May 15, 2025 • 21 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 sixteen of the case with nine Solutions by J. J. Connington.
This LibriVox recording is in the public domain written evidence.
Inspector Flamborough had to wait a couple of days before
his unknown ally Justice made any further move. It so
happened that Sir Clinton was not at headquarters when the
(00:22):
post brought the expected communication, and the Inspector had plenty
of time to consider the fresh evidence, unbiased by his
superior's comments. As soon as the Chief Constable reappeared, Flamborough
went to him to display the latest document in the case.
This came by the midday Post, Sir, he explained, laying
some papers on the table. It's mister Justice again, the
(00:44):
results of his raid on the deep Car house, it seems.
Sir Clinton picked up the packet and opened out the papers.
Some photographic prints attracted his attention, but he laid them
aside and turned first to a plain sheet of paper
on which the now familiar letters from telegraph Worm had
been gummed. With some deliberation, he read the message, I
enclosed photographs of part of the correspondence which has recently
(01:08):
taken place between doctor Silverdale and Miss deep Carr. Justice,
Sir Clinton gazed at the sheet for a moment or two,
as though considering some matter unconnected with the message. At last,
he turned to the inspector. I suppose you've tried this
thing for finger prints. No good, eh, I can still
smell a faint whiff of rubber from it off his gloves.
(01:31):
I suppose, Flamborough shook his head in agreement with Sir
Clinton's surmise. Nothing on it, whatever, sir, he confirmed. The
Chief Constable laid down the sheet of paper and took
up one of the photographs. It was an ordinary half
played size, and showed a slightly reduced copy of one
page of a letter that things cannot go on any longer.
(01:52):
This way, the plan we talked over last seems the best.
When I have given Hassendine hints about the use of hiocene,
he will probably see for himself how to get what
he wants. After that, it merely means watching them, and
I am sure that we shall soon have her out
of our way. It will be very easy to make
it seem intentional on their part, and no one is
(02:14):
likely to look further than that. Flamborough watched the Chief
Constable's face as he read the message. And as soon
as he saw that Sir Clinton had completed his perusal
of it, the inspector put in his word, I've checked
the writing, sir. It's Silverdales beyond any doubt. The Chief
Constable nodded rather absent mindedly and took up another of
(02:35):
the prints. This showed a largely magnified reproduction of the
first two lines of the document, and for a minute
or two Sir Clinton subjected the print to a minute
scrutiny with a magnifying glass. It's an original, right enough,
Flamborough ventured to comment at last, mister Justice has been
very thorough and he's given us quite enough to prove
(02:56):
that it isn't a forgery. You can see there's no
sign of erasing a screen raping of any sort on
the paper of the original, and the magnifications big enough
to show up anything of that sort. That's true, Sir
Clinton admitted. And so far as one can see, the
lines of the writing are normal. There are none of
those halts in the wrong place that a forger makes
if he traces a manuscript. The magnifications quite big enough
(03:20):
to show up anything of that sort. I guess you're right,
Inspector is a photograph of part of a real document
in Silverdale's own handwriting. The rest of the things make
that clear enough, Lamborough said, indicating several other prints which
showed microphotographic reproductions of a number of other details of
the document. There's no doubt whatever that these are all
(03:41):
genuine bits of Silverdale's handwriting. There's been no faking of
the paper or anything like that. Sir Clinton continued his
study of the photographs, evidently with keen interest, but at
last he put all the prints on his desk and
turned to the inspector. Well what do you make of it?
He demanded. It seems clear enough to me, Flamborough answered,
(04:03):
look at the contents of that page as a whole.
It's as plain as one could wish. Silverdale and the
Deep Car Girl have had enough of waiting. Things can't
go on any longer in this way. They've been discussing
various ways of getting rid of missus Silverdale. The plan
we talked over last seems the best. That's the final decision. Evidently,
(04:25):
Then you get a notion of what the plan was.
Silverdale was going to prime Hassendine with information about hyacine
and practically egg him on to drug Missus Silverdale so
as to get her into his power. Then when the
trap was ready, Silverdale and the deep Car girl were
to be on the alert to take advantage of the situation.
And the last sentence makes it clear enough that they
(04:47):
meant to go the length of murder and to cover
it up by making it look like a suicide pack
between young Hassendeen and Missus Silverdale. That's how I read it, sir.
Sir Clinton did not immediately endorse this appearion. Instead, he
picked up the full copy of the manuscript page and
studied it afresh, as though searching for something in particular.
