May 15, 2025 • 19 mins
Penned by Alfred Walter Stewart under the pseudonym J.J. Connington, Case With Nine Solutions introduces us to the astute and highly regarded police professional, Sir Clinton Driffield. Thrust into a tangled web of murder, Driffield and his loyal sidekick, Inspector Flamborough, must sift through nine possible scenarios to uncover the truth. This complex case brings a beguiling temptress, her unsuspecting husband, a clandestine admirer, and a smitten young man into the mix. As the pair delve deeper into the mystery, they navigate a labyrinth of scientific evidence, cryptic messages, and rely on their sharp deductive reasoning skills to solve the murder.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Chapter eleven of the Case with Nine Solutions by J. J. Connington.
This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. The code advertisement.
On the following morning, Inspector Flamborough was summoned to the
Chief Constable's room, and on his arrival was somewhat surprised
to find a superior poring over a copy of the
(00:22):
wester Haven Courier. It was not Sir Clinton's habit to
read newspapers during office hours, and the Inspector's eyebrows lifted
slightly at the unwonted spectacle. Here's a little puzzle for you, Inspector,
Sir Clinton greeted him as he came in. Just have
a look at it. He folded the newspaper to convenient
size and handed it over, pointing as he did so
(00:45):
to an advertisement to which attention had been drawn by
a couple of crosses in pen and ink. Flamborough took
the paper and scanned the advertisement. Please note the reader
now pauses to describe a paragraph which begins with the
name Driffield. The rest of the paragrapher scrambled letters, obviously
representing a code. We continue. It doesn't seem exactly loose,
(01:08):
Sir he confessed as he read it a second time.
A lot of letters in alphabetical order and divided into
groups of five, barred the single letter at the end.
I suppose it was your name at the front that
attracted your eye. No, Sir Clinton answered, this copy of
the paper came to me through the post marked as
you see it. It came in by the second delivery.
(01:30):
Here's the rapper. It'll probably suggest something to you. Flamborough
looked at it carefully, ordinary official stamped wrapper. There's no
clue there, since you can buy him by the hundred anywhere.
Then a glance at the address enlightened him. Same old game, sir,
letters clipped from telegraph forms and gummed on to the wrapper.
(01:52):
It looks like mister Justice again. The chances are in
favor of it, Sir Clinton agreed, with a faint tinge
of mockery in his voice at the inspector's eager recognition
of the obvious. Well, what about it? Flamborough scanned the
advertisement once more, but no sign of comprehension lightened his face.
Let's clear up one point before we tackle the lettering,
(02:14):
Sir Clinton suggested, that's today's issue of the courier. So
this advertisement was received at the newspaper office yesterday. Since
the thing reached me by the second post, this copy
of the paper may have been bought in the normal way,
first thing in the morning and post it at once.
That's sounds, sir. It's among the ordinary advertisements, not in
(02:36):
the too late for classification section. It may be a hoax,
of course, Sir Clinton mused, but the telegram form business
would hardly occur to a practical joker. I think one
can take it as a genuine contribution until it's proved
to be a fake. Now, what do you make of it?
The inspector shook his head. Ciphers are not my long suits, sir. Frankly,
(02:57):
it seems to me just a jumble, and I don't
think i'd make it anything else if I tried, Sir
Clinton reflected for a minute or two in silence, his
eyes fixed on the advertisement. I've a notion that this
is only chapter one, Inspector, there's more to come. In
all probability, If it's mister Justice, he's not the man
to waste time. By the way, did you give the
(03:20):
reporters the information you were talking about yesterday? Yes, sir,
It was printed in last night's evening Harold, and I
think both the Courier and the Gazette of got it.
This morning, Sir Clinton was still scrutinizing the advertisement. I'm
like you, Inspector, no great shakes on Cypher's, but this
affair looks to me more like the letters of a
(03:40):
plain message arranged in ordinary alphabetical order. I think that
most likely we shall get the key from the writer
in some form or other before long. In the meantime, though,
we might have a dash in interpreting the affair if
we can. Flamborough's face showed that he thought very poorly
of the chances of success. Every I read Jules vern
(04:00):
Or po Sir Clinton demanded, no, Well, Poe has an
essay on cryptography in its earlier stages, nothing like the
stuff you'll find in gross or Rice, of course, and
mere child's play compared with the special manuals on the subject.
