Persons Unknown

  CHAPTER VIII

  MRS. WILLING TELLS WHAT SHE KNOWS

  The morning of the inquest was cloudy, with a wet wind. Herrick wasnervous, and he could not be sure whether this nervousness sprang fromthe ardor of championship or accusation. But one thing was clear.Christina Hope had slain Evadne and closed his mouth to Sal; but, atlast, he was to see her, face to face.

  She was there when he arrived, sitting in a corner with her mother.Herrick recognized her at once, but with a horrid pang ofdisappointment. Was this his Diana of the Winds? Or yet his DestroyingAngel? This was only a tall quiet girl in a gray gown. To be more exactit was a gray ratine suit, with a broad white collar, and her small grayhat seemed to fold itself close in to the shape of her little head; thelow coil of her hair was very smooth. Herrick observed with somethingoddly akin to satisfaction that he had been right about hercoloring--there were the fair skin, the brown hair, the eyes cool asgray water. Under these to-day there were dark shadows and her face wasshockingly pale.

  The first witness called was a Doctor Andrews. After the preliminaryquestions as to name, age, and so forth, he was asked, "You reside inthe Van Dam Apartments?"

  "I do."

  "On what floor?"

  "The ninth."

  "On the night of August fifth did you hear any unusual sounds?"

  "Not until I heard the pistol-shot--that is, except Mr. Ingham, playinghis piano--if you could call that unusual."

  "He often played late at night?"

  "He had been away during the summer; but, before that, there was a greatdeal of complaint. He gave a great many supper-parties; at the sametime, he was such a charming fellow that people forgave him whenever hewished. Besides, he was a magnificent musician."

  "Were there ladies at these supper-parties?"

  "Not to my personal knowledge."

  "What did you do, Dr. Andrews, when you heard the shot?"

  "I looked out of the window, and saw nothing. I thought I might havebeen mistaken; it might have been a tire bursting. But I noticed thatthe piano had stopped."

  After the shot the witness had remained restless.

  "Presently I thought I heard some one hammering. I got up again andopened the door and then I heard it distinctly. I know now that it wasthe efforts of Mr. Herrick to break Ingham's lock with a revolver. Icould hear a mixture of sounds--movements. I went back and began to getmy clothes on and when I was nearly dressed my 'phone rang."

  "Tell us what it said."

  "It was the voice of the superintendent saying, 'Please come down to 4-Bin a hurry, Dr. Andrews. Mr. Ingham's shot himself.'"

  "And you went?"

  "Immediately."

  "He was dead on your arrival?"

  "Quite."

  "How long should you, as a physician, say it was since death occurred?"

  "Not more than fifteen or twenty minutes."

  "Had the death been instantaneous?"

  "Certainly. He was shot through the heart."

  "Then, in your opinion, if the deceased had taken his own life, he couldnot have sprung off the electric lights, nor in any fashion done awaywith the weapon, after the shot."

  "He certainly could not."

  "In your professional opinion, then, he did not commit suicide?"

  "There is no question of an opinion. I know he did not."

  "You are very positive, Dr. Andrews?"

  "Absolutely positive. Death was instantaneous. Also, there was no powderabout the wound, showing that the shot had been fired from a distance offour feet or more. Also, the body did not lie where it had fallen."

  "How do you know that?"

  "There was a little puddle of blood in the sitting-room, where Inghamfell. Your physician and myself called the attention of the police tomarks on the rugs following a trail of drops of blood into the bedroomwhere the body was found."

  "You do not think that the deceased could have crawled or staggeredthere, after the shooting?"

  "I do not."

  "You believe that the body was dragged there, after death?"

  "Yes."

  "You remained with the body until the arrival of myself and DoctorShippe?"

  "I did."

  "Dr. Andrews, the apartment in which the shooting occurred had no accessto the windows of any other apartment, no fire-escape, and no means ofegress except through a door which was found bolted on the inside.Suppose that a murder was committed. Have you any theory accounting forthe murderer's escape?"

  "None whatever."

  "And does not the absence of all apparent means of escape shake yourtheory of the impossibility of suicide?"

  "Not in the least. It is unshakable."

  "Thank you. That will do."

  The coroner's physician confirmed Dr. Andrews in every particular. Thecoroner settled back and seemed to pause. And the listeners drew a longbreath. Something at least had been decided. It was not suicide. It wasmurder.

  This had been established so completely and so early in the examinationthat Herrick found himself impressed with the idea of the coroner'sknowing pretty distinctly what he was about. It seemed that he mightvery well have some theory to establish, for which, in the first place,he had now cleared the ground. Herrick stole a glance at Deutch. Hisface was wet and colorless, and his eyes fixed on vacancy. And then,curious to note the effect of hearing her lover proclaimed foullymurdered, he permitted himself the cruelty of looking at Miss Hope.Apparently it had no effect on her at all. Her mother, a slight,handsome woman, very fashionably turned out, followed eagerly everysuggestion of the evidence. But the girl still sat with lowered eyes.

