INSPECTOR BURNS' CONCLUSIONS
I was sitting in my studio, at about half-past two that afternoon,
awaiting McQuade's arrival, when a messenger boy dashed up to my door
and handed me a telegram. I examined the pink slip with some curiosity,
but no great interest, when, glancing, as is my habit, at the signature
first, I was astounded to see that it was from Miss Temple. It was as
follows:
"Police have discovered weapon in your room wrapped in your
handkerchief.
"MURIEL TEMPLE."
So strong is the consciousness of innocence that even after reading this
telegram I had no thought of what this new discovery might portend to
me. It was strange, I thought, that I had forgotten the thing. But I
remembered now that, when I first found it, Sergeant McQuade was in
Exeter, and, when he returned, the entire evening until a late hour was
taken up with Major Temple's account of his and Ashton's adventures in
China. The next morning the coroner's inquest occupied all my thoughts,
and then came Li Min's arrest and our hurried departure for London.
Since then, I had had no opportunity to converse at any length with the
detective. I laid the telegram open upon the table, thinking that, if
the Scotland Yard man did not already know of the discovery, I would be
able to inform him of it on his arrival.
He came on the stroke of three, and with him was a burly, deep-chested,
ruddy-faced man, with twinkling eyes and iron-gray whiskers, whom he
introduced to me as Inspector Burns, of Scotland Yard. I bade them be
seated, and offered cigars, which they refused. Both seemed a trifle
constrained, I thought. The Sergeant began the conversation.
"I have brought Inspector Burns with me," he said, slowly; "he wants to
ask you a few questions."
I turned to the Inspector and smiled. I was quite ready to answer any
questions that he might care to ask, and I so informed him.
"Mr. Morgan," he began, "about that cake of soap which, as the events of
last night showed, contained the missing jewel cleverly hidden within
it. Will you be so good as to tell Sergeant McQuade and myself how it
happened to be in your possession?"
"Certainly," I replied, without hesitation. "I was in my room at Major
Temple's house yesterday morning, and I heard someone moving about in
the green room in which Mr. Ashton was killed. You are no doubt aware
that the doors of the two rooms are directly opposite each other?"
"I know that," he replied, gravely.
"I saw, by looking into the mirror on my dresser, that the person in the
other room was Major Temple's Chinese servant, Li Min. He seemed to me
to be acting very suspiciously."
"What was he doing?" inquired the Inspector, with a look at Sergeant
McQuade.
"Apparently he was searching the room for something--I could not, of
course, tell what. I left my room and came upon him suddenly, whereupon
he pretended to be busily engaged in setting the room to rights. I had
noticed, immediately upon entering the room, a strong odor of perfume, a
queer, Oriental perfume that at once attracted my attention, because--"
I hesitated.
"Because of what?" asked the Inspector shortly.
"Because it was the same as that upon the handkerchief which Miss Temple
had left in the room upon her visit there the night before, and which
was found there by Sergeant McQuade the next day."
"What importance did you attach to that fact?"
"I do not know--I cannot say. There seems no explanation of the matter.
But, at the time of which I speak, it struck me as being peculiar--I
looked about and found that the perfume came from a cake of soap upon
the washstand, near which I stood. It had evidently been left there by
Mr. Ashton, and, being so natural and usual an object, must have been
overlooked by the police when the room was searched."
"Why did you remove it?"
"Because I wished a means of identifying the perfume. I felt then, and
still feel, that there was some intimate and unusual reason for the
presence of that perfume upon Miss Temple's handkerchief."
"Mr. Morgan, why, since you were pretending to assist Sergeant McQuade
by every means in your power to secure the missing jewel, and apprehend
Mr. Ashton's murderer, did you fail to disclose to him the facts that
you have just related?" The Inspector's manner was increasingly
uncompromising. "Did you have any reason to suspect that the jewel was
hidden in the cake of soap?"
"None whatever. I did not mention the matter to the Sergeant because it
seemed too vague and unimportant--it indicated nothing."