But he pointed out that in cipher solving you have
to pick the lock instead of using the normal key,
and Jules Verne put his finger on the signature of
(04:23):
a cipher communication as a weak point. If you've any
idea who the center is that's assuming, of course, that
there is a signature at all to the thing. The
inspector nodded his comprehension of this. You mean, sir, that
justice would be the signature here, like in the wire
we got. We can but try, Sir Clinton suggested, not
(04:43):
that I'm over hopeful. Still, it's worth a shot. Suppose
we hook out the letters of justice and see what
that leaves us, And we may as well disregard the
groups of five for the moment and simply collect the
remaining letters under a B C et cetera. He tore
a sheet of paper into small squares and inscribed one
letter of the message on each square. Now we take
(05:05):
out Justice, he said, suiting the action to the word,
and simply leave the rest in alphabetical groups. The inspector,
following the operation, found himself faced with the arrangement. Please
note the reader now describes another coded paragraph, this time
with only the last word, which is justice decoded. We continue.
(05:25):
It doesn't seem much clearer, Sir Flamborough pointed out, with
a certain tinge of enjoyment in his tone. It was
not often that he had a chance of crowing over
his superior Wait a moment inspector. Just let's reflect for
a bit. At any rate, the letters of justice are there,
and that's always better than a complete blank end. Now
consider what mister Justice might be burning to tell us about.
(05:48):
In his unobtrusive way. He had time to see the
news printed in last night's Harold before he composed this
little affair. Let's suppose that he got some fresh ideas
from that, since this communication false pat after the publication,
and he hasn't bothered us for days before that. The
crucial thing was the identification of the Highes scene. We'll
(06:08):
see if we can get the word out here. He
sifted out the letters rapidly, and the jumble then took
the form. Please note the reader now describes another scrambled chapter,
this time with the first and last words to code it,
that being highesceine and justice. We continue. It fits so far,
(06:29):
Sir Clinton said, surveying his handiwork doubtfully, but we might
have got a couple of words like that out of
a random jumble of fifty six letters. He's encouraging, but
far from convincing, I admit. He glanced over the arrangement
with knitted brows. There seemed to be a devil of
a lot of teas in this thing. If we're on
the right track, Now, what do you associate with highacine
(06:51):
in your mind? Inspector quick now, don't stop to think
the Croft Thornton Institute. Said the inspector promptly, bull Uz,
I believe the Chief Constable ejaculated. You could hardly jam
more te's together in English than there are in these
three words. Let's sift them out. The inspector bent eagerly
forward to see if the necessary letters could be found.
(07:13):
Sir Clinton separated the ones which he required for the
three words, and the arrangement stood. Thus. Please note the
reader now describes an additional scrambled paragraph which reads the
decoded words highacine, the Croft Thornton Institute, as well as
justice as the last word. We continue. I think this
is getting outside the bounds of mere chance, Sir Clinton adjudged,
(07:36):
with more optimism in his tone. Now we might go
a step further without straining things, even if it's only
a short pace. Let's make a guess. Suppose that it's
meant to read highes scene at the Croft Thornton Institute.
That leaves us with the jumble here A A C
C D E H h OO S S t W.
(07:58):
What do you make of that inspace? The start of
it looks like exceed. No, there's only one E. Flamborough began,
only to correct himself. It's not exceed obviously. Let's try
access and see if that's any use. The Chief Constable
shifted the letters while the Inspector, now thoroughly interested, watched
for the result. If it's access, then it ought to
(08:21):
be access to, Sir Clinton suggested, and that leaves a
D H h W. One glance at the six letters
satisfied him. It's pandeall correctly, Inspector, there isn't a letter
over see. He rearranged the lettering and the Inspector read
the complete message. Who had access to highest scene at
(08:44):
the Croft Thornton Institute Justice. The chances of an anagram
working out so sensibly as that are pretty small, Sir
Clinton said, with satisfaction. It's a few million to one
that we've got the correct version. Hmm. Know that mister
Justice has really given us much help this time for
the crow Thornton was an obvious source of the drug.
