May 27, 2025 • 21 mins
Set against the backdrop of the tumultuous year 1918, amidst the relentless Great War, lies an ancient English country house steeped in blood and mystery. This tranquil setting is disrupted when a young, listless wife organizes a gathering for her friends from the bustling city of London. Her invitees include war workers, men in uniform, and a renowned explorer with an affinity for jewels. The revelry ends in despair when shes found dead with a gunshot wound and an invaluable heirloom pearl necklace goes missing. Scotland Yard, seemingly barking up the wrong tree, is on the case. Will the celebrated private detective, Mr. Colwyn, be able to untangle this complex web of deceit and bring the murderer to justice? The answer lies within this riveting tale, masterfully narrated by Jacquerie.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Chapter twenty of The Hand in the Dark. This LibriVox
recording is in the public domain. The Hand in the
Dark by Arthur J. Reese, Chapter twenty. Colwyn spent a
couple of hours that night reading the depositions he had
obtained from Marrington, and next morning he studied them afresh,
(00:21):
with a concentration which the incessant hum of London traffic
outside was powerless to disturb. He was well aware that
a report was a poor substitute for original impressions, but
in the typewritten document before him lay the facts of
the Heredith case, so far as they were known. It
was a clear and colorless transcription of the narrative of
(00:43):
the witnesses, set down with a painstaking regard for the
value of departmental records, and chiefly valuable to Colwyn because
it contained the expert evidence which sometimes reveals, with the
pitiless accuracy of science, what human nature endeavors to hut
in the balance of the scales of justice. It is
(01:03):
the ascertained truth which weighs heavier than faith, reason or
revealed religion. When he had finished his study of the depositions,
he sat awhile pondering over his own discoveries since he
had been called into the case by the husband of
the dead woman. These discoveries, due apparently to chance, invested
the murder with a complexity which stimulated all the penetrative
(01:27):
and analytical powers of his fine mind, because they brought
with them the realization that he was face to face
with one of those rare crimes where the solution has
to be unraveled from a tangle of false circumstances, which,
by their seeming plausibility, make the task of reaching the
truth one of peculiar difficulty. As Colwyn sat motionless, with
(01:50):
his chin resting on his hand, brooding over the sullen,
secretive surface of this dark mystery, the feeling grew upon
him that the murder had been preconceived with the utmost
cunning and caution, and that the fact so far brought
to light, including his own discoveries, did not penetrate to
the real design. The one conviction in his mind at
(02:12):
the moment was that the man he and Merrington had
interviewed on the previous afternoon had some connection with the mystery,
and that an investigation of Nepcot's actions was the first
step towards the solution of the murder. Colwin based that
belief on the apparently detached facts of the revolver, the
patch of khaki he had found in the woods near
(02:34):
the moat house, and the accident which had disclosed that
Nepcote was carrying the address of a hat and garden
jeweler in his pocket book. These things, taken apart, had
perhaps but slight significance, but considered as links in a
chain of events which started in Philip Heredith's statement that
he had first met his wife at a friend's house
where Nepcote was also a guest, and finishing with the
(02:57):
knowledge that Nepcot had not returned to Franks on the
night of the murder. They assumed a significance which at
least warranted the closest investigation. Colwin was not affected by
the fact that Superintendent Marrington looked at the case from
an entirely different point of view. He did not want
the help of Scotland Yard in solving the crime. He
(03:18):
had too much contempt for the official mind in any
capacity to think that assistance from such a source could
be of value to him. He always preferred to work
alone and unaided. It was the Anglo Saxon instinctive fair play,
which had prompted him to tell Merrington about the missing
necklace so that there might be no unfair advantage between them.
(03:39):
Merrington had received the information with the imperviable dogmatism of
the official mind, strong in the belief of its own infallibility,
resentful of advice or suggestion, as an attempt to weaken
its dignity. It seemed to Colwyn that not only had
Merrington's ruffled dignity led his judgment astray in an attempt
(04:00):
to fit the discovery of the missing necklace into his
own theory of the case, but it had caused him
to commit a grave mistake in putting Nepkoot on his
guard at a moment when the utmost circumspection of investigation
was necessary. To Colwyn, at all events, the discovery of
the missing necklace was of the utmost importance because it
(04:21):
substituted another motive for the murder, and a motive which
carried with it the additional complication that the thief had
some motive in trying to keep its disappearance secret as
long as possible by locking the jewel case after the
jewels had been abstracted if hazel Wrath had not stolen
the necklace, the whole of the facts took on new values.
