The Shrieking Pit

  CHAPTER V

  During the latter part of the conversation Superintendent Gallowaywalked to the open window, and looked out. He turned round swiftly, witha look of unusual animation on his heavy features, and exclaimed:

  "The murderer entered through the window."

  The others went over to the window. The inn on that side had been builtinto a small hill of beehive shape, which had been partly levelled tomake way for the foundations. Seen from outside, the inn, with its backto the sea and a corner of its front entering the hillside, bore aremote resemblance to some nakedly ugly animal with its nose burrowedinto the earth. Part of the bar was actually underground, and thewindows of the rooms immediately above looked out on the hillside. Thewindow of Mr. Glenthorpe's room, which was above the bar parlour, wasnot more than four or five feet away from the round-shouldered side ofthe hill. From that point the hill fell away rapidly, and thefirst-story windows at the back, where the house rose from the flat edgeof the marsh, were about fifteen feet from the ground. The space betweenthe inn wall and the beehive curve of the hill, which was very narrowunder Mr. Glenthorpe's window, but widened as the hill fell away, wascovered with a russet-coloured clay, which contrasted vividly with thesombre grey and drab tints of the marshes.

  "It was an easy matter to get in this window," said SuperintendentGalloway. "And here's the proof that the murderer came in this way." Hestooped and picked up something from the floor, close to the window,and held it out in the palm of his hand for the inspection of hiscompanions. It was a small piece of red clay, like the russet-colouredclay outside the window.

  "Here is another clue," said Colwyn, pointing to a fragment of blackmaterial adhering to a nail near the bottom of the window.

  "Ronald ripped something he was wearing while getting through thewindow," said Galloway, detaching the fragment, which he and Colwynexamined closely.

  "Have you noticed that?" said Colwyn, pointing to a pool of water whichhad collected near the open window, between the edge of the carpet andthe skirting board.

  "Yes," replied Galloway. "It was raining heavily last night."

  With eyes sharpened by his discoveries, Galloway made a careful searchof the carpet, and found several more crumbs of red clay between thewindow and the bed. Near the bed he detected some splashes ofcandle-grease, which he detached from the carpet with his pocket-knife.He also picked up the stump of a burnt wooden match, and the brokenunlighted rink head of another. After showing these things to hiscompanions he placed them carefully in an empty match-box, which he putin his pocket.

  "Somebody has bumped against this gas globe pretty hard," said Colwyn."The glass is broken and the incandescent burner smashed."

  He bent down to examine the white fragments of the burner which werescattered about the carpet, and as he did so he noticed another brokenwooden match, and two more splashes of candle-grease directly beneaththe gas-jet. He removed the candle-grease carefully, and showed it toGalloway.

  "More candle-grease!" the latter said. "Well, that's not likely to proveanything except that Ronald was careless with his light. I suppose thewind caused the candle to gutter. I would willingly exchange thecandle-grease for some finger-prints. There's not a sign offinger-prints anywhere. Ronald must have worn gloves. Now, let us have alook at Ronald's room. I want to see if he could get out of his ownwindow on to the hillside. His window is higher from the ground thanthis window. The hill falls away very sharply."

  The bedroom Ronald had occupied was small and narrow, and its meagrefurniture was in striking contrast with the comfortable appointments ofthe room they had just left. It contained a single bed, a chest ofdrawers, a washstand, and a wardrobe. The latter, a cumbrous article offurniture, stood between the bed and the wall, against the side nearestto Mr. Glenthorpe's room.

  Galloway strode across to the window, which was open, and looked out.The hillside fell away so rapidly that the bottom of the window wasquite eight feet from the ground outside.

  "Not much of a drop for an athletic young fellow like Ronald," saidGalloway to Colwyn, who had joined him.

  "The window is very much smaller than the one in Mr. Glenthorpe'sbedroom," said Colwyn.

  "But large enough for a man to get through. Look here! I can get my headand shoulders through, and where the head and shoulders go the rest ofthe body will follow. Ronald got through it last night and into the nextroom by the other window. There can be no doubt that that was how themurder was committed."

  Galloway left the window, and examined the bedroom carefully. He turneddown the bed-clothes, and scrutinised the sheets and pillows.

  "I thought he might have left some blood-stains on the linen, aftercarrying the body downstairs," he explained. "But he hasn't."

  "Sir Henry says the bleeding was largely internal," remarked Mr.Cromering. "That would account for the absence of any tell-tale marks onthe bed-clothes."

  "He was too clever to wash his hands when he came back," grumbledGalloway, turning to the washstand and examining the towels. "He's acool customer."