(09:06):
Still he's doing his best, evidently, and he doesn't mean
to let us overlook even the obvious. This time, I
am prepared to bet that we get the key to
this thing by the next post. Mister Justice wouldn't leave
the matter to the mere chance of our working the
thing out. Still at some satisfaction to feel that we've
done without his assistance, Flamborough occupied himself with copying the
(09:27):
cipher and its solution into his notebook. When he had finished,
Sir Clinton lit a cigarette and handed his case to
the inspector. Let's put officialism aside for a few minutes.
The Chief Constable proposed, no notes or anything of that sort. Now,
I don't mind confessing, Inspector that we aren't getting on
with this business at all. Well, short of divination, there
(09:49):
seems to be no way of discovering the truth so
far as present information goes, and we simply can't afford
to let this affair go unsolved. Your walthy person seems
to be our just hope. The insector evidently found a
fresh train of thoughts started in his mind by Sir
Clinton's lament. I've been thinking over that set of alternatives
(10:10):
you put down on paper the other day, sir, he explained,
I think they ought to be reduced from nine to six.
It's practically out of the question that young Hassendeen was
shot twice over by pure accident, So it seems reasonable
enough to eliminate all that class from your table. He
put his hand in his pocket and produced a sheet
of paper, which had evidently been folded and unfolded fairly
(10:31):
often since it had been first written upon. If you
reject accident as a possibility in Hassendine's case, he continued,
then you bring the thing within these limits here. He
put his paper down on the table, and Sir Clinton
read the following. Please note the reader now describes another
table with two columns and six rows. The first column
(10:53):
is titled hassendein and the second Missus Silverdale. The rose
are titled A, B, C, D, E, n F. Each
road contains a possible combination of either murder or suicide.
For each victim, it reads A Hassendeen suicide, Missus Silverdale suicide,
B Hassendeen murder, Missus Silverdale murder, C. Hassendeen suicide, Missus
(11:19):
Silverdale accident, D Hassendeen murder, Missus Silverdale accident, E Hassendeen suicide,
Missus Silverdale murder, f Hassendeen murder, Missus Silverdale suicide. Now
I think it's possible to eliminate even further than that, sir.
(11:39):
For this reason, there's a third death, the maids at Heatherfield,
which on the face of it, is connected in some
way with these others. I don't see how you can
cut the Heatherfield business away from the other two. I'm
with you there, Inspector, said Clinton assured him. Flamborough, obviously
relieved to find that he was not going to be
attacked in the flank, pursued his exposition with more confidence.
(12:03):
Who killed the maid? That's an important point. It wasn't
young Hassendean, because the maid was seen to lie by
doctor Ringwood immediately after young Hassendein had died on his hands.
It certainly wasn't Missus Silverdale because everything points to her
having died even before Young Hassendeen left the bungalow to
go home and die at Ivy Lodge. Therefore, there was
(12:25):
somebody afoot in the business that night who wouldn't stick
it murder to gain his ends whatever they were. Nobody's
going to quarrel with that, Inspector. Very good, sir, Flamboro continued, Now,
with that factor at the back of one's mind, one
might review these six remaining cases in the light of
what we do know. Go ahead, Sir Clinton urged him. Covertly,
(12:47):
amused to find the inspector so completely converted to the
method which at first he had decried kse A. Then
Flamborough began a double suicide. Now I don't caught much
to that notion. For this reason. If it was suicide,
then one or other of them must have had possession
of hyacine and quantity sufficient to kill both of them,
(13:07):
so I judge from the quantity found in her body. Now,
no high scene was in young Hassendine's system. His eyes
were quite normal, and there was no trace of the
stuff in his stomach, as they found when they sent
to your London friend on the question. From what I
seen of young Hassendein's diary and from what we've picked
up about him from various sources, he wasn't the sort
(13:27):
of person to go in for needless pain. If he
shot himself at all, it would have been in the head.
And if he'd had hiocene at hand, he wouldn't have
shot himself at all. He'd have swallowed a dose of
the poison instead and gone out painlessly. Correct inference, I believe,
Sir Clinton confirmed, I don't say it's certain, of course, Well,
(13:49):
then what holds in case A ought to hold also
in the other two cases C and E were it's
also a question of Young Hassendeen's suicide, so one can
score them off as well. Not so fast, Sir Clinton interrupted,
I don't say you're wrong, but your assumption doesn't cover
the cases. In kse A, you assumed that missus Silverdale
(14:09):
committed suicide there ago she had higaceine in her possession.