(04:43):
It was quite true that the mystery of hazel Wrath's
actions on the night of the murder, her subsequent silence
after the recovery of the brooch and the handkerchief, and
the revolver in her mother's rooms remained as suspicious as before,
But the changed motive caused these point to assume a
different complexion, even to the extent of suggesting that she
(05:05):
might be a lesser participant in the crime, perhaps keeping
silence in order to shield the greater criminal. Merrington's stiff
necked in his officialism, had been unable to see this
changed aspect of the case, and strong in his presumption
of the girl's guilt, had acted with impulsive indiscretion in
going to see Nepcote before attempting to trace the missing necklace.
(05:29):
Colwyn's reflections were interrupted by the appearance of the porter
from downstairs to announce a visitor. The visitor, partly obscured
behind the burly frame of the porter in the doorway,
was Detective caldu of Scotland Yard. Colwan had met him
at various times and invited him to enter. As Colwyn
(05:49):
had once said, his feelings towards all the members of
the regular detective force were invariably friendly. It was not
their fault, but the fault of human nature, that they
were sometimes jealous of him. So he made Caldew welcome
and offered him a cigar. Caldu accepted the cigar and
the proffered seat a little nervously. His was the type
(06:11):
of temperament which is overawed in the presence of a
more successful practitioner in the same line of business. He
had long envied Colwyn his dazzling successes, but at the
same time he had sufficient intelligence to understand that many
of those successes stood in a class which he could
never hope to attain. At the present moment, Caldew's feelings
(06:33):
were divided between resentment at Colwyn's action in conveying information
to Scotland Yard, which had earned him a reprimand from
Superintendent Marrington, and the anxious desire to ascertain what the
famous private detective thought of the Heredith case. Merrington has
set me round for the copy of the depositions he
lent you yesterday. It was thus he announced the object
(06:56):
of his visit. Have you finished with it? It was
at from this statement that Superintendent Merrington's gratitude for information
received might now be considered as past history. Colwyn, reflecting
that it had lasted as long as that feeling usually does,
congratulated himself on his forethought in having made a copy
(07:17):
of the report. He handed the copy before him to
his visitor. I'm obliged for the loan of it, he said.
It makes interesting reading your own share in the original
investigations has some excellent touches, if you'll permit me to
say so. That trap for the owner of the brooch
was a neat idea. Caudeo's resentment waned under this compliment
(07:41):
to his professional skill. The trick would have worked too
if I hadn't been called downstairs, he said. The girl
was quick enough to get into the room while I
was out of it. Not that it mattered much as
things turned out. But it is a strange thing about
this necklace, isn't it? Very Has Harrington told you all
(08:01):
about it? Yes? And he gave me a rare wigging
for not discovering the loss between ourselves. I do not
think that I was treated quite fairly about it. Miss
Meredith never said a word to me about a jewel
case being in the room. She took it downstairs before
I arrived, and never mentioned it when I asked her
if anything had been stolen. If she had told me,
(08:22):
I should have had the case opened. But that didn't
weigh with Merrington. He's beastly unfair and never loses a
chance to put the blame on to somebody else when
anything goes wrong. I am sorry if you got into
trouble through my action in informing him, said Colwin. But
of course you must realize that a discovery of such
importance could not be kept secret. That's quite true, replied
(08:44):
Caldeo in a softened voice. Fortunately it does not affect
the issue one way or the other. Mister Meredith believes
that Hazel Wrath is innocent, and I suppose that is
why he has called you into the case. But she
is guilty, right enough. I tried to make that clear
to mister Meredith, but he appears to be a man
of fixed ideas. The question is what has become of
(09:06):
the necklace. My own impression is that she has hidden
it somewhere. She had no opportunity to dispose of it
before she was arrested. That means you think she has
stolen it? Why? Of course, Caldoo's confident tone died away
at the expression of his companion's face. Don't you, I
(09:26):
do not? Why not? For one thing, the jewel case
was locked. How did the girl know where the key
was kept. She might have got the knowledge from her mother.