  "I notice that the candle in the candlestick is a wax one," said Colwyn.

  "And burnt more than half-way down," commented Galloway, glancing at it.

  "You attach no significance to the fact that the candle is a wax one?"questioned the detective.

  "No, do you?" replied Galloway, with a puzzled glance.

  Colwyn did not reply to the question. He was looking attentively at thelarge wardrobe by the side of the bed.

  "That's a strange place to put a wardrobe," he said. "It would bedifficult to get out of bed without barking one's shins against it."

  "It was probably put there to hide the falling wall-paper,--the place isgoing to rack and ruin," said Galloway, pointing to the top of thewardrobe, where the faded wall-paper, mildewed and wet with damp, washanging in festoons. "Now, Queensmead, lead the way outside. I've seenall I want to see in this room."

  "Would you like to see the room where Ronald and Mr. Glenthorpe dined?"suggested the constable. "It's on this floor, on the other side of Mr.Glenthorpe's bedroom."

  "We can see that later. I want to examine outside before it gets dark."

  They left the room. The innkeeper was waiting patiently in the passage,standing motionless at the head of the staircase, with his headinclining forward, like a marsh heron fishing in a dyke. He hastenedtowards them.

  "I noticed a reading-lamp by Mr. Glenthorpe's bedside, Mr. Benson," saidColwyn. "Did he use that as well as the gas?"

  "He rarely used the gas, sir, though it was put into the room at hisrequest. He found the reading-lamp suited his sight better."

  "Did he use candles? I saw no candlestick in the room."

  "He never used candles, sir--only the reading-lamp."

  "When was the gas-globe smashed? Last night?"

  "It must have been, sir. Ann says it was quite all right yesterday."

  "I've got my own idea how that was done," said Galloway, who had been anattentive listener to the innkeeper's replies to Colwyn's questions."Show the way downstairs to the back door, Mr. Benson."

  The innkeeper preceded them down the stairs and along the passage toanother one, which terminated in a latched door, which he opened.

  "How was this door fastened last night?" asked Galloway.

  "By this bolt at the top," said the innkeeper, pointing to it. "There isno key--only this catch."

  "Is this the only back outlet from the inn?" asked Colwyn.

  "Yes, sir."

  At Galloway's suggestion they first went to the side of the inn, inorder to examine the ground beneath the windows. The fence enclosing theyard had fallen into disrepair, and had many gaps in it. There were nofootprints visible in the red clay of the natural passage-way betweenthe inn wall and the hill, either beneath the window of Ronald's room orMr. Glenthorpe's window.

  "The absence of footprints means nothing," said Galloway. "Ronald mayhave climbed from one room to the other in his stocking feet, and thenput on his boots to remove the body. Even i
f he wore his boots he mighthave left no marks, if he walked lightly."

  "I am not so sure of that," said Colwyn. "But what do you make of this?"

  He pointed to an impression in the red earth underneath Mr. Glenthorpe'swindow--a line so faint as to be barely noticeable, running outward fromthe wall for about eighteen inches, with another line about the samelength running at right angles from it. Superintendent Galloway examinedthese two lines closely and then shook his head as though to intimate hecould make nothing of them.

  "What do you think they are?" said Mr. Cromering, turning to Colwyn.

  "I think they may have been made by a box," was the reply.

  "You are not suggesting that the murderer threw a box out of thewindow?" exclaimed Superintendent Galloway, staring at the detective."Look how straight the line from the wall is! A box would have fallencrookedly."

  "I do not suggest anything of the kind. If it was a box, it is morelikely it was placed outside the window."

  "For what purpose?"

  "To help the murderer climb into the room."

  "He didn't need it," replied Galloway. "It's an easy matter to getthrough this window from the ground. I can do it myself." He placed hishands on the sill, sprang on to the window ledge, and dropped backagain. "I attach no importance to these lines. They are so faint thatthey might have been made months ago. There is nothing to be seen here,so we may as well go and look at the footprints. Show us where the marksof the footsteps commence, Queensmead."

  The constable led the way to the other side of the house and across thegreen. The grass terminated a little distance from the inn in a claybank bordering a wide tract of bare and sterile land, which extendedalmost to the summit of the rise. Clearly defined in the clay and theblack soft earth were two sets of footprints, one going towards therise, and the other returning. The outgoing footsteps were deeply anddistinctly outlined from heel to toe. The right foot plainly showed thecircular mark of a rubber heel, which was missing in the other, though asharp indentation showed the mark of the spike to which the rubber hadbeen fastened.