But in case C, the assumption is that she died
by accidental poisoning. And before you can eliminate suicide in
young Hassendine's part, you've got to prove that he had
the hyacine in his possession. I'm not saying that he hadn't,
and merely keeping you strictly to your logic. Flamborough considered
(14:32):
this for a few moments. Strictly speaking, I suppose you're right, sir,
And in case E, I'd have to prove that he
poisoned her wilfully in order to cover the case of
his having hyacine in his possession. Hum After a pause,
he took up the table afresh. Let's go back to
case B. Then a double murder that brings in this
(14:53):
third party, the person who did for the maid at Hytherfield,
will say, and the fellow who broke the window. There
were some of a struggle in that room at the bungalow,
you remember. Now. It seems to me that case B
piles things on too thick. If you understand what I mean.
It means that missus Silverdal was murdered by poison and
that young Hassendein was shot to death. Why the two
(15:15):
methods when plain shooting would have been good enough in
both cases. Take the obvious case. It's been at the
back of my mind, and I'm sure it's been at
the back of yours too, that Silverdale surprised the two
of them at the bungalow and killed them both. Where
does the poison come in to my mind? We ought
to put a pencil through Case B. It's most improbable. Rather,
(15:37):
to his relief, Sir Clinton made no objection. The inspector
drew his pencil through the first two lines of the table,
then let it hover over the last line. What about
case F, Sir, she suicided and he was murdered. If
she suicided, it was a premeditated affair, otherwise they wouldn't
have had the highest scene at hand. But if it
(15:58):
was one of these lovers suicide pacts, they'd have had
a dose ready for him as well. And there wasn't
a trace of the stuff spilt on the floor or
anywhere about the bungalow. Score out case F, Sir, I've
no objections to your putting your pencil through it if
you like, Inspector, though my reasons are rather different from
the ones you give. Flamborough looked up suspiciously, but gathered
(16:21):
from Sir Clinton's face that there was nothing further to
be expected. Well, at least that's a narrowed down the
possibilities a bit, he said, with relief. You started out
with nine possible solutions to the affair, covering every conceivable combination.
Now we're down to three. He picked up his paper
and read out the residual scheme, putting fresh identifying letters
(16:42):
to the three cases. X Hassaden suicide, missus Silverdale accident,
Why Hassendeen murder, Missus Silverdale accident, Z Hassendeen suicide, Missus
Silverdale murder. You agree to that, Sir Flamborough demanded. Oh yes,
(17:03):
Sir Clinton admitted, in a careless tone. I think the
truth probably lies somewhere among those three solutions. The bother
will be to prove it. At this moment, a constable
entered the room, bringing some letters in a newspaper and
a postal wrapper. Come by the next post as I expected,
the Chief Constable remarked, picking up the packet and removing
(17:24):
the wrapper with care, the usual method of addressing. You
see letters cut from telegraph warms and gummed on to
the official stamped wrapper. Well, let's have a look at
the news. He unfolded the sheet and glanced over the
advertisement pages in search of a marked paragraph. Ingenious devil, Inspector,
he went on. The other advertisement was in the courier.
(17:46):
This is a copy of today's gazette. That makes sure
that no one reading down a column of advertisements would
be struck by a resemblance and start comparisons. I begin
to like mister Justice. He's thorough. Anyhow, ah here we
are mark like the other one. Listen, Inspector Clinton, take
the letters in the following order. Please note the reader
(18:09):
now describes a series of numbers listing the appropriate order
of the letters. We continue now. That was why he
split up his letters into groups of five in the
first advertisement, to make it easy for us to count.
I really like this fellow more and more a most
thoughtful cove. He placed the two advertisement side by side
(18:30):
on the table. Just run over this with me, inspector.
Call the first a number one, the second a number two,
and so on. There are fifty six letters in all.
So number fifty five is the W. Number sixteen is
the first letter in the fourth quintet. H. Number thirty
is the last letter in the sixth quintet. Oh, so
(18:51):
that spells who. Just go through the laut and check
them please. Flamborough plowed through the whole series and ended
with the same solution as Sir Clinton had obtained earlier
in the morning. Who had access to hyacine at the
cross Thornton Institute. Well, it's pleasant to hit the mark,
the Chief Constable confessed. By the way, you had better
(19:13):
send some one down to the curry r In gazette
offices to pick up the originals of these advertisements. But
I'm sure it will be just the same old telegram stunt,
and the address which has to be given as a
guarantee of good faith will be a fake one. End
of Chapter eleven.