Missus Rath, as the housekeeper would probably know all about
the keys of the household. Of the ordinary keys, yes,
but that knowledge was hardly likely to extend to missus
(09:48):
Haredeth's private keys unless miss Heredith told her. Even if
Hazel Rath did know where the key was kept, it
is difficult to believe that she searched for it after
committing the murder and then rec doored it to the
drawer where it was kept. That argues too much cold
blooded deliberation, even in a murderer, and more especially when
the murderer is supposed to be a young girl. I'm
(10:11):
not so sure of that, responded Caldoo with a shake
of the head. Murder is a cold blooded crime. On
the contrary, murders are almost invariably committed under the influence
of the strongest excitement, even when the incentive is gain
and the murder has been deeply premeditated. That is a
remarkable truth in the psychology of murder. But the important
(10:33):
fact about the theft of the necklace is that even
if Hazel Wrath knew where the key of the jewel
case was kept, she had not time to obtain it
from the drawer on the other side of the bed,
steal the necklace, restore the key to its place, and
escape from the room before the guests from downstairs enter
the bedroom. If Hazel Wrath was indeed the murderess, time
(10:55):
was of paramount importance to her. She must have realized
that the scream of her victim and would alarm the
household downstairs, and that some of the men must have
started upstairs before the subsequent shot was fired. Caldu was
silent for a space, cogitating over these points with a
troubled look, which contrasted with his previous confident expressions of
(11:17):
opinion about the case. His inward perturbation was made manifest
in the question do you also share mister Heredith's view
that Hazel Rath is innocent? I cannot say. The facts
against her are very strong. Of course they are strong,
exclaimed Caldew eagerly, as though clutching this guarded expression of
(11:39):
opinion as a boy for his own sinking conviction. They
are so strong that it is quite certain she committed
the murder. Colwyn remained silent. A statement which was merely
an expression of opinion did not call for words. Caldew,
always impressionable, became uneasy under his companion's sign, and that
(12:01):
uneasiness was tinctured in his mind with such a dread
of the possibility of mistake that it flowed forth in
impulsive words. I wish you would tell me what you
really think of the case, mister Colwan. I have been
waiting for years for the chance of handling a big
murder like this, and now that it has come my way,
I should like to pull it off. It means a
(12:21):
lot to me, he added simply. Colwyn reflected that he
had already given away more information about the Heredith case
than his judgment approved or his conscience dictated, but his
kindly nature prompted him to help the anxious young man
seated in front of him, who had so much more
than he to gain by success. I think there is
(12:43):
more in this case than you and Merrington have yet
brought to light. He said, I suppose there is, if
it has proved that Hazel Rath did not steal the necklace.
But have you found out anything else besides the loss
of the necklace. Colwyn did not reply directly. He was
glancing over the depositions again. There are one or two
(13:03):
curious points here, he remarked, as he turned over the leaves.
In the first place. The ammunition expert, who was called
at the inquest to give evidence about the bullet extracted
from the body, testified that in weight and in length
it corresponded with the seven millimeter bullet made for a
pinfire revolver. The bullet had undoubtedly been fired from the
(13:25):
revolver which you found in Missus Rath's rooms. Bullets for
English revolvers are not graded in millimeters, but there appears
to be sufficient demand for this size to cause British
firms to manufacture them. The nearest size to central fire
cartridge to seven millimeters is called the three hundred, which
(13:45):
is point three of an inch. Seven millimeters is point
two seven six of an inch. The point to which
I want to draw your attention is the extreme slightness
and smallness of the revolver with which Missus Haredith was killed.
As Captain Nepcote told Merrington yesterday, it is little more
than a toy that struck me as soon as I
(14:06):
saw it, said Caldo. But I do not see what
bearing the fact has on the case, one way or another. Nevertheless,
it is a point not without importance when it is
considered in conjunction with the other circumstances of the case.
The evidence of the government pathologist is also of interest.
After stating the cause of death to be heart failure
(14:28):
due to hemorrhage consequent upon the passage of the bullet
through the lung, he mentions that there was a large
scorched hole through the rest gown and undergarment which Missus
Haredith was wearing at the time she was murdered. I
noticed that when I was examining the body. Was the
dress stuff smoldering when you saw the body. No, but
(14:50):
there was the smell of a burning fabric in the room.