  "The footprints lead straight to the mouth of the pit where the body wasthrown," said Queensmead.

  "What a clue!" exclaimed Superintendent Galloway, his eyes sparklingwith excitement. "You are quite certain the inn servant can swear thatthese marks were made by Ronald's boots, Queensmead?"

  "There's no doubt on that point, sir," replied the constable. "She hadthe boots in her hands this morning, just before Ronald put them on, andshe distinctly noticed that there was a rubber heel on the right boot,but not on the other."

  "It seems a strange thing for a young man of Ronald's position to haverubber heels affixed to his boots," remarked Mr. Cromering. "I was underthe impression that they were an economical device of the workingclasses. But perhaps he found them useful to save his feet fromjarring."

  "We shall find them useful to hang him," responded Galloway curtly. "Letus proceed to the pit, gentlemen. May I ask you to keep clear of thefootprints? I do not want them obliterated before I can take plastercasts."

  They followed the footsteps up the rise. Near the summit theydisappeared in a growth of nettles, but reappeared on the other side,skirting a number of bowl-shaped depressions clustered in groups alongthe brow of the rise. These were the hut circles--the pit dwellings ofthe early Britons, shallow excavations from six to eight feet deep, allrunning into one another, and choked with a rank growth of weeds.Between them and a little wood which covered the rest of the summit wasan open space, with a hole gaping nakedly in the bare earth.

  "That's the pit where the body was thrown," said Queensmead, walking tothe brink.

  The pit descended straight as a mining shaft until the sides disappearedin the interior gloom. It was impossible to guess at its depth becauseof the tangled creepers which lined its sides and obscured the view, butMr. Cromering, speaking from his extensive knowledge of Norfolk geology,said it was fully thirty feet deep. He added that there was considerabledifference of opinion among antiquaries to account for its greaterdepth. Some believed the pit was simply a larger specimen of theadjoining hut circles, running into a natural underground passage whichhad previously existed. But the more generally accepted theory was thatthe hut circles marked the site of a prehistoric village, and the deeperpit had been the quarry from which the Neolithic men had obtained theflints of which they made their implements. These flints were imbeddedin the chalk a long way from the surface, and to obtain them the cavemen burrowed deeply into the clay, and then excavated horizontalgalleries into the chalk. Several of the red-deer antler picks whichthey used for the purpose had been discovered when the pit was firstexplored twenty-five years ago.

  "Mr. Glenthorpe was very much interested in the prehistoric and lateStone Age remains which are to be found in abundance along the Norfolkcoast," he added. "He has enriched the national museums with a valuablecollection of prehistoric man's implements and utensils, which herecovered in various parts of Norfolk. For some time past he had beencarrying out explorations in this district in order to add to thecollection. It is sad to think that he met his death while thusemployed, and that his murdered body was thrown in the very pit whichwas, as it were, the centre of his explorations and the object of hiskeenest scientific curiosity."

  "Did you ever see clearer footprints?" exclaimed the morepractical-minded Galloway. "Look how deep they are near the edge of thepit, where the murderer braced himself to throw the body off his backinto the hole. See! there is a spot of blood on the edge."

  It was as he had said. The footprints were clear and distinct to thebrink of the pit, but fainter as they turned away, showing that the manwho had carried the body had stepped more lightly and easily afterrelieving himself of his terrible burden.

  "I must take plaster casts of those prints before it rains," saidGalloway. "They are far too valuable a piece of evidence to be lost.They form the final link in the case against Ronald."

  "You regard the case as conclusive, then?" said Colwyn.

  "Of course I do. It is now a simple matter to reconstruct the crime frombeginning to end. Ronald got through Mr. Glenthorpe's window last nightin the dark. As the catch has not been forced, he either found itunlocked or opened it with a knife. After getting into the room hewalked towards the foot of the bed. He listened to make sure that Mr.Glenthorpe was asleep, and then struck the match I picked up near thefoot of the bed, lit the candle he was carrying, put it on the tablebeside the bed, and stabbed the sleeping man. Having secured the money,he unlocked the door, carried the corpse out on his shoulder, closed thedoor behind him but did not lock it, then took the body downstairs, lethimself out of the back door, carried it up here and cast it into thepit. That's how the murder was committed."

  "I agree with you that the murderer entered through the window," saidColwyn. "But why did he do so? It strikes me as important to clear thatup. If Ronald is the murderer, why did he take the trouble to enter theroom from the outside when he slept in the next room?"