(05:08):
At last, he appeared to be satisfied, and he slid
the photograph across the desk to the inspector. I don't
wish to bias you, Inspector, so I won't describe what
I see myself, But will you examine the word probably
in that text and tell me if anything whatever about
it strikes you as peculiar, anything whatever. Remember, Flamborough studied
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the place indicated first with his naked eye and then
with the magnifying glass. There's no sign of any tampering
with the paper that I can see. Sir, the surface
is intact and the ink lines run absolutely free, without
the halts and shakes one would expect in a forgery.
The only thing I do notice is that the word
looks just a trifle cramped. That's what I wanted. Note
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that it's in the middle of a line. Inspector. Now
look at the word shell and the fifth line from
the bottom of the page. One might say it was
a trifle cramp too, Flamborough admitted, And the it in
the third line from the foot it looks like the
same thing. Flamborough relapsed into silence and studied the photograph
word by word, while Sir Clinton waited patiently. The word
(06:15):
the in the phrase about the use of hyacine seems
cramped too, and the two at the start of the
last line suffers in the same way. It's so slight
in all these cases that one wouldn't notice it normally.
I didn't see it till you pointed it out. But
if you're going to suggest that there's been any erasing
and writing in fresh words to fit the blank space,
(06:35):
I'll have to disagree with you, sir. I simply don't
believe there's been anything of the sort. I shan't differ
from you over that, Sir Clinton assured him blandly. Now
let's think of something else for a change. Did it
never occur to you, inspector, how much the English language
depends on the relative position of words. If I say
it struck you, that means something quite different from you
(06:59):
struck it. And yet each sentence contains exactly the same words.
That's plain enough, Flamborough admitted. Though I never thought of
it in that way, and he added, in a dubious tone,
I don't see what it's got to do with the
case either. That's a pity, Sir Clinton observed, with the
sympathy which hardly sounded genuine. Suppose we think it over together.
(07:21):
Where does one usually cramp words a trifle when one
is writing at the end of a line, Flamborough suggested.
But these crampings seemed to be all in the middle
of the lines of that letter. That's what seems to
me interesting about them, Sir Clinton explained dryly. And somehow
it seems to associate itself in my mind with the
fact that mister Justice hasn't supplied us with the original document,
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but has gone to all the trouble of taking photographs
of it. I wondered at that myself. The inspector confessed,
it seems a bit futile. True enough, try a fresh
line inspector. We learned on fairly good authority that mister
Justice took away a number of letters from this deep
Carr's house, and yet he only sends us a single
page out of the lot. If the rest were important,
(08:06):
why doesn't he send them? If they aren't important, why
did he take them away? He may be holding them
up for use later on, sir. Sir Clinton shook his head.
My reading of the business is different. I think this
is mister Justice's last reserve. He's throwing his last forces
into the battle. Now. There seems to be something behind
(08:29):
all this. Flamborough admitted passing his hand over his hair,
as though to stimulate his brain by the action. But
I can't just fit it all together as you seem
to have done, Sir. You can say what you like,
but that handwriting's genuine, The paper's not been tampered with,
and I can't see anything wrong with it. Sir Clinton
took pity on the inspector's obvious anxiety. Look at the
(08:50):
phrasing of the whole document. Inspector, if you cared to
do so, you could split it up into a set
of phrases something after this style. That thing cannot go
on any longer. In this way, the plan we talked
over last seems the best. When I have given Hassendein
hints about the use of hyacine, he will probably see
(09:14):
for himself how to get what he wants. After that,
it merely means watching them, and I am sure that
we shall soon have her out of our way. It
will be very easy to make it seem intentional on
their part, and no one is likely to look further
(09:34):
than that. Now, Inspector, if you met any one of
these phrases by itself, would you infer from it inevitably
that a murder was being planned? Things cannot go on
any longer in this way. If you consider how missus
Silverdale was behaving with young hassendein, it's not astonishing to
find a phrase like that and a letter from Silverdale
(09:55):
to the girl he was in love with. The plan
we talked over last seems the best. It might have
been a day's outing together that he was talking about,
For all one can tell. He will probably see for
himself how my wife is playing with him and so forth. Yes,
that's all very well, Flamborough put in. But what about
the word hyacine? That's unusual in love letters? Miss Deevekarr
(10:20):
was working on hyacine under Silverdale's directions. Remember, it's quite
possible that he might have mentioned it incidentally. Now I
think I see what you mean, sir. You think that
this document that mister Justice has sent us as a
patchwork bits cut out of a lot of different letters
and stuck together and then photographed. I'm suggesting it as
a possibility. Inspector, see how it fits. The facts here
(10:44):
are a set of phrases, each one innocuous in itself,
but with a cumulative effect of suggestion when you string
them together, as in this document. If the thing is
a patchwork, then a number of real letters must have
been used in order to get fragments which would suit.
