CHAPTER XXIX
"There are several things that I do not understand," said SuperintendentGalloway to Colwyn a little later. "How were you able to decide soquickly that Benson had told the truth when he declared that he had notcommitted the murder, after he had made the damning admission that hehad removed the body?"
"Partly because it was extremely unlikely that Benson could haveinvented a story which fitted so nicely with the facts. The slightestmistake in his times would have proved him to be a liar. But I had morethan that to go upon. I said this afternoon that my reconstruction wasnot wholly satisfactory, because there were several loose ends in it. Atthat time I believed he was the murderer, and I was anxious to frightenthe truth out of him in order to see where my reconstruction was atfault. His story proved that my original conception of the crime was thecorrect one, and my mistake was in departing from it, and ignoring someof my original clues in order to square the new facts with a freshtheory. I should never have lost sight of my first conviction that therewere two persons in Mr. Glenthorpe's room the night he was murdered.
"When Benson told his story I asked myself, Could Charles' conduct bedictated by the desire to have a hold over Benson--with a view toblackmail later on? But he was not likely to risk his own neck bybecoming an accomplice in the concealment of the murdered man's body!Charles, if he were innocent himself, must have thought that Benson wasthe murderer. It was impossible that he could have come to any otherconclusion. He discovers a man washing blood off his hands at midnight,and this man admits to him that he has just come from a room which hehad no right to enter, and found a dead man there. Why had Charlesbelieved--or pretended to believe--Benson's story?
"It came to me suddenly, with the recollection of the line under themurdered man's window--one of the clues which I had discarded--and thewhole of this baffling sinister mystery became clear in my mind. Themurder was committed by Charles, who got out of the window by which hehad entered just before Benson came into the room. Charles saw a lightin the room he had left, and returned to the window to investigate.Crouching outside the window, he saw Benson in the room, examining thebody, and it came into his mind as he watched that his employer hadconceived the same idea as himself--had seized on the presence of astranger staying at the inn in order to rob Mr. Glenthorpe, hoping thatthe crime would be attributed to the man who slept in the next room.Charles was quick to see how Benson's presence in the room might beturned to his own advantage. Charles had taken precautions, incommitting the murder, to leave clues in the room which should directsuspicion to Penreath, but the innkeeper's visit to the room suggestedto him an even better plan for securing his own safety. When Benson leftthe room Charles got through the window again, and followed himdownstairs.
"Charles' story, told to me when he was dying, filled in the gaps whichI have omitted. He said that he watched the whole of Benson's movementsfrom the window. He saw him searching for the money, saw him feel thebody, and saw the blood on his hands. When Benson turned to leave theroom he forgot the candle, and it was then that the idea of followinghim leapt into Charles' mind. He divined that Benson would go downstairsand wash the blood off his hands. Charles' idea was to go after him andsurprise him in the act. He followed him swiftly, and was never morethan a few feet behind. While Benson was striking a match and lightingthe kitchen candle Charles slipped into his own room, lit his owncandle, and then emerged from his door as though he had been disturbedin his sleep. The rest of his plan was easily carried out through thefears of Benson, who agreed, in his own interests, to conceal the bodyof the man whom the other had murdered.
"The clue by which Penreath was virtually convicted--the track ofbootmarks to the pit--was an accidental one so far as Charles wasconcerned. It is strange to think that Chance, which removed the cluesCharles deliberately placed in the room, should have achieved Charles'aim by directing suspicion to Penreath in a different, yet moreconvincing manner.
"The murderer's revelation clears up those points which I was unable tosettle this afternoon. He entered Mr. Glenthorpe's room during theheaviest part of the storm. He carried a box, under his arm, because hewas too short to get into the window without something to stand on, heshielded himself from the rain with an umbrella, which got caught on thenail by the window, and he lit a tallow candle which he had brought fromthe bar.
"Another clue, which I originally discovered and laid aside, is alsoexplained. The wound in Mr. Glenthorpe's body struck me as an unusualone. You heard Sir Henry Durwood say, in answer to my questions, thatthe blow was a slanting one, struck from the left side, entering almostparallel with the ribs, yet piercing the heart on the right side. Themanner in which Mr. Glenthorpe's arms were thrown out, his legs drawnup, proved that he was lying on his back when murdered. For that reason,the direction of the blow suggested Charles as the murderer."
"I am afraid I do not follow you there," said Mr. Cromering.
"Charles had a malformed right hand; his left hand was his onlyserviceable one. The blow that killed Mr. Glenthorpe struck me at thetime as a left-handed blow. The natural direction of a right-handedblow, with the body in such a position, would be from right to left--notfrom left to right. But, after considering this point carefully, I cameto the conclusion that the blow might have been struck by a right-handedman. I was wrong."
"I do not think you have much cause to blame yourself," said the chiefconstable. "You were right in your original conception of the crime, andright in your later reconstruction in every particular except----"
"Except that I picked the wrong man," said Colwyn, with a slightlybitter laugh. "My consolation is that Benson's confession brought thetruth to light, as I expected it would."
"It took you to see the truth," said Galloway. "I should never havepicked it. I suppose there has never been a case like it."
"There is nothing new--not even in the annals of crime," returnedColwyn. "But this was certainly a baffling and unusual case. Themurderer was such a deep and subtle scoundrel that I feel a respect forhis intelligence, perverted though it was. His master stroke was thedisposal of the body. That shielded him from suspicion as completely asan alibi. I put aside my first suspicion of him largely because Irealised that it was impossible for a man with a deformed arm to carryaway the body. Such a sardonic situation as a murderer persuadinganother man that he was likely to be suspected of the murder unless heremoved the body was one that never occurred to me. That, at all events,is something new in my experience."
"It is a wonder that Charles, with his deformed arm, was able to go downthe pit and conceal the money," said the chief constable.
"He did not go down very far. It is not a difficult matter to climb downthe creepers inside with the support of one hand, and he was able to usethe other sufficiently to thrust the small peg into the soft earth. Hefirst hid the money in the breakwater wall, being too careful and cleverto hide it in the pit until after the inquest. When he had concealed itin the pit he revived the story of the White Lady of the Shrieking Pitso as to keep the credulous villagers away from the spot. He need nothave taken that precaution, because the hiding place was an excellentone, and it was only by chance that I discovered the money when Idescended the pit. But he left nothing to chance. The use of theumbrella on the night of the murder proves that. Murderers do notusually carry umbrellas, but he did, because he feared that if hisclothes got wet they might be seen in his room the following day, anddirect suspicion to him. He chose to commit the crime when the storm wasat its height because he thought he was safest from the likelihood ofdiscovery then.
"The callous scoundrel told me with his last breath that he was waitinguntil Penreath was safely hanged before disappearing with the money.When he opened the door to us to-night, he knew that he was at the endof his tether, and he decided to try to bolt. He realised that Bensonwould tell the truth when he was questioned and, although theinnkeeper's story did not implicate him directly, he did our commonintelligence the justice to believe that, through his dupe's confession,we should arrive
at the truth."
THE END
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