The Valley of Fear Part 2 (1/2)
”Nothing has been touched up to now,” said Cecil Barker ”I'll answer for that You see it all exactly as I found it”
”When was that?” The sergeant had drawn out his notebook
”It was just half-past eleven I had not begun to undress, and I was sitting by the fire in my bedroom when I heard the report It was not very loud--it seemed to be muffled I rushed down--I don't suppose it was thirty seconds before I was in the room”
”Was the door open?”
”Yes, it was open Poor Douglas was lying as you see hi on the table It was I who lit the lamp some minutes afterward”
”Did you see no one?”
”No I heard Mrs Douglas co down the stair behindthis dreadful sight Mrs Allen, the housekeeper, came and took her away Ames had arrived, and we ran back into the room once e is kept up all night”
”Yes, it was up until I lowered it”
”Then how could any las must have shot himself”
”That was our first idea But see!” Barker drew aside the curtain, and showed that the long, diamond-paned as open to its full extent ”And look at this!” He held the lae of blood like the mark of a boot-sole upon the wooden sill ”So out”
”You mean that someone waded across the moat?”
”Exactly!”
”Then if you were in the room within half a minute of the crime, he must have been in the water at that very moment”
”I have not a doubt of it I wish to heaven that I had rushed to the ! But the curtain screened it, as you can see, and so it never occurred to las, and I could not let her enter the rooh!” said the doctor, looking at the shattered head and the terrible marks which surrounded it ”I've never seen such injuries since the Birlstone railway seant, whose slow, bucolic co the open”It's all very well your saying that athis et into the house at all if the bridge was up?”
”Ah, that's the question,” said Barker
”At what o'clock was it raised?”
”It was nearly six o'clock,” said Aeant, ”that it was usually raised at sunset That would be nearer half-past four than six at this tilas had visitors to tea,” said Ames ”I couldn't raise it until they went Then I wound it up eant: ”If anyone caot in across the bridge before six and been in hiding ever since, until Mr Douglas calas went round the house every night the last thing before he turned in to see that the lights were right That brought hiot away through theand left his gun behind hi else will fit the facts”
The sergeant picked up a card which lay beside the dead man on the floor The initials VV and under them the number 341 were rudely scrawled in ink upon it
”What's this?” he asked, holding it up
Barker looked at it with curiosity ”I never noticed it before,” he said ”The murderer must have left it behind him”
”VV--341 I canit over in his big fingers ”What's VV? Soot there, Dr Wood?”
It was a good-sized ha in front of the fireplace--a substantial, workmanlike hammer Cecil Barker pointed to a box of brass-headed nails upon thethe pictures yesterday,” he said ”I saw hi picture above it That accounts for the ha where we found it,” said the sergeant, scratching his puzzled head in his perplexity ”It ant the best brains in the force to get to the botto It will be a London job before it is finished” He raised the hand lamp and walked slowly round the roo thecurtain to one side ”What o'clock were those curtains drawn?”
”When the lamps were lit,” said the butler ”It would be shortly after four”
”Soht, and the marks of muddy boots were very visible in the corner ”I'm bound to say this bears out your theory, Mr Barker It looks as if the ot into the house after four when the curtains were drawn, and before six when the bridge was raised He slipped into this room, because it was the first that he saw There was no other place where he could hide, so he popped in behind this curtain That all seele the house; but Mr Douglas chanced to come upon him, so he murdered him and escaped”
”That's how I read it,” said Barker ”But, I say, aren't asting precious time? Couldn't we start out and scout the country before the fellow gets away?”
The sergeant considered for a ; so he can't get away by rail If he goes by road with his legs all dripping, it's odds that someone will notice him Anyhow, I can't leave here o until we see more clearly hoe all stand”
The doctor had taken the la the body ”What's this mark?” he asked ”Could this have any connection with the criht arh as the elbow About halfway up the forearle inside a circle, standing out in vivid relief upon the lard-coloured skin
”It's not tattooed,” said the doctor, peering through his glasses ”I never saw anything like it The man has been branded at so of this?”
”I don't profess to know theof it,” said Cecil Barker; ”but I have seen the las many times this last ten years”
”And so have I,” said the butler ”Many a time when the master has rolled up his sleeves I have noticed that very mark I've often wondered what it could be”
”Then it has nothing to do with the cri all the sa about this case is ruiven an excla at the dead !” he gasped
”What!”
”Yes, indeed Master alore his plain gold wedding ring on the little finger of his left hand That ring with the rough nugget on it was above it, and the twisted snake ring on the third finger There's the nugget and there's the snake, but the wedding ring is gone”
”He's right,” said Barker
”Do you tellwas BELOW the other?”
”Always!”