So mister Justice took a fair selection of epistles with
him when he rated Miss Deeve Carr's house. Further, in
(11:07):
snipping out a sentence here and there from these letters,
he sometimes had to include a phrase running from one
line to another in the original letter. But when he
came to paste his fragments together. The original hiatus at
the end of a line got transferred to the middle
of a line in the final arrangement made to fit
the page of the faith letter. That's what struck me
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to begin with. For example, suppose that in the original
letter you had the phrase he will probably see for
himself how, and the original line ended with probably that
word might be a bit cramped at the end of
the line, But in reconstructing a thing probably got into
the middle of the line, and so you get this
(11:48):
apparently meaningless cramping of the word when there was space
enough for it to be written uncramped under normal conditions.
Just the same with the other cases you spotted for yourself.
They represent the ends of lines in the original letters,
although they all occur in the middle of lines in
the fake production. That sounds just as plausible as you like, sir,
(12:08):
But you've got the knack of making things sound plausible.
You're not pulling my leg, are you, the inspector demanded suspiciously. Besides,
what about there being no sign of the paper having
been tampered with? Look at what he's given us, Sir
Clinton suggested. The only case where he's given a large
scale reproduction of a whole phrase is at the top
of the letter. Things cannot go on any longer. In
(12:31):
this way, that's been completing the original, and he gives
you a large scale copy of it, showing that the
texture of the paper is intact. Of course it is,
since he cut the whole bit out of the letter
all block. When it comes to the microphotographs, of course
he only shows you small bits of the words, and
so there's no sign of the cutting that was needed
(12:52):
at the end of each fragment, and in the photograph
of the full text, there's no attempt to show you
find details. He's simply pasted the fragments in their proper
order on to a real sheet of notepaper, filled up
the joins with Chinese white to hide the solutions of continuity,
and used a process plate which wouldn't show the slight
differences in the shades of the whites where the Chinese
(13:14):
white overlay the white of the notepaper. If you have
a drawing to make for black and white reproduction in
a book, you can mess about with Chinese white as
much as you like and it won't show up in
the final result at all. Flamborough with a gesture admitted
the plausibility of their Clinton's hypothesis. And you think that
explains why he didn't send us the original documents, Sir,
(13:37):
Since I'm sure he hadn't an original to send, it's
hard to see how he could have sent that. Inspector
Flamborough did not contest this reading of the case. Instead,
he passed to a fresh aspect of the subject. Mister
Justice is evidently ready to go any length to avenge somebody,
and that somebody can hardly have been young Hassendine, judging
(13:57):
from what we've heard about his character. Sir Clinton refused
the gambit offered by the inspector. Mister Justice is a
very able person, he observed, even though he does make
a mistake now and again, as in this last move.
You said you had some idea who he was, Sir
Flamborough said, with an interrogative note in his voice. The
(14:18):
Chief Constable showed no desire to be drawn. He glanced
rather quizzically at his subordinate for a moment before speaking.
I'll give you the points which strike me in that connection, Inspector,
and then you'll be just as well placed as i
on myself in the matter of mister Justice. First of all,
if you compare the time of publication of the morning
newspapers with the time at which mister Justice's telegram was
(14:42):
collected from the pillar box, I think it's fairly evident
that he didn't depend on the journalists for his first
information about the affair. Even the Ivy Lodge News wasn't
printed until after he had dispatched his message. That's true,
Sir Flamborough admitted. His manner showed that he expected a
good more than this tittle of information. Therefore, he must
(15:04):
have had some direct information about the bungalow business. Either
he was on the spot when the affair occurred, or
else he was told about it almost immediately by some
one who was on the spot, admitted the Inspector confirmed,
then he obviously, or as it she obviously Inspector saw
the importance of Hiocene as a clue. As soon as
any word about it got into the newspapers, immediately incomes
(15:28):
the code advertisement, giving us rather unnecessarily, I think the
tip to inquire at the crow Thornton Institute. Flamborough's face
showed that he felt Sir Clinton was merely recapitulating very
obvious pieces of evidence. Then there was the writing on
the advertisements which he sent to the papers. Missus Silverdale's
writing rather neatly forged, if you remember, yes, said the inspector,
(15:52):
showing by his tone that at this point he was
rather at sea. Then there was the fact that he
managed to choose his time most conveniently for his raid
on Miss deep Carr's house. You mean he made his
visit when only the maid was at home, sir, precisely.
I rather admire his forethought all through the business. But
there's more in it than that, if you think it over, Inspector, Well, sir,
(16:15):
if your reading's correct, he wanted some of Silverdale's letters
to serve as a basis for these photographs. Something even
more obvious than that, Inspector. Now, with all that evidence
in front of you, can't you build up some sort
of picture of mister Justice. You ought to be able
to come fairly near it. I think somebody fairly in
the swim at the Silverdale crowd at any rate, I
(16:37):
can see that, And someone who knew the craft Thornton
by hearsay at any rate, is that what you mean, sir?
