Part 8 (1/2)

”In the murder?” asked the inspector, who was astonished at a deduction which harmonised with a theory which had begun to take shape in his mind.

”In writing this,” said Crewe, with his attention still fixed on the paper. ”But of course you know that yourself.”

”Of course,” a.s.sented the inspector, who was surprised at the information, but was too experienced an official to show his feelings.

”And both hands disguised.”

”Disguised to the extent of being printed in written characters,”

continued Crewe. ”It is so seldom that a person writes printed characters that any method in which they are written suggests disguise. The original intention of the two persona who wrote this extraordinary note was for each to write a single letter in turn. That system was carried as far as 'Sir Horace' or, perhaps, up to the 'B' in 'Fewbanks.' After that they became weary of changing places and one of them wrote alternate letters to the end, leaving blanks for the other to fill in. That much is to be gathered from the variations in the s.p.a.ces between the letters--sometimes there was too much room for an intermediate letter, sometimes too little, so the letter had to be cramped. Here and there are dots made with the pen as the first of the two spelled out the words so as to know what letters to write and what to leave blank. Look at the differences in the letter 'U.' One of the writers makes it a firm downward and upward stroke; the other makes the letter fainter and adds another downward stroke, the letter being more like a small 'u' written larger than a capital letter. The differences in the two hands are so p.r.o.nounced throughout the note that I am inclined to think that one of the writers was a woman.”

”Exactly what I thought,” said Inspector Chippenfield, looking hard at Crewe so that the latter should not question his good faith.

”Then there are sometimes slight differences in the alternate letters written by the same hand. Look at the 'T' in 'last' and the 'T' in 'night'--the marked variation in the length and angle of the cross stroke. It is evident that the writers were labouring under serious excitement when they wrote this.”

Rolfe was so interested in Crewe's revelations that he stood beside the deductive expert and studied the paper afresh.

”And now, about finger-prints?” asked Crews.

”None,” was the reply of the inspector, ”We had it under the microscope at Scotland Yard.”

”None?” exclaimed Crewe, in surprise. ”Why adopt such precautions as wearing gloves to write a note giving away this startling secret?”

”Easy enough,” replied Inspector Chippenfield. ”The people who wrote the note either had little or nothing to do with the murder, but were afraid suspicion might be directed to them, or else they are the murderers and want to direct suspicion from themselves.”

”And now for the bullets,” said Crewe, ”I understand two shots were fired.”

”From two revolvers,” said the inspector. ”Here are both bullets. This one I picked out of the wall over there. You can see where I've broken away the plaster. This one--much the bigger one of the two--was the one that killed Sir Horace. The doctor handed it to me after the post-mortem.”

”Did Sir Horace keep a revolver?”

”The butler says yes. But if he did it's gone.”

Crewe stood up and examined the hole in the wall where Inspector Chippenfield had dug out the smaller bullet.

”Sir Horace made a bid for his life but missed. Of course, he had no time to take aim while there was a man on the other side of the room covering him, but in any case those fancy firearms cannot be depended upon to shoot straight.”

”You think Sir Horace fired at his murderer--fired first?” asked Rolfe.

”This small bullet suggests one of those fancy silver-mounted weapons that are made to sell to wealthy people. Sir Horace was a bit of a sportsman, and knew something about game-shooting, but, I take it, he had no use for a revolver. I a.s.sume he kept one of those fancy weapons on hand thinking he would never have to use it, but that it would do to frighten a burglar if the occasion did arise.”

”And when he was held up in this room by a man with a revolver he made a dash for his own revolver and got in the first shot?” suggested Rolfe, with the idea of outlining Crewe's theory of how the crime was committed.

”It is scarcely possible to reconstruct the crime to that extent,” said Crewe with a smile. ”But undoubtedly Sir Horace got in the first shot. If he fired after he was. .h.i.t his bullet would have gone wild--would probably have struck the ceiling--whereas it landed there. Let us measure the height from the floor.” He pulled a small spool out of a waistcoat pocket and drew out a tape measure. ”A little high for the heart of an average man, and probably a foot wide of the mark.”

”And what do you make of the disappearance of Sir Horace's revolver?”

asked Rolfe, who seemed to his superior officer to be in danger of displaying some admiration for deductive methods.

”I'm no good at guess-work,” replied Crewe, who felt that he had given enough information away.

”Well,” said Rolfe, ”here is a glove which was found in the room. The other one is missing. It might be a clue.”