G. D. H. Cole

“ Murder is not an uncommon crime.”
“But I understood Carter Woodman was a friend of yours.”
“If you were my age, young man, and in my profession, you wouldn’t be surprised even if one of your friends committed a murder. But, he’s no friend of mine—now. Carter Woodman would be a good riddance himself. I could have put him in prison for trying to raise money on false pretences.”
“Sir John, you will tell me what you know. I have almost certain proof that Woodman did commit murder; but your evidence may be indispensable.” ”

“ Meanwhile, in the lounge at Liskeard House, Joan and Ellery were sitting very close to each other on a sofa making their plans for the discovery of the criminal.
“How had we better begin?” he asked, running his hand despairingly through his hair.
“I can see only one way,” Joan replied. “We have nothing to go upon—nothing, I mean, that would make us suspect any particular person. So the only thing to do is to suspect everybody—to find out exactly where everybody was when the crime was committed, and what they were doing that evening.” ”

“ It will, I fear, be difficult to persuade even a coroner’s jury that such an account of the circumstances is correct.”
“Of course it isn’t correct, sir; but you’ll admit that’s what it looks like. It is quite possible for a man who has committed a murder to be murdered himself as he leaves the scene of his crime; but it’s stark, staring nonsense for the man whom he has killed to get up, as if he were alive and well, and come after his murderer with a club. To say nothing of laying himself out again neatly afterwards. No, that won’t wash, Yet the evidence both ways is thoroughly good evidence.” ”

“ But why had Walter Brooklyn been so dragged into the case by the detective? Until Inspector Blaikie had come to see her, she had been quite without a theory of the events of Tuesday. She had been stunned by the fact of Prinsep’s death, and she had hardly troubled to think who could have killed him. Now it was clear that the police believed that Walter Brooklyn had something to do with it. An odious man, by all accounts, and one who had proved himself odious beyond measure in his dealings with her. Yet not a man she would readily have suspected of murder with violence. ”

“ Then it was that Ellery told Lucas of his love for Joan. And then he had his surprise; for he found that his guardian had discovered that for himself long ago, and that he was being strongly encouraged to persist in his suit. “My dear boy,” said Lucas, “of course you’re in love with Joan, and I shouldn’t be a bit surprised if you find out before long that she’s in love with you. She’s a very fine young woman, and I couldn’t wish you better fortune than to win her. I hope you will, when the time comes. But, of course, you can’t make love to her just now. ”

“ Joan had listened with a feeling of nausea to Woodman’s confession. But now she broke in indignantly. “I am afraid,” she said, “that you are a little after the fair. It is quite true that, under my stepfather’s new will, you appear to be the principal heir. It is also true that my stepfather stood to inherit a large sum of money, until Sir Vernon made a new will.” Joan said these words very slowly and distinctly. As Woodman heard them the colour, which had quite come back, faded again from his face, and he stared at her with a consternation that deepened as she went on. ”

“ Walter Brooklyn’s manner seemed to the inspector quite extraordinarily violent. But he noticed something else while Brooklyn was speaking—the man’s amazing physical strength. He could not be less than sixty; but as he stood there, in a half-threatening attitude—with difficulty, it seemed, holding himself in—Inspector Blaikie could not help thinking that here was the very figure of a man to have struck the blows on both the dead men’s skulls. Here, moreover, was a man, obviously passionate and lacking in self-control—just the sort of person to resort to violence if his will were crossed. ”

“ Thomas had before long to admit that he had been suspecting an innocent man, and that man his own client. At first he was inclined to be incredulous; but, when witness after witness was produced, he had to admit absolutely that Joan and Ellery had proved their case. The testimony of one, or even two, witnesses might have been doubted; but the cumulative effect of the evidence, given by the old night-watchman, Kitty Frensham, and Horace Mandleham, and the men whom “the Spaniard” had found, was irresistible. ”

“ Surely you see that it must be what happened.”
“I expect, as usual, you are right,” said the inspector. “But will it convince a jury? I have tried all I know to get any evidence showing when the stick was left; but not a trace can I find. A jury will regard it as a pure hypothesis.”
The superintendent sighed. Juries are sadly lacking in appreciation of the subtleties of reasoning. “You’re quite right there,” he said. “My divination won’t hang Carter Woodman. But it convinces you as it convinced me. We have to get faith in our own knowledge before we can make a case that will persuade others. ”

“ As soon as Ellery had breakfasted, he set off for Liskeard House to find Joan. They must get to work at once.
Joan, too, had spent a good part of the night thinking; but her thoughts had brought her no nearer to a solution of the mystery surrounding the murders. There was literally not one, of all those who seemed to be concerned, who could, in her judgment, have been the murderer. She was reduced to the supposition that it must be some outsider—some one whom they had not even dreamed so far of connecting with the crimes. ”

“ Are you so sure there’s no doubt about that alibi?”
“Still harping on that, are you, inspector? Come, put the idea of Walter Brooklyn’s guilt out of your head. It’s not often I take much stock in alibis; but this one is absolutely convincing.”
“I’m not so sure, sir, all the same. At least, I’d have kept hold of the man we had got till we could lay some one else by the heels.”
The superintendent shrugged his shoulders impatiently. “That’s the worst of you, inspector,” he said, “you are impervious to evidence. You never will give up an idea when you’ve once been at the trouble of forming it. ”