Sir Clinton betrayed nothing in his expression, though the Inspector
scrutinized his face carefully, but he added something which Flamborough
had not expected. Final points. The date on the fragment
of an envelope that I found in the drawer in
(16:58):
Missus Silverdale's room was nineteen two twenty five. The date
inside that signet ring on her finger was five dash
eleven dash twenty five, and there was the initial BE
engraved alongside the date. Inspector Flamborough quite obviously failed to
see the relevancy of these details. His face showed it
in the most apparent way. I don't see what you're
(17:20):
getting at there, sir, he said, rather shamefacedly. These things
never struck me, and even now I don't see what
they've got to do with mister Justice. If he expected
to gain anything by this frank confession, he was disappointed.
Sir Clinton had evidently no desire to save his subordinate
the trouble of thinking, and his next remark left Flamborough
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even deeper in bewilderment. Ever read anything by Dean Swift, Inspector,
I read Gulliver's Travels when I was a kid, Sir
Flamborough admitted, with the air of deprecating any investigation into
his literary tastes. You might read his journal to Stella
some time, but I guess you'd find it dull. It's
(18:00):
a reprint of his letters to Esther Johnson, he called
her Stella, and is full of queer abbreviations and phrases
like night, dear, M, D love, p D f R.
It seems with that sort of stuff, curious to see
the human side of a man like Swift. Isn't it
in love with her? You mean, sir well, it sounds
(18:22):
like it, Sir Clinton replied cautiously. However, we needn't worry
over Swift. Let's see if we can't do something with
this case for a change. He glanced at his watch.
Half past five. We may be able to get hold
of her. He picked up the telephone from his desk
and asked for a number, while Flamborough waited with interest
to hear. The result is that the Crawthornton Institute, Sir
(18:46):
Clinton demanded at length, Sir Clinton, Driffield speaking, can you
ask miss Hailsham to come to the telephone. There was
a pause before he spoke once more, Miss Hailsham, I'm
sorry to trouble you, but can you tell me if
there is a microphotographic camera in the institute. I'd like
to know, Flamborough. All the ears waited for the next
(19:07):
bit of the one sided conversation, which was reaching him.
You have two of them, then, I suppose I might
be able to get permission to use one of them,
perhaps if we need it. Thanks. Indeed, by the way,
I suppose you're just leaving the institute now, I thought,
so very lucky I didn't miss you by a minute
or two. I mustn't detain you. Thanks again, goodbye. He
(19:31):
put down the telephone and turned to Flamborough. You might
ask miss Morcott to come here, Inspector. Flamborough, completely puzzled
by this move, opened the door of the adjoining room
and summoned Sir Clinton's typist. I want you to telephone
for me, miss Morcott, the Chief Inspector explained. Bring up
doctor Trevor Markfield at his house. When you get through,
(19:53):
say to his housekeeper, Miss Hailsham speaking. Please tell doctor
Markfield that I wished to see him tonight and that
I I shall come round to his house at nine o'clock.
Don't say any more than that, and get disconnected before
there's any chance of explanations. Miss Morcott carried out Sir
Clinton's orders carefully and then went back to her typing
(20:13):
as soon as the door closed behind her. The Inspector's
suppressed curiosity got the better of him. I don't quite
understand all that, sir. I suppose you asked about the
microphotographic affair, just to see if these prints could have
been made at the croft Thornton. I hadn't much doubt
on that point. Photomicrographic apparatus isn't common among amateur photographers,
(20:35):
but is common enough in scientific institutes. No, I was
really killing two birds with one stone, finding out about
the micro camera and making sure that miss Hailsham was
leaving the place for the night and wouldn't have a
chance to speak to Markfield before she went. And what
about her calling on Markfield tonight, Sir, So I have
to do it by proxy. I'm afraid we'll represent her
(20:57):
however inefficiently, Inspector. The point is that I wanted to
be sure that Markfield would be at home when we called,
and I wish to avoid making any appointment in my
own name lest it should put him too much on
his guard. The times come and we'll have to persuade
doctor Markfield to be a bit franker than he's been hitherto.
I think I see my way to getting out of
(21:18):
him most of what he knows, and if I can
succeed at that, then we ought to have all the
evidence we need. He paused, as though not very sure
about something. He's been bluffing us all along the line
up to the present. Inspector. It's a game too can
play at, and you'll be good enough to turn a
deaf ear occasionally if I'm tempted out of the straight path,
(21:39):
and whatever happens, don't look over surprised at anything I
may say. If you can contrive to look thoroughly stupid,
it won't do any harm. End of Chapter sixteen.