The Inspector frowned. "Of that you were perhaps not the best judge. You
committed a grave error. I dislike to imply that it might have been
anything worse." He glanced at a notebook he held in his hand. I began
to feel indignant at the tone and manner in which he was conducting his
cross-questioning.
"Is it not true, Mr. Morgan," he asked suddenly, "that Miss Temple was
violently opposed to any marriage with Mr. Ashton, and that either his
death, or the abstracting of the jewel which was to have been the price
paid by him for her hand, would have been of great benefit to her?"
"Miss Temple could have no hand in such an affair. It is preposterous!"
I cried angrily.
"I do not imply that she could, or would." The Inspector was
irritatingly calm. "I merely asked you if such an event or events would
not have been to her benefit?"
"I suppose they would," I answered, sulkily, "if you put it that way."
"Did not Miss Temple ask you to assist her in preventing this marriage,
Mr. Morgan, the night before the tragedy, and did you not promise to
help her in every way in your power?"
"This is absurd," I cried, now thoroughly angry. "You will be accusing
me of murdering Mr. Ashton next."
"So long as we have not done so, Mr. Morgan, you need not accuse
yourself. We only know, so far, that the jewel for which Mr. Ashton was
murdered has been found in your possession."
The significant way in which he uttered these words thrilled me with a
vague sense of alarm. There upon the table, before Sergeant McQuade, lay
Miss Temple's telegram. It was open, and I felt sure he had already read
it. My mind seemed confused--my brain on fire. The Inspector turned to
McQuade. "Sergeant," he said, "you have the handkerchief in question
with you, I believe?"
McQuade nodded, then drew from his pocket a leather wallet, and,
extracting the folded handkerchief from its recesses, spread it
carefully upon the table. He then produced a magnifying glass from one
of his pockets and requested me to examine the surface of the bit of
cambric and lace. I did so, and observed that it was covered with minute
particles of some green substances, some very small, others of
considerable size. I did not at first realize what they were.
"Do you see anything?" asked the Inspector.
"Yes," I replied. "The handkerchief is full of fine green specks, but I
cannot imagine what they are."
"They are bits of soap, Mr. Morgan," said the detective, as he folded up
the handkerchief and replaced it in his wallet.
"Soap," I cried, more than ever mystified.
"Exactly!" The Inspector looked at me keenly. "Has it not occurred to
you, Mr. Morgan, that in order to place the jewel inside the cake of
soap, it was first necessary to cut it in two, and hollow out a space in
the interior? Is it not also quite evident that anyone so hiding the
jewel would perform this operation very carefully, so as to leave behind
no traces, and that the bits of soap removed from the interior of the
cake must have been carefully collected upon some object, this
handkerchief, for instance, and subsequently thrown away, leaving the
minute particles that you see still clinging to its surface?"
"Yes," I replied, dazed. "But who?"
"That, Mr. Morgan, is just what we are trying to find out. It hardly
seems likely that Mr. Ashton would have gone to all this trouble,
although it is possible, since he had reason, after his quarrel with
Major Temple, to fear an attempt to gain possession of the jewel. If he
did, how does it happen that he used Miss Temple's handkerchief for the
purpose? He may of course have found it upon the floor and so utilized
it, but it seems unlikely."
"What, then, seems more likely?" I asked, hotly. "Would the murderer
have gone to all that trouble to get the stone, and then have left it
behind?"
"Possibly, Mr. Morgan, to have been recovered at leisure--as you,
indeed, happened to recover it. Such a jewel would not be a good thing
to have in one's possession, immediately after the murder."
"But the operation of hiding the stone in the soap would have taken
fifteen or twenty minutes at least," I objected, "and we burst in the
door within less than ten minutes from the time Mr. Ashton's cry was
heard."