  "Surely you have not forgotten that the door was locked from inside?Benson says Mr. Glenthorpe was in the habit of locking his door andsleeping with the key under the pillow. Ronald no doubt first tried toenter the room by the door, but, finding it locked, climbed out of hiswindow, and got into the room through the other window. He dared notbreak open the door for fear of disturbing the inmate or alarming thehouse."

  "Then how do you account for the key being found in the outside of Mr.Glenthorpe's door this morning?"

  "Quite easily. During the struggle or in the victim's death convulsionsthe bed-clothes were disarranged, and Ronald saw the key beneath thepillow. Or he may have searched for it, as he knew he would need itbefore he could open the door and remove the body. It was easy for himto climb through the window to commit the murder, but he couldn't removethe body that way. After finding the key he unlocked the door, and putthe key in the outside, intending to lock the door and remove the key ashe left the room, so as to defer the discovery that Mr. Glenthorpe wasmissin
g until as long after his own departure in the morning aspossible. He may have found it a difficult matter to stoop and lock thedoor and withdraw the key while he was encumbered with the corpse, soleft it in the door till he returned from the pit. When he returned hewas so exhausted with carrying the body several hundred yards, mostlyuphill, that he forgot all about the key. That is my theory to accountfor the key being in the outside of the door."

  "It's an ingenious one, at all events," commented Colwyn. "But wouldsuch a careful deliberate murderer overlook the key when he returned?"

  "Nothing more likely," said the confident superintendent. "It's intrifles like this that murderers give themselves away. The notoriousDeeming, who murdered several wives, and disposed of their bodies byburying them under hearthstones and covering them with cement, wouldprobably never have been caught if he had not taken away with him acanary which belonged to the last woman he murdered. It was a clue thatcouldn't be missed--like the silk skein in Fair Rosamond's Bower."

  "Here's another point: why did not Ronald, having disposed of the body,disappear at once, instead of waiting for the morning?"

  "Because if his room had been found empty in the morning, as well asthat of Mr. Glenthorpe's, the double disappearance would have arousedinstant suspicion and search. Ronald gauged the moment of his departurevery cleverly, in my opinion. On the one hand, he wanted to get awaybefore the discovery of Mr. Glenthorpe's empty bedroom; and, on theother hand, he wished to stay at the inn long enough to suggest that hehad no reason for flight, but was merely compelled to make an earlydeparture. The trouble and risk he took to conceal the body outsideprove conclusively that he thought the pit a sufficiently safehiding-place to retard discovery of the crime for a considerable time,and he probably thought that even when it was discovered that Mr.Glenthorpe was missing his absence would not, at first, arousesuspicions that he had met with foul play.

  "It was not as though Mr. Glenthorpe was living at home with relativeswho would have immediately raised a hue and cry. He was a lonely old manliving in an inn amongst strangers, who were not likely to be interestedin his goings and comings. That suggests another alternative theory toaccount for the key in the door: Ronald may have left it in the door toconvey the impression that Mr. Glenthorpe had gone out for an earlywalk. That belief would at least gain Ronald a few hours to make goodhis escape from this part of the country and get away by train beforeany suspicions were aroused. The fact that none of Mr. Glenthorpe'sclothes were missing was not likely to be discovered in an inn untilsuspicion was aroused. Ronald laid his plans well, but how was he toknow that in his path to the pit he walked over soil as plastic andimpressionable as wax?"

  "But in spite of that you assume he knew exactly where this pit wassituated?"

  "Nothing more likely. It is well-known to archaeologists. Ronald may wellhave heard of it while staying at Durrington, or he may have known ofit personally through some previous visit to this part of the world. Andthere is also evidence that Mr. Glenthorpe told him of the hut circlesand the pit during dinner last night."

  "Just one more doubt, Superintendent. How do you account for the crackedgas globe and the broken incandescent mantle?"

  "Ronald probably knocked his head against it as he approached the bed,"said Galloway promptly.

  "Hardly. Ronald's height, according to the description, is five feet teninches. That happens to be also my height, and I can pass under the gasglobe without touching it."

  "Then it was broken when Ronald was carrying the corpse downstairs,"replied Galloway, after a moment's reflection. "He carried the corpse onhis shoulders and part of the body would be above his head."

  "Superintendent Galloway has an answer for everything," said Colwyn witha smile, to Mr. Cromering. "He is persuasive if not always convincing."

  "The case seems clear enough to me," said the chief constablethoughtfully. "Come, gentlemen, let us return to the inn. We have anumber of things to do, and not much time to do them in."