“ You, too, have ample means; but our close connection and the work you have done so well for me and for the Company call for recognition. To Mrs. Carter—to you, Helen—I have left no money—you will share in what your husband receives—but I will show you later the jewels which will be yours when I die. To you, Mary, who, with Joan, have lived with me and cared for me, I leave £20,000, enough to make you independent. There are but two more of my smaller legacies I need mention. The rest are either to servants or to charitable institutions. ”

“ There was a further silence, during which Joan continued to walk fast, staring straight in front of her. At last she said, “I’ve been thinking, and I’m sure I see what we ought to do. So far we have only been trying to prove that my stepfather did not do it. We’ve succeeded. But at this rate we shall all of us be suspected in turn. There’s only one thing for it. There will be no peace and quietness till some one finds the criminal. I don’t believe the police will ever find him. Why shouldn’t you and I find him ourselves? We haven’t done badly so far.”
Ellery whistled. ”

“ Walter Brooklyn was out of it; for his alibi had been not merely accepted, but tested beyond possible doubt. Ellery could hardly suspect himself, though he admitted that any one else, following out his line of thought, might still suspect him. His alibi was not conclusive: it depended on the word of one man. But he could rule himself out: he could say positively that he had not done the thing. Then who remained? Only Harry Lucas, Carter Woodman, and the two servants, Winter and Morgan. Among these, if he was right, the real murderer must be found. ”

“ Downstairs, Walter Brooklyn had no doubt, the dining-room and the smoking-rooms, as well as the servants’ quarters, were busy with the news of his release. Among the Club members, as among the servants, there would be differences of opinion; and he felt he could name certain members who would be vigorously affirming their belief that the police made a mistake, not when they arrested him, but when they let him go. The spiteful old johnnies, he said to himself, would gladly see him hanged. Their disappointment added to the pleasure of being a free man. And this was really a first-rate dinner. ”

“ Then Marian Brooklyn realised what seemed to her the most horrible thing about the situation. “Poor Joan,” she said, “it will be simply terrible for her if Walter Brooklyn is really suspected. She has trouble enough with what has happened, already, and with Sir Vernon on her hands in such a state that nearly everything has to be kept from him. If her stepfather is going to be dragged into court, I don’t know what she will do.” ”

“ The evidence that was left on the spot where Prinsep was killed was obviously meant to incriminate George Brooklyn. That seems to show that, when the murder was done, the murderer had no idea that George Brooklyn was dead already, if indeed he was. A criminal would hardly lay two distinct and actually inconsistent sets of clues, leading to quite different suspects.”
“Not unless he was a quite exceptionally clever criminal, I grant you. But tell me this. Why should a man, who otherwise covered his traces so well, give himself away like an utter fool by that telephone conversation?” ”

“ It would be awkward to be followed about by the man in police boots wherever he went with Joan, and it would be awkward to have the police know exactly what they were doing in Walter Brooklyn’s interest. The police boots had followed Joan and him on their visits to the two Clubs, and now, as he left Liskeard House, Ellery saw their owner leaning against a lamp-post opposite, and gazing straight at the front door. Never, he thought, had a man looked more obviously a detective—or rather a policeman in plain clothes. ”

“ You would not find a poor devil of a playwright with the best part of a million to leave to his descendants. And then, with obvious relief, the rest helped to steer the talk back to less dangerous topics. Sir Vernon seemed to forget his annoyance and launched into a stream of old theatrical reminiscence, Lucas capping each of his stories with another. The cheerfulness of the latter part of the evening was, perhaps, a trifle forced, and there were two, Joan herself and young Ellery, who took in it only the smallest possible part. But Prinsep, Lucas, and Carter Woodman made up for these others ”

“ Whom would he now put in the place which Prinsep had lately occupied? He might, indeed, die without the strength to make a change; but Joan did not believe that he would. It seemed to her inconceivable that he would leave matters so that the bulk of his fortune, and with it the control of the Brooklyn Corporation, would pass to her stepfather, who had manifestly neither the will nor the special capacity to carry on the work. She was convinced that Sir Vernon would change his will; and she could see but one man whom he was now likely to make heir to his wealth and position. ”

“ In this garden, before dinner was served, a number of Sir Vernon’s guests had already gathered. The old man had been persuaded, despite the brilliant midsummer weather, to remain in the house; but Joan Cowper and John Prinsep were there to do the honours on his behalf. As Harry Lucas came into the garden, John Prinsep was laughingly, as he said, “showing off the points” of a dilapidated Hercules who, club, lion-skin and all, was slowly mouldering under the trees at one end of the lawn. ”

“ She was particularly angry with Thomas.
“I call it abominable. We have just succeeded in clearing one innocent man, whom an hour or two ago you believed to be guilty: and now you are wantonly throwing suspicion on some one else. What business is it of yours? I know Winter had nothing to do with it.”
“That is all very well, Miss Cowper; but it was my duty to tell the police, and, moreover, by doing so, I probably speeded up Mr. Brooklyn’s release by at least twenty-four hours. It is always wise to have the police on your side—when you can.” ”

“ If you’re in the right we are in a worse hole than ever.”
“No, my dear inspector, it does help us.” And the superintendent rubbed his hands with satisfaction. He smiled to himself as he reflected that he could see further than most people through a brick wall.
“How do you mean?” asked the inspector.
“Well, if Walter Brooklyn was not in the house, it is clear that he did not send that telephone message. But some one did send it. Who was that some one? Find him, and you find the murderer. It was clearly sent with the deliberate intention of throwing suspicion on Walter Brooklyn.” ”