Chapter eleven of the Case with Nine Solutions by J. J. Connington.
This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. The code advertisement.
On the following morning, Inspector Flamborough was summoned to the
Chief Constable's room, and on his arrival was somewhat surprised
to find a superior poring over a copy of the
(00:22):
wester Haven Courier. It was not Sir Clinton's habit to
read newspapers during office hours, and the Inspector's eyebrows lifted
slightly at the unwonted spectacle. Here's a little puzzle for you, Inspector,
Sir Clinton greeted him as he came in. Just have
a look at it. He folded the newspaper to convenient
size and handed it over, pointing as he did so
(00:45):
to an advertisement to which attention had been drawn by
a couple of crosses in pen and ink. Flamborough took
the paper and scanned the advertisement. Please note the reader
now pauses to describe a paragraph which begins with the
name Driffield. The rest of the paragrapher scrambled letters, obviously
representing a code. We continue. It doesn't seem exactly loose,
(01:08):
Sir he confessed as he read it a second time.
A lot of letters in alphabetical order and divided into
groups of five, barred the single letter at the end.
I suppose it was your name at the front that
attracted your eye. No, Sir Clinton answered, this copy of
the paper came to me through the post marked as
you see it. It came in by the second delivery.
(01:30):
Here's the rapper. It'll probably suggest something to you. Flamborough
looked at it carefully, ordinary official stamped wrapper. There's no
clue there, since you can buy him by the hundred anywhere.
Then a glance at the address enlightened him. Same old game, sir,
letters clipped from telegraph forms and gummed on to the wrapper.
(01:52):
It looks like mister Justice again. The chances are in
favor of it, Sir Clinton agreed, with a faint tinge
of mockery in his voice at the inspector's eager recognition
of the obvious. Well, what about it? Flamborough scanned the
advertisement once more, but no sign of comprehension lightened his face.
Let's clear up one point before we tackle the lettering,
(02:14):
Sir Clinton suggested, that's today's issue of the courier. So
this advertisement was received at the newspaper office yesterday. Since
the thing reached me by the second post, this copy
of the paper may have been bought in the normal way,
first thing in the morning and post it at once.
That's sounds, sir. It's among the ordinary advertisements, not in
(02:36):
the too late for classification section. It may be a hoax,
of course, Sir Clinton mused, but the telegram form business
would hardly occur to a practical joker. I think one
can take it as a genuine contribution until it's proved
to be a fake. Now, what do you make of it?
The inspector shook his head. Ciphers are not my long suits, sir. Frankly,
(02:57):
it seems to me just a jumble, and I don't
think i'd make it anything else if I tried, Sir
Clinton reflected for a minute or two in silence, his
eyes fixed on the advertisement. I've a notion that this
is only chapter one, Inspector, there's more to come. In
all probability, If it's mister Justice, he's not the man
to waste time. By the way, did you give the
(03:20):
reporters the information you were talking about yesterday? Yes, sir,
It was printed in last night's evening Harold, and I
think both the Courier and the Gazette of got it.
This morning, Sir Clinton was still scrutinizing the advertisement. I'm
like you, Inspector, no great shakes on Cypher's, but this
affair looks to me more like the letters of a
(03:40):
plain message arranged in ordinary alphabetical order. I think that
most likely we shall get the key from the writer
in some form or other before long. In the meantime, though,
we might have a dash in interpreting the affair if
we can. Flamborough's face showed that he thought very poorly
of the chances of success. Every I read Jules vern
(04:00):
Or po Sir Clinton demanded, no, Well, Poe has an
essay on cryptography in its earlier stages, nothing like the
stuff you'll find in gross or Rice, of course, and
mere child's play compared with the special manuals on the subject.