The government pathologist says that the burnt hole was nearly
two inches across, but he also states that the punctured
wound made by the bullet was about the size of
a threepenny piece. The disparity suggests two facts. In the
first place, the shot must have been fired at very
(15:10):
close range, very close indeed, considering the smallness of the
revolver and the largeness of the burnt hole. In the
next place, somebody must have extinguished the burning fabric before
you arrived. Otherwise it would have smoldered in an ever
widening ring until the whole of the dead woman's garments
were destroyed. Missus Meredith may have extinguished it herself in
(15:33):
her dying moments, said Caldo, who had been following his
companion's deductions with the closest attention. That is unlikely in
view of the nature of her injuries. The bullet, after
traversing the left lung, lodged in the spinal column. After
such a wound, Missus Haredith was not likely to be
conscious of her actions. It may have been extinguished by Mussard,
(15:57):
who tried to stop the flow of blood while Missus
Haredith was dying. He would have mentioned it to you,
it is my intention to ask him. But my own
opinion is that we are faced with a different explanation.
What is that the presence of another person in the room,
somebody who escaped through the window, exclaimed caldu placing his
(16:18):
own interpretation on the deduction, do you suspect anybody? Not exactly,
but I intend to investigate Captain Nepcote's actions on the
night of the murder. Caldew, who lacked some of the
information possessed by his companion, found this jump too great
for his mind to follow. For what purpose, he asked,
(16:39):
Nepcote returned to France before the murder was committed. He
did not. He stayed in London that night and did
not return to France until the following day. He explained
that yesterday by stating that when he reached London after
leaving the Moat House, he found another telegram from the
War Office extending his leave for twenty four hours. Merrington
(17:02):
said nothing of this to me. All he told me
was that you and he had seen Nepcoat, who identified
the revolver as his property and said that he had
left it behind at the moat House by accident. Merrington
is a man of fixed ideas, to use your phrase,
he insisted on, trying to fit in the loss of
the necklace with his own theory of hazel Rath's guilt.
(17:25):
It was his obstinacy which led him to commit the
folly of going to see Captain Nepcot before endeavoring to
trace the missing necklace. It is only fair to Nepcoat
to add that he volunteered the information that he did
not return to France on the night of the murder.
That does not seem like the action of a man
with anything to hide, commented Caldew thoughtfully, unless he was
(17:47):
facing a dangerous situation. In that case, frankness would be
his best course to remove Merrington's suspicions. The fact that
the murder was committed with his revolver is in itself
a suspicious circaircumstance. In spite of the apparently plausible explanation,
I have realized that all along I had also previously
(18:08):
acquainted Merrington with the fact that Nepcot did not return
to France on the night of the murder, as was supposed.
Merrington led up to that point skillfully enough. But it
struck me that Nepcote saw the trap and took the
boldest course. It gave him time, at all events, time
for what time to profit by Merrington's folly in putting
(18:30):
him on his guard, time to permit him to make
his escape if he is actually implicated in the crime,
surely you are reading too much into this, exclaimed Caldoo
in a protesting voice. Nepcote's story seems to me quite
consistent with what we know of his movements. Miss Heredith,
when giving us the names of the guests who had
(18:51):
been staying at the Moat House, mentioned that Captain Nepcot
had been recalled to France on the afternoon of the
murder by a telegram from the War Office. Nepcote tells
you that when he reached London he found another telegram
awaiting him, extending his leave. Surely that is consistent. Is
it consistent that the two telegrams were sent to different addresses?
(19:14):
They would have been either both sent to the Moat
House or both sent to his London flat. That is,
if they were sent by the War Office, only a
relative or a personal friend would take the trouble to
send to different addresses. There lies the weak point of
Nepcote's statement. By Jove, there is a point in that,
(19:34):
said Caldou in a startled tone. But these are facts
which can be ascertained. He added, as though seeking to
reassure himself. They can be ascertained too late. I have
already set inquiries on foot, but it takes some time
to gain any information about official telegrams. Nepcote has plenty
of time to take advantage of Merrington's blunder if there
(19:56):
is any occasion for him to do so. No matter
what his explaination is, the fact remains that he was
in England and not in France on the night the
murder was committed, and I propose to find out how
he spent the time. But it is of the first
importance to find out what has become of the missing necklace,
which is the really important clue. Is Scotland Yard making
(20:17):
any investigations about it? Yes, Merrington has put me on
to that because I let you score the point over
him of discovering that it was missing. I am sure
he hopes I will fall down over the job of
tracing it. I shouldn't be surprised if I did too.