  The next evidence, that of the police, threw no further light; and thencame the tremulous Theodore of Herrick's acquaintance whose surnametranspired as Bird.

  Bird, too, had been awake and had heard the shot; he had been fullyaware from the first that it was a pistol-shot. He and Mrs. Bird hadrisen and put up the chain on their door, and then he had telephoned tothe superintendent.

  "Did the hall-boy connect you at once?"

  "It isn't the hall-boy. It's the night-elevator-boy."

  "Well, did the night-elevator-boy connect you at once?"

  "No, I was a long time getting him."

  "The boy?"

  "Yes."

  "Ah! He, at least, was able to sleep. But, after you got him, was yourconnection with the superintendent immediate?"

  "Almost immediate, I guess."

  "It didn't strike you that he was purposely delaying?"

  The listeners leaned forward. And Herrick, as at a touch home, droppedhis eyes.

  "Why, I couldn't say that it did. No, hardly. Besides, he might havebeen asleep, too."

  "Ah! So he might. And what was the first thing he said to you?"

  "Through the 'phone?"

  "Certainly. Through the 'phone."

  "He said, 'What is it?'" (Slight laughter from the crowd.)

  "Well? Go on!"

  "I said, 'Excuse me. But I heard a shot just now, in 4-B.' And he said,'A pistol-shot?' And I said, 'Yes.' And he said, 'Do you think somebodyhas got hurt?' And I said, 'I'm afraid so.' Then he said, 'Well, I'llcome up.'"

  "Did he seem excited?"

  "Not so much as I was."

  Mrs. Bird, though she described at some length her forethought indressing and getting their valuables together, had nothing material toadd. Nor had the widow and her son in the apartment below that in whichthe catastrophe took place; nor the couple, Mr. and Mrs. Willing, in theapartment across the court which had been invaded as a look-out stationby the police, anything further to relate; until, indeed, the ladystumbled upon the phrase--"The party had been going on for some time."

  "In 4-B?"

  "What? Yes."

  "What made you think there was a party going on in 4-B?"

  "There were voices. And then he often had them."

  "Did you, as a near neighbor, ever observe that there were any ladies atthese parties?"

  "I wouldn't like to say."

  "I
see. Well, on this occasion, how many voices were there?"

  "I don't know."

  "About how many? Two? A dozen? Twenty?"

  "Oh, not many at all. There was poor Mr. Ingham's voice, nearly all thetime. And maybe a couple of others. I was in my bedroom, trying tosleep, and the piano was going all the time."

  "I see. So there may have been two or three persons besides Mr. Ingham,and there may have been only one?"

  "Yes, sir. At times I was pretty sure I heard another voice. I mean athird one, anyhow."

  "Was it a man's voice or a woman's?"

  "I don't know."

  "Could you swear you heard a third voice at all?"

  "Well, I don't believe I could exactly. No."

  "Now, Mrs. Willing, I want you to be very careful. And I want you to tryand remember. Please tell exactly all that you can remember about what Iam going to ask you and nothing more."

  "Oh, now, you're frightening me dreadfully."

  "I don't want to frighten you. But I do want you to think. Now. You arecertain you heard at least two voices?"

  "Yes, I am, I--"

  "Mr. Ingham's and one other?"

  "Yes, sir."

  "Was that other voice the voice of a man?"

  "No, sir."

  "It was a woman's voice?"

  "I--I suppose so."

  "Aren't you sure?"

  "Well, yes, I am."

  "Was it angry, excited?"

  "Toward the end it was."

  "As if the speaker were losing control of herself?"

  "Yes, sir."

  "Now, Mrs. Willing, had you ever heard it before?"

  "The woman's voice?"

  "Yes."

  "I can't be sure."

  "What do you think?"

  "Well, I thought I had, yes. I told Mr. Willing so. He'd been to abridge party upstairs and he came down just along there."

  "You recognized it then?"

  "Well, toward the end I thought I did; yes."

  "Mrs. Willing, whose was that voice?"

  "Oh, sir,--I--I'd rather not say!"

  "You must say, Mrs. Willing."

  "Well, then, I'll just say I don't know."

  "That won't do, Mrs. Willing.--When you told your husband that youthought you recognized that voice, exactly what did you say?"

  "Well, I said--oh!--I--Well, what I said was 'That's that actress he'sengaged to in there with him.'"

  "Ah!--And, now, I suppose you know the name of the actress he wasengaged to?"

  "Yes, of course. She's Miss Hope. Christina Hope her name is. Of course,I haven't said I was sure!"

  "Thank you. That will do."