Part 33 (1/2)
Next, Luckstone was seen to jump out of an automobile and tear up the steps as if afraid that his ultimate fate depended on the moments required to reach his clients. Finally Coroner Hart entered the building, and was immediately accosted by the reporters.
”What's coming off?” they inquired.
”I don't know myself,” he said truthfully. ”Britz seems to think something's going to happen.”
It was ten o'clock precisely when Britz, Manning, Greig and the coroner pa.s.sed from the chief's office into the room in which the suspects in the Whitmore mystery were gathered. They found Luckstone in command of the situation.
”What does this mean?” he demanded, advancing toward Britz's desk.
”It means that the coroner is about to resume his preliminary inquiry into the death of Herbert Whitmore,” the detective informed him.
”And have I been summoned here as a witness or as counsel to the accused?”
”As counsel, of course,” said Britz.
”Then as the attorney for Mrs. Collins and as the legal adviser of the other witnesses I wish to inform you that this proposed examination is utterly useless. I have instructed my clients not to answer any questions.”
Britz's eyes swept the faces of the witnesses in a look of sharp scrutiny. He found Mrs. Collins outwardly composed. The dark rings about her eyes betrayed a night of sleeplessness, but otherwise she looked as fresh as if she had just stepped out of her private boudoir, instead of a narrow, stuffy cell in the woman's wing of the Tombs. Evidently she had prepared herself for a great test and had summoned all the stubborn courage of one resigned to suffering, yet who meant to hide her agony from the eyes of the world.
Of the others, Collins appeared to be the most uneasy. He looked almost frightened. From time to time his gaze fixed itself on the face of his wife, but she kept her eyes averted. Only a slight constraint of manner exposed Ward and Beard's diminis.h.i.+ng self-control.
”Since the witnesses have been cautioned to remain silent,” said Britz, addressing the coroner, ”and as they appear resolved to stay mute, we cannot escape the conviction that they have knowledge of the circ.u.mstances surrounding the murder of Mr. Whitmore. At present Mrs.
Collins is the only prisoner. She is accused as an accessory to the crime. We have ample evidence to establish our case against her. We know of her relations with the deceased. We know, furthermore, that the failure of her brother's bank spelled financial ruin for her, for Collins and for Ward. All three must have been aware that the failure was imminent--that it was inevitable. So Collins, pretending that the sanct.i.ty of his home had been violated, went around threatening to kill Whitmore. Of course, it was a shallow pretense, designed to conceal the conspiracy between him, his wife and Ward to obtain possession of Whitmore's estate. We have the weapon with which Whitmore was killed. We have fastened its owners.h.i.+p on Collins. The evidence against him is sufficient to send him to the electric chair. We also have ample evidence with which to convict Mrs. Collins and Ward as accessories after the fact--the law is very plain concerning the concealment of evidence. But I am about to lay a graver charge against them. I have a letter written by Ward in which he implores Whitmore to extend financial a.s.sistance to him. Mrs. Collins joined in writing that letter, and, moreover, after the murder, I found her in Beard's home endeavoring to obtain possession of the note. With that letter and other evidence which I have gathered, I am prepared to accuse Mrs. Collins and Ward as accessories _before_ the fact. Against Collins I am ready to present a charge of murder in the first degree.”
The accused persons looked gravely at their lawyer. But he remained entirely unperturbed, not even vouchsafing a mild protest against the detective's direct accusations.
It was the coroner who broke the silence.
”Then as I understand it,” he said, ”you wish me to commit Collins on a charge of first degree murder, and Mrs. Collins and Ward as accessories before the fact?”
”Precisely,” answered the detective.
”Of course, I don't want to take so drastic a step unless I am compelled.” The coroner shook his head dubiously. He had been primed by Britz and was following the part which he had been directed to play. ”As the evidence stands, I can see no other course to pursue. But I'm not going to commit anyone on such a terrible charge simply because the police request it. Nor shall I ask Mrs. Collins, Collins or Ward a single question, for anything they say may be used against them. But if Mr. Luckstone cares to present any facts tending to establish the innocence of the accused, I am ready to listen and to give due consideration to anything that he might offer.”
The judicial att.i.tude adopted by the coroner surprised and gratified the lawyer. Evidently here was a conscientious official who was not to be precipitated into hasty action at the behest of the police.
”Coroner,” said the lawyer, moving his chair forward, ”this police officer has been endeavoring to create an atmosphere of guilt about my clients. But in this age prosecutors are compelled to offer something more substantial than atmosphere on which to base their accusations. I realize fully the gravity of the situation as regards my clients. They are absolutely innocent and there will be no difficulty in establis.h.i.+ng their innocence before a jury. But we are not anxious to proceed to a public trial, with all the useless suffering which it must entail. In my experience before the bar I have found coroners and committing magistrates invariably predisposed toward the police. They will commit on the flimsiest kind of evidence, content to leave the judicial determination of the case to the higher courts. But the law invests you with a wide discretion in homicide cases. And if you are prepared to scrutinize the evidence carefully before accepting the accusations made by Lieutenant Britz, then I believe I can convince you in short order how absolutely baseless his charges are.”
”I have no desire to commit an innocent man or woman to prison,”
answered the coroner. ”I am not an agent of the police. I am a judicial officer and as such I am prepared to protect the innocent to the limit of my powers.”
Britz had so arranged the chairs in his office as to compel those in the room to resolve themselves into two separate groups, like opposing sides in a judicial proceeding. Behind the detective's flat-top desk sat the coroner, while about him were ranged Britz, Manning and Greig. Facing the desk, at a distance of a dozen feet, sat Mrs. Collins, Ward, Beard and Collins, with Luckstone occupying a chair in the middle.
The sincerity of tone in which the coroner expressed his willingness to consider the evidence of both sides, encouraged the lawyer to proceed.
”Mr. Whitmore was found dead in his office at the hour when his clerks prepared to go to lunch,” he began, in the tone of an advocate addressing a high tribunal on a question of law, rather than of fact.
”It has been established beyond question that he arrived at his office between nine and ten o'clock, and that he did not leave his office all morning. It is also a matter of common knowledge that he had no visitors that morning, and the twenty or thirty clerks in the outer office have all sworn that they heard no shot fired and saw no one enter or leave Mr. Whitmore's private room. Now I do not pretend to offer any explanation as to how Mr. Whitmore was killed. But I do maintain that the accusing police officer should be asked to tell how the alleged murderer got to his victim.”
”I am not prepared to go into that as yet,” Britz interrupted.
”But you mean to imply that you have a satisfactory explanation to offer?” questioned the lawyer.