But he pointed out that in cipher solving you have
to pick the lock instead of using the normal key,
and Jules Verne put his finger on the signature of
(04:23):
a cipher communication as a weak point. If you've any
idea who the center is that's assuming, of course, that
there is a signature at all to the thing. The
inspector nodded his comprehension of this. You mean, sir, that
justice would be the signature here, like in the wire
we got. We can but try, Sir Clinton suggested, not
(04:43):
that I'm over hopeful. Still, it's worth a shot. Suppose
we hook out the letters of justice and see what
that leaves us, And we may as well disregard the
groups of five for the moment and simply collect the
remaining letters under a B C et cetera. He tore
a sheet of paper into small squares and inscribed one
letter of the message on each square. Now we take
(05:05):
out Justice, he said, suiting the action to the word,
and simply leave the rest in alphabetical groups. The inspector,
following the operation, found himself faced with the arrangement. Please
note the reader now describes another coded paragraph, this time
with only the last word, which is justice decoded. We continue.
(05:25):
It doesn't seem much clearer, Sir Flamborough pointed out, with
a certain tinge of enjoyment in his tone. It was
not often that he had a chance of crowing over
his superior Wait a moment inspector. Just let's reflect for
a bit. At any rate, the letters of justice are there,
and that's always better than a complete blank end. Now
consider what mister Justice might be burning to tell us about.
(05:48):
In his unobtrusive way. He had time to see the
news printed in last night's Harold before he composed this
little affair. Let's suppose that he got some fresh ideas
from that, since this communication false pat after the publication,
and he hasn't bothered us for days before that. The
crucial thing was the identification of the Highes scene. We'll
(06:08):
see if we can get the word out here. He
sifted out the letters rapidly, and the jumble then took
the form. Please note the reader now describes another scrambled chapter,
this time with the first and last words to code it,
that being highesceine and justice. We continue. It fits so far,
(06:29):
Sir Clinton said, surveying his handiwork doubtfully, but we might
have got a couple of words like that out of
a random jumble of fifty six letters. He's encouraging, but
far from convincing, I admit. He glanced over the arrangement
with knitted brows. There seemed to be a devil of
a lot of teas in this thing. If we're on
the right track, Now, what do you associate with highacine
(06:51):
in your mind? Inspector quick now, don't stop to think
the Croft Thornton Institute. Said the inspector promptly, bull Uz,
I believe the Chief Constable ejaculated. You could hardly jam
more te's together in English than there are in these
three words. Let's sift them out. The inspector bent eagerly
forward to see if the necessary letters could be found.
(07:13):
Sir Clinton separated the ones which he required for the
three words, and the arrangement stood. Thus. Please note the
reader now describes an additional scrambled paragraph which reads the
decoded words highacine, the Croft Thornton Institute, as well as
justice as the last word. We continue. I think this
is getting outside the bounds of mere chance, Sir Clinton adjudged,
(07:36):
with more optimism in his tone. Now we might go
a step further without straining things, even if it's only
a short pace. Let's make a guess. Suppose that it's
meant to read highes scene at the Croft Thornton Institute.
That leaves us with the jumble here A A C
C D E H h OO S S t W.
(07:58):
What do you make of that inspace? The start of
it looks like exceed. No, there's only one E. Flamborough began,
only to correct himself. It's not exceed obviously. Let's try
access and see if that's any use. The Chief Constable
shifted the letters while the Inspector, now thoroughly interested, watched
for the result. If it's access, then it ought to
(08:21):
be access to, Sir Clinton suggested, and that leaves a
D H h W. One glance at the six letters
satisfied him. It's pandeall correctly, Inspector, there isn't a letter
over see. He rearranged the lettering and the Inspector read
the complete message. Who had access to highest scene at
(08:44):
the Croft Thornton Institute Justice. The chances of an anagram
working out so sensibly as that are pretty small, Sir
Clinton said, with satisfaction. It's a few million to one
that we've got the correct version. Hmm. Know that mister
Justice has really given us much help this time for
the crow Thornton was an obvious source of the drug.
(09:06):
Still he's doing his best, evidently, and he doesn't mean
to let us overlook even the obvious. This time, I
am prepared to bet that we get the key to
this thing by the next post. Mister Justice wouldn't leave
the matter to the mere chance of our working the
thing out. Still at some satisfaction to feel that we've
done without his assistance, Flamborough occupied himself with copying the
(09:27):
cipher and its solution into his notebook. When he had finished,
Sir Clinton lit a cigarette and handed his case to
the inspector. Let's put officialism aside for a few minutes.