It's no easy thing to get on the track of
missing jewelry, especially if it has been hidden. I have
(20:38):
not even got a description of the necklace to help me.
I can give you a description and perhaps help you
in the work of tracing it. Can you. That's awfully
good of you. Caldew's face showed that he meant his words.
Have you any idea where it is? I have at
least something to guide me in commencing the search, something
(20:59):
which curious. I owe to Merrington's blunder in visiting Napcote
before he looked for the necklace. We will go across
to Hatton Garden and I will put my idea to
the test. End of Chapter twenty
Chapter twenty of The Hand in the Dark. This LibriVox
recording is in the public domain. The Hand in the
Dark by Arthur J. Reese, Chapter twenty. Colwyn spent a
couple of hours that night reading the depositions he had
obtained from Marrington, and next morning he studied them afresh,
(00:21):
with a concentration which the incessant hum of London traffic
outside was powerless to disturb. He was well aware that
a report was a poor substitute for original impressions, but
in the typewritten document before him lay the facts of
the Heredith case, so far as they were known. It
was a clear and colorless transcription of the narrative of
(00:43):
the witnesses, set down with a painstaking regard for the
value of departmental records, and chiefly valuable to Colwyn because
it contained the expert evidence which sometimes reveals, with the
pitiless accuracy of science, what human nature endeavors to hut
in the balance of the scales of justice. It is
(01:03):
the ascertained truth which weighs heavier than faith, reason or
revealed religion. When he had finished his study of the depositions,
he sat awhile pondering over his own discoveries since he
had been called into the case by the husband of
the dead woman. These discoveries, due apparently to chance, invested
the murder with a complexity which stimulated all the penetrative
(01:27):
and analytical powers of his fine mind, because they brought
with them the realization that he was face to face
with one of those rare crimes where the solution has
to be unraveled from a tangle of false circumstances, which,
by their seeming plausibility, make the task of reaching the
truth one of peculiar difficulty. As Colwyn sat motionless, with
(01:50):
his chin resting on his hand, brooding over the sullen,
secretive surface of this dark mystery, the feeling grew upon
him that the murder had been preconceived with the utmost
cunning and caution, and that the fact so far brought
to light, including his own discoveries, did not penetrate to
the real design. The one conviction in his mind at
(02:12):
the moment was that the man he and Merrington had
interviewed on the previous afternoon had some connection with the mystery,
and that an investigation of Nepcot's actions was the first
step towards the solution of the murder. Colwin based that
belief on the apparently detached facts of the revolver, the
patch of khaki he had found in the woods near
(02:34):
the moat house, and the accident which had disclosed that
Nepcote was carrying the address of a hat and garden
jeweler in his pocket book. These things, taken apart, had
perhaps but slight significance, but considered as links in a
chain of events which started in Philip Heredith's statement that
he had first met his wife at a friend's house
where Nepcote was also a guest, and finishing with the
(02:57):
knowledge that Nepcot had not returned to Franks on the
night of the murder. They assumed a significance which at
least warranted the closest investigation. Colwin was not affected by
the fact that Superintendent Marrington looked at the case from
an entirely different point of view. He did not want
the help of Scotland Yard in solving the crime. He
(03:18):
had too much contempt for the official mind in any
capacity to think that assistance from such a source could
be of value to him. He always preferred to work
alone and unaided. It was the Anglo Saxon instinctive fair play,
which had prompted him to tell Merrington about the missing
necklace so that there might be no unfair advantage between them.
(03:39):
Merrington had received the information with the imperviable dogmatism of
the official mind, strong in the belief of its own infallibility,
resentful of advice or suggestion, as an attempt to weaken
its dignity. It seemed to Colwyn that not only had
Merrington's ruffled dignity led his judgment astray in an attempt
(04:00):
to fit the discovery of the missing necklace into his
own theory of the case, but it had caused him
to commit a grave mistake in putting Nepkoot on his
guard at a moment when the utmost circumspection of investigation
was necessary. To Colwyn, at all events, the discovery of
the missing necklace was of the utmost importance because it
(04:21):
substituted another motive for the murder, and a motive which
carried with it the additional complication that the thief had
some motive in trying to keep its disappearance secret as
long as possible by locking the jewel case after the
jewels had been abstracted if hazel Wrath had not stolen
the necklace, the whole of the facts took on new values.