"The alarm was given by you, Mr. Morgan. You alone heard Mr. Ashton's
cry. Whether you heard it at six o'clock, or five, or four, rests upon
your word alone. We do not accuse you, remember, we are trying to arrive
at the truth. We do not imply that you hid the jewel any more than we
imply that Miss Temple did so herself, and left her handkerchief behind
as a mute witness of the fact. We do know that somebody did so, and the
facts we have just stated, coupled with Miss Temple's refusal to explain
her early expedition from the house that morning, all point to something
we do not yet understand. With Miss Temple and yourself working
together, much seems explainable that before seemed dark and
mysterious. Even the closing of the window from within the green room
may be explained, upon this hypothesis, for you had ample time to close
it while Major Temple was examining Mr. Ashton's belongings in his
frenzied search for the lost emerald. We are convinced of one thing:
that the Chinaman did not commit the murder, for, had he done so, he
would have taken the stone along with him, since that was the sole
purpose he had in view."
"I do not agree with you there," I said. "Mr. Ashton may have hidden the
jewel himself, and then the Chinaman, after committing the murder, may
have been unable to find it. That would account for Li Min's subsequent
search of the room, and his confederates' actions when they began to
suspect, as Li Min no doubt did when he saw me remove the cake of soap,
that the emerald was hidden within it."
"You are right in what you say, Mr. Morgan, if Mr. Ashton hid the jewel
himself. But the subsequent actions of Li Min and his confederates are
equally explainable upon the theory that they had nothing to do with the
murder whatever, and were merely attempting to steal the jewel at the
first opportunity."
I made no reply. They seemed to be weaving a net of circumstantial
evidence about me that, try as I would, I did not seem able to break
through.
"We have alluded," continued the Inspector, "to your sympathy with Miss
Temple, to the use of her handkerchief to hold the bits of soap, to the
fact that you alone heard Mr. Ashton's cry and alarmed the house, to
your presence in the murdered man's room at a time when you could
readily have bolted the window from within, to your strange failure to
mention the matter of the cake of soap to Sergeant McQuade, and to the
fact that the jewel was found in your possession. We now come to another
curious fact, which we trust you may be able to explain satisfactorily.
The weapon with which this murder was apparently committed was found
this morning, locked in a drawer in the room you occupied at Major
Temple's house. It was wrapped in a handkerchief marked with your
initials. Can you tell us how it came to be there?"
I turned to the Inspector with a bitter laugh. "I can tell you," I
replied, "but, I presume, you will not believe me. I put the weapon,
which was a brass-headed poker, there myself. I found it on the lawn
outside of Mr. Ashton's window, the day before yesterday."
"Why did you also conceal this important piece of evidence from Sergeant
McQuade?" demanded the Inspector in a stern voice.
I felt like a fool, and looked like one, as well, I fear. "I forgot it,"
I mumbled in confusion.
"You forgot it!" The Inspector believed that I was lying, and showed
it. "Can you expect a sane man to believe any such folly as that?"
"Folly, or not," I replied, "it is the truth. I found the poker the day
before yesterday, late in the afternoon. I intended to show it privately
to Sergeant McQuade. He was in Exeter at the time and I placed it in the
drawer for safe keeping. When he returned that evening, it was just in
time to listen to Major Temple's story of his experiences in China, and,
when he had finished, it was close to midnight and the matter had
completely slipped my mind. The inquest the following morning took my
entire attention and, after that, the sudden arrest of Li Min, and our
departure for London. You know what has occurred since. I had forgotten
the matter completely until I received this telegram from Miss Temple
not half an hour before you came." I took the dispatch from the table
and handed it to the Inspector, who read it with interest.
"Why did Miss Temple send you this?" he inquired suddenly.
"I do not know--I suppose she thought it would be of interest to me."
"Did it not occur to you that it might be in the nature of a warning?"
Again I saw a chasm yawning before me. Every step in this miserable
affair seemed to make matters look blacker and more sinister as far as I
was concerned.
"Miss Temple has no reason to suspect me of any part in the matter," I
replied. "Do you think it at all likely that, if I had committed the
murder, I could have left such damning evidence as the weapon where the
police would have been certain to discover it, and wrapped in my own
handkerchief, to render my detection the easier? What is your theory of
the crime, Inspector Burns, upon the present evidence? Reconstruct the
events of that night as you think they might have occurred. I will not
take it to heart if you do me any injustice, for I am as innocent of
any complicity in Mr. Ashton's murder as you are."