The Chief Constable proposed, no notes or anything of that sort. Now,
I don't mind confessing, Inspector that we aren't getting on
with this business at all. Well, short of divination, there
(09:49):
seems to be no way of discovering the truth so
far as present information goes, and we simply can't afford
to let this affair go unsolved. Your walthy person seems
to be our just hope. The insector evidently found a
fresh train of thoughts started in his mind by Sir
Clinton's lament. I've been thinking over that set of alternatives
(10:10):
you put down on paper the other day, sir, he explained,
I think they ought to be reduced from nine to six.
It's practically out of the question that young Hassendeen was
shot twice over by pure accident, So it seems reasonable
enough to eliminate all that class from your table. He
put his hand in his pocket and produced a sheet
of paper, which had evidently been folded and unfolded fairly
(10:31):
often since it had been first written upon. If you
reject accident as a possibility in Hassendine's case, he continued,
then you bring the thing within these limits here. He
put his paper down on the table, and Sir Clinton
read the following. Please note the reader now describes another
table with two columns and six rows. The first column
(10:53):
is titled hassendein and the second Missus Silverdale. The rose
are titled A, B, C, D, E, n F. Each
road contains a possible combination of either murder or suicide.
For each victim, it reads A Hassendeen suicide, Missus Silverdale suicide,
B Hassendeen murder, Missus Silverdale murder, C. Hassendeen suicide, Missus
(11:19):
Silverdale accident, D Hassendeen murder, Missus Silverdale accident, E Hassendeen suicide,
Missus Silverdale murder, f Hassendeen murder, Missus Silverdale suicide. Now
I think it's possible to eliminate even further than that, sir.
(11:39):
For this reason, there's a third death, the maids at Heatherfield,
which on the face of it, is connected in some
way with these others. I don't see how you can
cut the Heatherfield business away from the other two. I'm
with you there, Inspector, said Clinton assured him. Flamborough, obviously
relieved to find that he was not going to be
attacked in the flank, pursued his exposition with more confidence.
(12:03):
Who killed the maid? That's an important point. It wasn't
young Hassendean, because the maid was seen to lie by
doctor Ringwood immediately after young Hassendein had died on his hands.
It certainly wasn't Missus Silverdale because everything points to her
having died even before Young Hassendeen left the bungalow to
go home and die at Ivy Lodge. Therefore, there was
(12:25):
somebody afoot in the business that night who wouldn't stick
it murder to gain his ends whatever they were. Nobody's
going to quarrel with that, Inspector. Very good, sir, Flamboro continued, Now,
with that factor at the back of one's mind, one
might review these six remaining cases in the light of
what we do know. Go ahead, Sir Clinton urged him. Covertly,
(12:47):
amused to find the inspector so completely converted to the
method which at first he had decried kse A. Then
Flamborough began a double suicide. Now I don't caught much
to that notion. For this reason. If it was suicide,
then one or other of them must have had possession
of hyacine and quantity sufficient to kill both of them,
(13:07):
so I judge from the quantity found in her body. Now,
no high scene was in young Hassendine's system. His eyes
were quite normal, and there was no trace of the
stuff in his stomach, as they found when they sent
to your London friend on the question. From what I
seen of young Hassendein's diary and from what we've picked
up about him from various sources, he wasn't the sort
(13:27):
of person to go in for needless pain. If he
shot himself at all, it would have been in the head.
And if he'd had hiocene at hand, he wouldn't have
shot himself at all. He'd have swallowed a dose of
the poison instead and gone out painlessly. Correct inference, I believe,
Sir Clinton confirmed, I don't say it's certain, of course, Well,
(13:49):
then what holds in case A ought to hold also
in the other two cases C and E were it's
also a question of Young Hassendeen's suicide, so one can
score them off as well. Not so fast, Sir Clinton interrupted,
I don't say you're wrong, but your assumption doesn't cover
the cases. In kse A, you assumed that missus Silverdale
(14:09):
committed suicide there ago she had higaceine in her possession.