(04:43):
It was quite true that the mystery of hazel Wrath's
actions on the night of the murder, her subsequent silence
after the recovery of the brooch and the handkerchief, and
the revolver in her mother's rooms remained as suspicious as before,
But the changed motive caused these point to assume a
different complexion, even to the extent of suggesting that she
(05:05):
might be a lesser participant in the crime, perhaps keeping
silence in order to shield the greater criminal. Merrington's stiff
necked in his officialism, had been unable to see this
changed aspect of the case, and strong in his presumption
of the girl's guilt, had acted with impulsive indiscretion in
going to see Nepcote before attempting to trace the missing necklace.
(05:29):
Colwyn's reflections were interrupted by the appearance of the porter
from downstairs to announce a visitor. The visitor, partly obscured
behind the burly frame of the porter in the doorway,
was Detective caldu of Scotland Yard. Colwan had met him
at various times and invited him to enter. As Colwyn
(05:49):
had once said, his feelings towards all the members of
the regular detective force were invariably friendly. It was not
their fault, but the fault of human nature, that they
were sometimes jealous of him. So he made Caldew welcome
and offered him a cigar. Caldu accepted the cigar and
the proffered seat a little nervously. His was the type
(06:11):
of temperament which is overawed in the presence of a
more successful practitioner in the same line of business. He
had long envied Colwyn his dazzling successes, but at the
same time he had sufficient intelligence to understand that many
of those successes stood in a class which he could
never hope to attain. At the present moment, Caldew's feelings
(06:33):
were divided between resentment at Colwyn's action in conveying information
to Scotland Yard, which had earned him a reprimand from
Superintendent Marrington, and the anxious desire to ascertain what the
famous private detective thought of the Heredith case. Merrington has
set me round for the copy of the depositions he
lent you yesterday. It was thus he announced the object
(06:56):
of his visit. Have you finished with it? It was
at from this statement that Superintendent Merrington's gratitude for information
received might now be considered as past history. Colwyn, reflecting
that it had lasted as long as that feeling usually does,
congratulated himself on his forethought in having made a copy
(07:17):
of the report. He handed the copy before him to
his visitor. I'm obliged for the loan of it, he said.
It makes interesting reading your own share in the original
investigations has some excellent touches, if you'll permit me to
say so. That trap for the owner of the brooch
was a neat idea. Caudeo's resentment waned under this compliment
(07:41):
to his professional skill. The trick would have worked too
if I hadn't been called downstairs, he said. The girl
was quick enough to get into the room while I
was out of it. Not that it mattered much as
things turned out. But it is a strange thing about
this necklace, isn't it? Very Has Harrington told you all
(08:01):
about it? Yes? And he gave me a rare wigging
for not discovering the loss between ourselves. I do not
think that I was treated quite fairly about it. Miss
Meredith never said a word to me about a jewel
case being in the room. She took it downstairs before
I arrived, and never mentioned it when I asked her
if anything had been stolen. If she had told me,
(08:22):
I should have had the case opened. But that didn't
weigh with Merrington. He's beastly unfair and never loses a
chance to put the blame on to somebody else when
anything goes wrong. I am sorry if you got into
trouble through my action in informing him, said Colwin. But
of course you must realize that a discovery of such
importance could not be kept secret. That's quite true, replied
(08:44):
Caldeo in a softened voice. Fortunately it does not affect
the issue one way or the other. Mister Meredith believes
that Hazel Wrath is innocent, and I suppose that is
why he has called you into the case. But she
is guilty, right enough. I tried to make that clear
to mister Meredith, but he appears to be a man
of fixed ideas. The question is what has become of
(09:06):
the necklace. My own impression is that she has hidden
it somewhere. She had no opportunity to dispose of it
before she was arrested. That means you think she has
stolen it? Why? Of course, Caldoo's confident tone died away
at the expression of his companion's face. Don't you, I
(09:26):
do not? Why not? For one thing, the jewel case
was locked. How did the girl know where the key
was kept. She might have got the knowledge from her mother.