Chapter sixteen of the case with nine Solutions by J. J. Connington.
This LibriVox recording is in the public domain written evidence.
Inspector Flamborough had to wait a couple of days before
his unknown ally Justice made any further move. It so
happened that Sir Clinton was not at headquarters when the
(00:22):
post brought the expected communication, and the Inspector had plenty
of time to consider the fresh evidence, unbiased by his
superior's comments. As soon as the Chief Constable reappeared, Flamborough
went to him to display the latest document in the case.
This came by the midday Post, Sir, he explained, laying
some papers on the table. It's mister Justice again, the
(00:44):
results of his raid on the deep Car house, it seems.
Sir Clinton picked up the packet and opened out the papers.
Some photographic prints attracted his attention, but he laid them
aside and turned first to a plain sheet of paper
on which the now familiar letters from telegraph Worm had
been gummed. With some deliberation, he read the message, I
enclosed photographs of part of the correspondence which has recently
(01:08):
taken place between doctor Silverdale and Miss deep Carr. Justice,
Sir Clinton gazed at the sheet for a moment or two,
as though considering some matter unconnected with the message. At last,
he turned to the inspector. I suppose you've tried this
thing for finger prints. No good, eh, I can still
smell a faint whiff of rubber from it off his gloves.
(01:31):
I suppose, Flamborough shook his head in agreement with Sir
Clinton's surmise. Nothing on it, whatever, sir, he confirmed. The
Chief Constable laid down the sheet of paper and took
up one of the photographs. It was an ordinary half
played size, and showed a slightly reduced copy of one
page of a letter that things cannot go on any longer.
(01:52):
This way, the plan we talked over last seems the best.
When I have given Hassendine hints about the use of hiocene,
he will probably see for himself how to get what
he wants. After that, it merely means watching them, and
I am sure that we shall soon have her out
of our way. It will be very easy to make
it seem intentional on their part, and no one is
(02:14):
likely to look further than that. Flamborough watched the Chief
Constable's face as he read the message. And as soon
as he saw that Sir Clinton had completed his perusal
of it, the inspector put in his word, I've checked
the writing, sir. It's Silverdales beyond any doubt. The Chief
Constable nodded rather absent mindedly and took up another of
(02:35):
the prints. This showed a largely magnified reproduction of the
first two lines of the document, and for a minute
or two Sir Clinton subjected the print to a minute
scrutiny with a magnifying glass. It's an original, right enough,
Flamborough ventured to comment at last, mister Justice has been
very thorough and he's given us quite enough to prove
(02:56):
that it isn't a forgery. You can see there's no
sign of erasing a screen raping of any sort on
the paper of the original, and the magnifications big enough
to show up anything of that sort. That's true, Sir
Clinton admitted. And so far as one can see, the
lines of the writing are normal. There are none of
those halts in the wrong place that a forger makes
if he traces a manuscript. The magnifications quite big enough
(03:20):
to show up anything of that sort. I guess you're right,
Inspector is a photograph of part of a real document
in Silverdale's own handwriting. The rest of the things make
that clear enough, Lamborough said, indicating several other prints which
showed microphotographic reproductions of a number of other details of
the document. There's no doubt whatever that these are all
(03:41):
genuine bits of Silverdale's handwriting. There's been no faking of
the paper or anything like that. Sir Clinton continued his
study of the photographs, evidently with keen interest, but at
last he put all the prints on his desk and
turned to the inspector. Well what do you make of it?
He demanded. It seems clear enough to me, Flamborough answered,
(04:03):
look at the contents of that page as a whole.
It's as plain as one could wish. Silverdale and the
Deep Car Girl have had enough of waiting. Things can't
go on any longer in this way. They've been discussing
various ways of getting rid of missus Silverdale. The plan
we talked over last seems the best. That's the final decision. Evidently,
(04:25):
Then you get a notion of what the plan was.
Silverdale was going to prime Hassendine with information about hyacine
and practically egg him on to drug Missus Silverdale so
as to get her into his power. Then when the
trap was ready, Silverdale and the deep Car girl were
to be on the alert to take advantage of the situation.
And the last sentence makes it clear enough that they
(04:47):
meant to go the length of murder and to cover
it up by making it look like a suicide pack
between young Hassendeen and Missus Silverdale. That's how I read it, sir.
Sir Clinton did not immediately endorse this appearion. Instead, he
picked up the full copy of the manuscript page and
studied it afresh, as though searching for something in particular.
(05:08):
At last, he appeared to be satisfied, and he slid
the photograph across the desk to the inspector. I don't
wish to bias you, Inspector, so I won't describe what
I see myself, But will you examine the word probably
in that text and tell me if anything whatever about
it strikes you as peculiar, anything whatever. Remember, Flamborough studied
(05:29):
the place indicated first with his naked eye and then
with the magnifying glass. There's no sign of any tampering
with the paper that I can see. Sir, the surface
is intact and the ink lines run absolutely free, without
the halts and shakes one would expect in a forgery.
