The Riddle of the Mysterious Light

  CHAPTER XI

  CLUES FROM A DEAD BODY

  At a point just off the road, and where the thick trees hid it, the bigcar waited, with lights hooded and Lennard on watch. Narkom was thefirst to wriggle through the broken palings and make his way to it; ashort time afterward Cleek, who had lingered to make sure thateverything was safe, came up and joined him.

  "They'll eat the beggars out of house and home, that pair, and lead themthe devil's own game of follow-my-leader to-morrow," laughed theSuperintendent. "And now then--what next?"

  "What I told you back there, Mr. Narkom--the beginning of action. Therace now will be to the swift. Lennard, hand me out that bag of fullers'earth. Look sharp! Thanks. Mr. Narkom, take this letter; I think youmust have understood that I was writing it to you. Read it, then hopinto the car and act upon it at once. No questions now, please--thereisn't time. Simply go. Arrange things--you can change back to your owndapper self on the way--and then get back here as soon as you can. Ishall be waiting for you at this spot. That's all."

  It was--it had to be; for in an instant he had swung the bag up over hisshoulder, moved away, and disappeared in the darkness of the woodland.

  When, at the end of half an hour, however, Narkom returned from hiserrand, there Cleek stood again, leaning against a tree, with armsfolded, his chin on his breast, and his forehead puckered thoughtfully.

  "You are just one minute too soon, Mr. Narkom," he said, with a sort ofsigh as the limousine halted and the Superintendent jumped out. "I wasjust working out a little question in mental arithmetic, and in anothersixty seconds I should have had the answer. Look here: Given a space oftwo hundred and eighty feet in length by about, say, three feet inbreadth, and intervals of probably three and a half yards between eachbalk, how many cubic feet of timber, one and a half inches thick and sixinches broad, do you think it would take to---- Oh! let it go! Thereisn't time at present. I'll work it out to-morrow. Come along--quick!We've plenty to do before those bells set up their peal to-night."

  Here he sprang past the Superintendent and got briskly into thelimousine. By the time Mr. Narkom joined him he was stripping off hiscoat.

  "Now, then, down with the curtains and up with the light," he said, asNarkom shut the door and the car took the dark road at a lively clip."Thanks very much. Sit this side, please, and let me get at the locker,and we'll dig up our old friend 'Mr. Philip Barch' for the rest of thegame."

  * * * * *

  It still wanted some few minutes of ten o'clock when the limousine,panting up to the Valehampton almshouses, swung round the angle of thebuildings and made its way to the small detached one which served thedouble purpose of isolation hospital and, when occasion demanded,morgue.

  Here, in a small, brightly lighted anteroom, Cleek and Mr. Narkom foundfour persons waiting to receive them: Mr. Bevington Howard, the localjustice of the peace; Mr. Hamish, the master of the almshouses; Mr.Naylor, the chief constable of the district; and a certain Dr. AlexanderForsyth.

  They all rose as the Superintendent and his famous ally came in, and twoof them at least--Mr. Howard and Mr. Naylor--regarded Cleek withdeep-seated earnestness.

  "Mr. Cleek, this is a pleasure and a privilege," said Howard. "I havelong desired to meet you."

  "Will you forget that you have done so, Mr. Howard, until after thisValehampton business is settled? It may hamper me somewhat if myidentity is known too soon. I shall be obliged if you will think of meuntil then as one 'Philip Barch,' an ordinary civilian. And now, if youplease, may I not see the body of Davis at once?"

  Together the six men passed into the adjoining apartment, carrying withthem the lamps which Mr. Hamish had supplied for the purpose, and in aminute's time all were standing round the bier upon which the dead manlay.

  The body was that of a well-developed, muscular fellow, of about thirtyyears of age, big-framed, and in the very pink of physical condition,who in life must have been as strong as an ox and as difficult to handlein a rough-and-tumble fight as man could well be. Yet here he now lay,the whole back of his head crushed in, yet his face expressing no signof any such agony as one would have thought must have convulsed it asthe result of an injury so appalling. Instead, its expression was ratherpeaceful than otherwise. The features of a man who had died in his sleepcould not have been more placid.

  The curious, one-sided smile curved the corner of Cleek's mouth, andbeckoning Mr. Narkom to hold the light closer, he bent down over thebody, and with the aid of his lens minutely examined the ghastly wound.From that he went, in turn, to other points. With his thumb andforefinger he uncovered the dead eyes and studied the condition ofcornea and pupil; from thence he turned to the lips--inspecting themwith the glass, touching them, smelling them--then went to fingertipsand the cuticular folds of the nails. At the end of five minutes he puthis glass in his pocket and rose.

  "Gentlemen," he said, gravely, "I think I shall be fairly correct inasserting that the wound on the back of this poor fellow's head was madeby a sledge-hammer which had previously been used in demolishing anordinary house wall of lath and plaster. There are distinct traces ofboth mortar and lime, and very minute particles of what, for want of abetter term, one might call old wood dust, in the hair--those atomswhich the blow of a heavy instrument upon wood that is in the primarystages of dry rot would cause to rise like dust. The man, having beenaddicted to the use of pomade for the hair, has furnished a very usefuladhesive for the collection and retention of those particles.

  "From the first, gentlemen, it has been a matter of great surprise to methat such an injury could be inflicted upon such a man without aterrific struggle and a very considerable uproar. It is a surprise to meno longer. I shall be something more than astonished if that blow wasnot delivered after death, and decidedly _not_ at the place where thebody was subsequently found."

  "You think it was carried to the bell-tower, then?"

  "Yes, Mr. Howard, I do. It was taken to that spot and left there forjust such a purpose as it has served--namely, to divert every atom ofsuspicion from channels which might lead to the identification of themurderer and still further to strike terror into the minds of theignorant and superstitious. If this man had carried into effect what heset out to accomplish last night, somebody stood to lose a pretty highstake. It was, therefore, to the interest of that somebody to preventhis doing it, and as this poor fellow was not the kind that could becoaxed or bribed or cajoled into a crooked course, the only preventivewas the desperate one of death."

  Here he turned to Doctor Forsyth and addressed him personally.

  "Doctor," he said, "you may have wondered why the request was made toyou to bring your surgical instruments and to meet these gentlemen herein the interests of science and the law. Let me confess that I made thatrequest merely upon the off-chance of a theory of my own proving correctand requiring such services at your hands. I am now pretty thoroughlyconvinced that it _is_ correct, and that this man's death is the directresult of poison."

  "Poison, sir, poison?"

  "Yes, Mr. Naylor, poison. Accepting, on the evidence of that fearfulinjury to the head, the cause of death as being the result of a blow,you would not, of course, look for any other in the face of a thing soapparent. It was quite natural. Nevertheless, I am convinced that theman was poisoned, and that that poison was administered through themedium of drink. There is a distinct odour of alcohol still clingingabout the mouth, so there can hardly be a question that death must haveensued soon after the taking of a drink, and that the man neither smokednor ate afterward. In the presence of these witnesses, Doctor Forsyth,have the goodness to perform an autopsy and to subject the contents ofthe stomach to chemical analysis. I'll lay my life that if you do--Iknow my man! That's all for the present, gentlemen. I will leave you towitness the autopsy, and will call for the result to-morrow. Mycompliments to you all; good-night!"

  He turned and, beckoning Mr. Narkom to follow, walked out of thebuilding and returned to the waiting limousine.

 
"Where now, sir?" questioned Lennard, as he appeared.

  "To the River Colne," he replied. "Drive like the devil, and follow theriver's course till I tell you to stop."

  The limousine took the angle of the building with a rush and went racingoff through the moonlight at a mile-a-minute clip.