it was quite a regular thing for him to disappear
suddenly."
"No doubt it was," said Crewe. "But this time he is not coming back."
"I'll ring up Murchison," said Gillett.
"Don't waste your time," was Crewe's reply. "Murchison is an excellent
fellow--an ideal police official for a quiet seaside place where
nothing happens, but too genial and unsuspecting for an emergency of
this kind. Go and see Brett's apartments at Staveley--No. 41 Whitethorn
Gardens--and the landlady, Mrs. Penfield, will tell you as she told
Murchison, and as she told me also, that Brett left Staveley on secret
service work on Thursday morning, 15th October, and that she expects
him back at any moment. But go to Gosford and he will show you the car
that Brett hired on Friday.
"He will tell you that on Saturday about midday Brett rang him up--from
Lewes, Gosford says, but it was more probably from Marlingsea, on his
way to London--and told him that he had met with an accident with the
car, and that it was lying in the ditch on the side of the road about
six miles out from Staveley on the road to this place. It was there
that Gosford's foreman found the car when he went for it. If Brett
hired a car at Staveley on Friday he couldn't have left Staveley on
Thursday, as his landlady says. She doesn't know what to think in
regard to this murder, but she is ready to shield Brett all she can
because she is in love with him."