The only thing I do notice is that the word
looks just a trifle cramped. That's what I wanted. Note
(05:51):
that it's in the middle of a line. Inspector. Now
look at the word shell and the fifth line from
the bottom of the page. One might say it was
a trifle cramp too, Flamborough admitted, And the it in
the third line from the foot it looks like the
same thing. Flamborough relapsed into silence and studied the photograph
word by word, while Sir Clinton waited patiently. The word
(06:15):
the in the phrase about the use of hyacine seems
cramped too, and the two at the start of the
last line suffers in the same way. It's so slight
in all these cases that one wouldn't notice it normally.
I didn't see it till you pointed it out. But
if you're going to suggest that there's been any erasing
and writing in fresh words to fit the blank space,
(06:35):
I'll have to disagree with you, sir. I simply don't
believe there's been anything of the sort. I shan't differ
from you over that, Sir Clinton assured him blandly. Now
let's think of something else for a change. Did it
never occur to you, inspector, how much the English language
depends on the relative position of words. If I say
it struck you, that means something quite different from you
(06:59):
struck it. And yet each sentence contains exactly the same words.
That's plain enough, Flamborough admitted. Though I never thought of
it in that way, and he added, in a dubious tone,
I don't see what it's got to do with the
case either. That's a pity, Sir Clinton observed, with the
sympathy which hardly sounded genuine. Suppose we think it over together.
(07:21):
Where does one usually cramp words a trifle when one
is writing at the end of a line, Flamborough suggested.
But these crampings seemed to be all in the middle
of the lines of that letter. That's what seems to
me interesting about them, Sir Clinton explained dryly. And somehow
it seems to associate itself in my mind with the
fact that mister Justice hasn't supplied us with the original document,
(07:44):
but has gone to all the trouble of taking photographs
of it. I wondered at that myself. The inspector confessed,
it seems a bit futile. True enough, try a fresh
line inspector. We learned on fairly good authority that mister
Justice took away a number of letters from this deep
Carr's house, and yet he only sends us a single
page out of the lot. If the rest were important,
(08:06):
why doesn't he send them? If they aren't important, why
did he take them away? He may be holding them
up for use later on, sir. Sir Clinton shook his head.
My reading of the business is different. I think this
is mister Justice's last reserve. He's throwing his last forces
into the battle. Now. There seems to be something behind
(08:29):
all this. Flamborough admitted passing his hand over his hair,
as though to stimulate his brain by the action. But
I can't just fit it all together as you seem
to have done, Sir. You can say what you like,
but that handwriting's genuine, The paper's not been tampered with,
and I can't see anything wrong with it. Sir Clinton
took pity on the inspector's obvious anxiety. Look at the
(08:50):
phrasing of the whole document. Inspector, if you cared to
do so, you could split it up into a set
of phrases something after this style. That thing cannot go
on any longer. In this way, the plan we talked
over last seems the best. When I have given Hassendein
hints about the use of hyacine, he will probably see
(09:14):
for himself how to get what he wants. After that,
it merely means watching them, and I am sure that
we shall soon have her out of our way. It
will be very easy to make it seem intentional on
their part, and no one is likely to look further
(09:34):
than that. Now, Inspector, if you met any one of
these phrases by itself, would you infer from it inevitably
that a murder was being planned? Things cannot go on
any longer in this way. If you consider how missus
Silverdale was behaving with young hassendein, it's not astonishing to
find a phrase like that and a letter from Silverdale
(09:55):
to the girl he was in love with. The plan
we talked over last seems the best. It might have
been a day's outing together that he was talking about,
For all one can tell. He will probably see for
himself how my wife is playing with him and so forth. Yes,
that's all very well, Flamborough put in. But what about
the word hyacine? That's unusual in love letters? Miss Deevekarr
(10:20):
was working on hyacine under Silverdale's directions. Remember, it's quite
possible that he might have mentioned it incidentally. Now I
think I see what you mean, sir. You think that
this document that mister Justice has sent us as a
patchwork bits cut out of a lot of different letters
and stuck together and then photographed. I'm suggesting it as
a possibility. Inspector, see how it fits. The facts here
(10:44):
are a set of phrases, each one innocuous in itself,
but with a cumulative effect of suggestion when you string
them together, as in this document. If the thing is
a patchwork, then a number of real letters must have
been used in order to get fragments which would suit.