But in case C, the assumption is that she died
by accidental poisoning. And before you can eliminate suicide in
young Hassendine's part, you've got to prove that he had
the hyacine in his possession. I'm not saying that he hadn't,
and merely keeping you strictly to your logic. Flamborough considered
(14:32):
this for a few moments. Strictly speaking, I suppose you're right, sir,
And in case E, I'd have to prove that he
poisoned her wilfully in order to cover the case of
his having hyacine in his possession. Hum After a pause,
he took up the table afresh. Let's go back to
case B. Then a double murder that brings in this
(14:53):
third party, the person who did for the maid at Hytherfield,
will say, and the fellow who broke the window. There
were some of a struggle in that room at the bungalow,
you remember. Now. It seems to me that case B
piles things on too thick. If you understand what I mean.
It means that missus Silverdal was murdered by poison and
that young Hassendein was shot to death. Why the two
(15:15):
methods when plain shooting would have been good enough in
both cases. Take the obvious case. It's been at the
back of my mind, and I'm sure it's been at
the back of yours too, that Silverdale surprised the two
of them at the bungalow and killed them both. Where
does the poison come in to my mind? We ought
to put a pencil through Case B. It's most improbable. Rather,
(15:37):
to his relief, Sir Clinton made no objection. The inspector
drew his pencil through the first two lines of the table,
then let it hover over the last line. What about
case F, Sir, she suicided and he was murdered. If
she suicided, it was a premeditated affair, otherwise they wouldn't
have had the highest scene at hand. But if it
(15:58):
was one of these lovers suicide pacts, they'd have had
a dose ready for him as well. And there wasn't
a trace of the stuff spilt on the floor or
anywhere about the bungalow. Score out case F, Sir, I've
no objections to your putting your pencil through it if
you like, Inspector, though my reasons are rather different from
the ones you give. Flamborough looked up suspiciously, but gathered
(16:21):
from Sir Clinton's face that there was nothing further to
be expected. Well, at least that's a narrowed down the
possibilities a bit, he said, with relief. You started out
with nine possible solutions to the affair, covering every conceivable combination.
Now we're down to three. He picked up his paper
and read out the residual scheme, putting fresh identifying letters
(16:42):
to the three cases. X Hassaden suicide, missus Silverdale accident,
Why Hassendeen murder, Missus Silverdale accident, Z Hassendeen suicide, Missus
Silverdale murder. You agree to that, Sir Flamborough demanded. Oh yes,
(17:03):
Sir Clinton admitted, in a careless tone. I think the
truth probably lies somewhere among those three solutions. The bother
will be to prove it. At this moment, a constable
entered the room, bringing some letters in a newspaper and
a postal wrapper. Come by the next post as I expected,
the Chief Constable remarked, picking up the packet and removing
(17:24):
the wrapper with care, the usual method of addressing. You
see letters cut from telegraph warms and gummed on to
the official stamped wrapper. Well, let's have a look at
the news. He unfolded the sheet and glanced over the
advertisement pages in search of a marked paragraph. Ingenious devil, Inspector,
he went on. The other advertisement was in the courier.
(17:46):
This is a copy of today's gazette. That makes sure
that no one reading down a column of advertisements would
be struck by a resemblance and start comparisons. I begin
to like mister Justice. He's thorough. Anyhow, ah here we
are mark like the other one. Listen, Inspector Clinton, take
the letters in the following order. Please note the reader
(18:09):
now describes a series of numbers listing the appropriate order
of the letters. We continue now. That was why he
split up his letters into groups of five in the
first advertisement, to make it easy for us to count.
I really like this fellow more and more a most
thoughtful cove. He placed the two advertisement side by side
(18:30):
on the table. Just run over this with me, inspector.
Call the first a number one, the second a number two,
and so on. There are fifty six letters in all.
So number fifty five is the W. Number sixteen is
the first letter in the fourth quintet. H. Number thirty
is the last letter in the sixth quintet. Oh, so
(18:51):
that spells who. Just go through the laut and check
them please. Flamborough plowed through the whole series and ended
with the same solution as Sir Clinton had obtained earlier
in the morning. Who had access to hyacine at the
cross Thornton Institute. Well, it's pleasant to hit the mark,
the Chief Constable confessed. By the way, you had better
(19:13):
send some one down to the curry r In gazette
offices to pick up the originals of these advertisements. But
I'm sure it will be just the same old telegram stunt,
and the address which has to be given as a
guarantee of good faith will be a fake one. End
of Chapter eleven.
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