The Inspector seemed impressed by my words and manner. He looked at
Sergeant McQuade, who nodded slightly. Then he transferred his gaze to
me. "I have no objection, Mr. Morgan, to outlining a theory of the
murder which seems to me to fit the facts as we know them. It may or may
not be correct, but it is my plan to work out whatever theory will most
nearly fit all the facts in my possession, and then test it from every
standpoint until it either fails, or is proven true. I shall be obliged
to you if you will indicate, when I have finished, any points which seem
to you not to coincide with such evidence as we now have before us.
"Miss Temple," began the Inspector, "knew that Ashton had her letter in
which she agreed to marry him in his possession, and she also knew that,
if Ashton delivered the emerald to her father in the morning, she would
be compelled to keep her word. She detested Ashton--the thought of
marriage with him was unbearable to her. She retired to her room, but
could not sleep. At some hour later, possibly shortly after midnight, as
she says, she went to Mr. Ashton's room, and was admitted by him. She
begged for the letter--he refused--a violent altercation ensued--in her
rage she grasped the poker, and struck him with it. He fell, but she
found, by feeling his heart, that he was not dead. She believed that she
had only stunned him, and set to work to secure the jewel. After
removing it from the case, she feared to take it from the room. She had
no wish to steal it, but only to prevent Mr. Ashton from making use of
it. She hit upon the plan of hiding it in the cake of soap. In half an
hour the thing was done, and the pieces, collected upon her
handkerchief, thrown out of the window. She then set about leaving the
room, but, on again feeling Mr. Ashton's heart, she found it very weak.
She feared the result of her blow. To destroy the evidence of what she
had done, she threw the poker out of the window into the grass, and
hurriedly left the room, forgetting the handkerchief in her agitation as
she did so. She returned to her room, but was doubtless unable to sleep,
in terror at her act. Toward morning she decided to leave the house and
flee, and, with this object in view, changed her clothes and shoes, but
once more went to Mr. Ashton's room, to assure herself that he no longer
lived. In doing this, she awoke you, either by accident or design. You
heard her story, she threw herself upon your mercy, and you agreed to
stand by her; you advised her against running away, but suggested that
she go down and get the poker, which she had thrown from the window, in
order that it might be replaced in the room, or otherwise disposed of.
This she did. You meanwhile entered the room, bolted the door on the
inside, and left by the window. It is probable that you examined the
body while in the room, and, unknown to yourself, your hand became
stained with blood. On reaching the roof, you rested it upon the sill
while closing the window with the other hand. You then re-entered the
house by the hall window, meeting Miss Temple, who had secured the
poker, and taking it from her. You placed it in your room, meanwhile
urging her to retire to hers and change her dress and shoes. A little
later you aroused the house with your cries and, upon entering the room,
rebolted the window while Major Temple was not observing you. You later
secured the cake of soap containing the jewel, as we know. You no doubt
intended to replace the poker in the room at the first opportunity. None
had occurred up to the time of your leaving the house, for the room was
kept locked by the police until after the inquest. You entered it once,
just before your departure, and secured the jewel, but Li Min's
presence prevented you from replacing the poker."
As the Inspector concluded, he glanced at me triumphantly, as who should
say--dispute it, if you can.
I laughed, though with little mirth. The Inspector seemed so
convincingly right, and was so hopelessly wrong. "Why don't you simply
say that I killed Ashton, and put the weapon in my dresser, and leave
Miss Temple out of it entirely?" I said. "It's equally plausible."
"Possibly so, although that would account for neither the handkerchief,
nor Miss Temple's leaving the house that morning."
"She has already accounted for the one: she can readily do so for the
other," I replied.
"That we shall see," said the Inspector, rising from his chair. "We will
go to Exeter at once, and question Miss Temple."