So mister Justice took a fair selection of epistles with
him when he rated Miss Deeve Carr's house. Further, in
(11:07):
snipping out a sentence here and there from these letters,
he sometimes had to include a phrase running from one
line to another in the original letter. But when he
came to paste his fragments together. The original hiatus at
the end of a line got transferred to the middle
of a line in the final arrangement made to fit
the page of the faith letter. That's what struck me
(11:27):
to begin with. For example, suppose that in the original
letter you had the phrase he will probably see for
himself how, and the original line ended with probably that
word might be a bit cramped at the end of
the line, But in reconstructing a thing probably got into
the middle of the line, and so you get this
(11:48):
apparently meaningless cramping of the word when there was space
enough for it to be written uncramped under normal conditions.
Just the same with the other cases you spotted for yourself.
They represent the ends of lines in the original letters,
although they all occur in the middle of lines in
the fake production. That sounds just as plausible as you like, sir,
(12:08):
But you've got the knack of making things sound plausible.
You're not pulling my leg, are you, the inspector demanded suspiciously. Besides,
what about there being no sign of the paper having
been tampered with? Look at what he's given us, Sir
Clinton suggested. The only case where he's given a large
scale reproduction of a whole phrase is at the top
of the letter. Things cannot go on any longer. In
(12:31):
this way, that's been completing the original, and he gives
you a large scale copy of it, showing that the
texture of the paper is intact. Of course it is,
since he cut the whole bit out of the letter
all block. When it comes to the microphotographs, of course
he only shows you small bits of the words, and
so there's no sign of the cutting that was needed
(12:52):
at the end of each fragment, and in the photograph
of the full text, there's no attempt to show you
find details. He's simply pasted the fragments in their proper
order on to a real sheet of notepaper, filled up
the joins with Chinese white to hide the solutions of continuity,
and used a process plate which wouldn't show the slight
differences in the shades of the whites where the Chinese
(13:14):
white overlay the white of the notepaper. If you have
a drawing to make for black and white reproduction in
a book, you can mess about with Chinese white as
much as you like and it won't show up in
the final result at all. Flamborough with a gesture admitted
the plausibility of their Clinton's hypothesis. And you think that
explains why he didn't send us the original documents, Sir,
(13:37):
Since I'm sure he hadn't an original to send, it's
hard to see how he could have sent that. Inspector
Flamborough did not contest this reading of the case. Instead,
he passed to a fresh aspect of the subject. Mister
Justice is evidently ready to go any length to avenge somebody,
and that somebody can hardly have been young Hassendine, judging
(13:57):
from what we've heard about his character. Sir Clinton refused
the gambit offered by the inspector. Mister Justice is a
very able person, he observed, even though he does make
a mistake now and again, as in this last move.
You said you had some idea who he was, Sir
Flamborough said, with an interrogative note in his voice. The
(14:18):
Chief Constable showed no desire to be drawn. He glanced
rather quizzically at his subordinate for a moment before speaking.
I'll give you the points which strike me in that connection, Inspector,
and then you'll be just as well placed as i
on myself in the matter of mister Justice. First of all,
if you compare the time of publication of the morning
newspapers with the time at which mister Justice's telegram was
(14:42):
collected from the pillar box, I think it's fairly evident
that he didn't depend on the journalists for his first
information about the affair. Even the Ivy Lodge News wasn't
printed until after he had dispatched his message. That's true,
Sir Flamborough admitted. His manner showed that he expected a
good more than this tittle of information. Therefore, he must
(15:04):
have had some direct information about the bungalow business. Either
he was on the spot when the affair occurred, or
else he was told about it almost immediately by some
one who was on the spot, admitted the Inspector confirmed,
then he obviously, or as it she obviously Inspector saw
the importance of Hiocene as a clue. As soon as
any word about it got into the newspapers, immediately incomes
(15:28):
the code advertisement, giving us rather unnecessarily, I think the
tip to inquire at the crow Thornton Institute. Flamborough's face
showed that he felt Sir Clinton was merely recapitulating very
obvious pieces of evidence. Then there was the writing on
the advertisements which he sent to the papers. Missus Silverdale's
writing rather neatly forged, if you remember, yes, said the inspector,
(15:52):
showing by his tone that at this point he was
rather at sea. Then there was the fact that he
managed to choose his time most conveniently for his raid
on Miss deep Carr's house. You mean he made his
visit when only the maid was at home, sir, precisely.
I rather admire his forethought all through the business. But
there's more in it than that, if you think it over, Inspector, Well, sir,
(16:15):
if your reading's correct, he wanted some of Silverdale's letters
to serve as a basis for these photographs. Something even
more obvious than that, Inspector. Now, with all that evidence
in front of you, can't you build up some sort
of picture of mister Justice. You ought to be able
to come fairly near it. I think somebody fairly in
the swim at the Silverdale crowd at any rate, I
(16:37):
can see that, And someone who knew the craft Thornton
by hearsay at any rate, is that what you mean, sir?
Sir Clinton betrayed nothing in his expression, though the Inspector
scrutinized his face carefully, but he added something which Flamborough
had not expected. Final points. The date on the fragment
of an envelope that I found in the drawer in
(16:58):
Missus Silverdale's room was nineteen two twenty five. The date
inside that signet ring on her finger was five dash
eleven dash twenty five, and there was the initial BE
engraved alongside the date. Inspector Flamborough quite obviously failed to
see the relevancy of these details. His face showed it
in the most apparent way. I don't see what you're
(17:20):
getting at there, sir, he said, rather shamefacedly. These things
never struck me, and even now I don't see what
they've got to do with mister Justice. If he expected
to gain anything by this frank confession, he was disappointed.
Sir Clinton had evidently no desire to save his subordinate
the trouble of thinking, and his next remark left Flamborough
(17:40):
even deeper in bewilderment. Ever read anything by Dean Swift, Inspector,
I read Gulliver's Travels when I was a kid, Sir
Flamborough admitted, with the air of deprecating any investigation into
his literary tastes. You might read his journal to Stella
some time, but I guess you'd find it dull. It's
(18:00):
a reprint of his letters to Esther Johnson, he called
her Stella, and is full of queer abbreviations and phrases
like night, dear, M, D love, p D f R.
It seems with that sort of stuff, curious to see
the human side of a man like Swift. Isn't it
in love with her? You mean, sir well, it sounds
(18:22):
like it, Sir Clinton replied cautiously. However, we needn't worry
over Swift. Let's see if we can't do something with
this case for a change. He glanced at his watch.
Half past five. We may be able to get hold
of her. He picked up the telephone from his desk
and asked for a number, while Flamborough waited with interest
to hear. The result is that the Crawthornton Institute, Sir
(18:46):
Clinton demanded at length, Sir Clinton, Driffield speaking, can you
ask miss Hailsham to come to the telephone. There was
a pause before he spoke once more, Miss Hailsham, I'm
sorry to trouble you, but can you tell me if
there is a microphotographic camera in the institute. I'd like
to know, Flamborough. All the ears waited for the next
(19:07):
bit of the one sided conversation, which was reaching him.
You have two of them, then, I suppose I might
be able to get permission to use one of them,
perhaps if we need it. Thanks. Indeed, by the way,
I suppose you're just leaving the institute now, I thought,
so very lucky I didn't miss you by a minute
or two. I mustn't detain you. Thanks again, goodbye. He
(19:31):
put down the telephone and turned to Flamborough. You might
ask miss Morcott to come here, Inspector. Flamborough, completely puzzled
by this move, opened the door of the adjoining room
and summoned Sir Clinton's typist. I want you to telephone
for me, miss Morcott, the Chief Inspector explained. Bring up
doctor Trevor Markfield at his house. When you get through,
(19:53):
say to his housekeeper, Miss Hailsham speaking. Please tell doctor
Markfield that I wished to see him tonight and that
I I shall come round to his house at nine o'clock.
Don't say any more than that, and get disconnected before
there's any chance of explanations. Miss Morcott carried out Sir
Clinton's orders carefully and then went back to her typing
(20:13):
as soon as the door closed behind her. The Inspector's
suppressed curiosity got the better of him. I don't quite
understand all that, sir. I suppose you asked about the
microphotographic affair, just to see if these prints could have
been made at the croft Thornton. I hadn't much doubt
on that point. Photomicrographic apparatus isn't common among amateur photographers,
(20:35):
but is common enough in scientific institutes. No, I was
really killing two birds with one stone, finding out about
the micro camera and making sure that miss Hailsham was
leaving the place for the night and wouldn't have a
chance to speak to Markfield before she went. And what
about her calling on Markfield tonight, Sir, So I have
to do it by proxy. I'm afraid we'll represent her
(20:57):
however inefficiently, Inspector. The point is that I wanted to
be sure that Markfield would be at home when we called,
and I wish to avoid making any appointment in my
own name lest it should put him too much on
his guard. The times come and we'll have to persuade
doctor Markfield to be a bit franker than he's been hitherto.
I think I see my way to getting out of
(21:18):
him most of what he knows, and if I can
succeed at that, then we ought to have all the
evidence we need. He paused, as though not very sure
about something. He's been bluffing us all along the line
up to the present. Inspector. It's a game too can
play at, and you'll be good enough to turn a
deaf ear occasionally if I'm tempted out of the straight path,
(21:39):
and whatever happens, don't look over surprised at anything I
may say. If you can contrive to look thoroughly stupid,
it won't do any harm. End of Chapter sixteen.
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