Missus Rath, as the housekeeper would probably know all about
the keys of the household. Of the ordinary keys, yes,
but that knowledge was hardly likely to extend to missus
(09:48):
Haredeth's private keys unless miss Heredith told her. Even if
Hazel Rath did know where the key was kept, it
is difficult to believe that she searched for it after
committing the murder and then rec doored it to the
drawer where it was kept. That argues too much cold
blooded deliberation, even in a murderer, and more especially when
the murderer is supposed to be a young girl. I'm
(10:11):
not so sure of that, responded Caldoo with a shake
of the head. Murder is a cold blooded crime. On
the contrary, murders are almost invariably committed under the influence
of the strongest excitement, even when the incentive is gain
and the murder has been deeply premeditated. That is a
remarkable truth in the psychology of murder. But the important
(10:33):
fact about the theft of the necklace is that even
if Hazel Wrath knew where the key of the jewel
case was kept, she had not time to obtain it
from the drawer on the other side of the bed,
steal the necklace, restore the key to its place, and
escape from the room before the guests from downstairs enter
the bedroom. If Hazel Wrath was indeed the murderess, time
(10:55):
was of paramount importance to her. She must have realized
that the scream of her victim and would alarm the
household downstairs, and that some of the men must have
started upstairs before the subsequent shot was fired. Caldu was
silent for a space, cogitating over these points with a
troubled look, which contrasted with his previous confident expressions of
(11:17):
opinion about the case. His inward perturbation was made manifest
in the question do you also share mister Heredith's view
that Hazel Rath is innocent? I cannot say. The facts
against her are very strong. Of course they are strong,
exclaimed Caldew eagerly, as though clutching this guarded expression of
(11:39):
opinion as a boy for his own sinking conviction. They
are so strong that it is quite certain she committed
the murder. Colwyn remained silent. A statement which was merely
an expression of opinion did not call for words. Caldew,
always impressionable, became uneasy under his companion's sign, and that
(12:01):
uneasiness was tinctured in his mind with such a dread
of the possibility of mistake that it flowed forth in
impulsive words. I wish you would tell me what you
really think of the case, mister Colwan. I have been
waiting for years for the chance of handling a big
murder like this, and now that it has come my way,
I should like to pull it off. It means a
(12:21):
lot to me, he added simply. Colwyn reflected that he
had already given away more information about the Heredith case
than his judgment approved or his conscience dictated, but his
kindly nature prompted him to help the anxious young man
seated in front of him, who had so much more
than he to gain by success. I think there is
(12:43):
more in this case than you and Merrington have yet
brought to light. He said, I suppose there is, if
it has proved that Hazel Rath did not steal the necklace.
But have you found out anything else besides the loss
of the necklace. Colwyn did not reply directly. He was
glancing over the depositions again. There are one or two
(13:03):
curious points here, he remarked, as he turned over the leaves.
In the first place. The ammunition expert, who was called
at the inquest to give evidence about the bullet extracted
from the body, testified that in weight and in length
it corresponded with the seven millimeter bullet made for a
pinfire revolver. The bullet had undoubtedly been fired from the
(13:25):
revolver which you found in Missus Rath's rooms. Bullets for
English revolvers are not graded in millimeters, but there appears
to be sufficient demand for this size to cause British
firms to manufacture them. The nearest size to central fire
cartridge to seven millimeters is called the three hundred, which
(13:45):
is point three of an inch. Seven millimeters is point
two seven six of an inch. The point to which
I want to draw your attention is the extreme slightness
and smallness of the revolver with which Missus Haredith was killed.
As Captain Nepcote told Merrington yesterday, it is little more
than a toy that struck me as soon as I
(14:06):
saw it, said Caldo. But I do not see what
bearing the fact has on the case, one way or another. Nevertheless,
it is a point not without importance when it is
considered in conjunction with the other circumstances of the case.
The evidence of the government pathologist is also of interest.
After stating the cause of death to be heart failure
(14:28):
due to hemorrhage consequent upon the passage of the bullet
through the lung, he mentions that there was a large
scorched hole through the rest gown and undergarment which Missus
Haredith was wearing at the time she was murdered. I
noticed that when I was examining the body. Was the
dress stuff smoldering when you saw the body. No, but
(14:50):
there was the smell of a burning fabric in the room.
The government pathologist says that the burnt hole was nearly
two inches across, but he also states that the punctured
wound made by the bullet was about the size of
a threepenny piece. The disparity suggests two facts. In the
first place, the shot must have been fired at very
(15:10):
close range, very close indeed, considering the smallness of the
revolver and the largeness of the burnt hole. In the
next place, somebody must have extinguished the burning fabric before
you arrived. Otherwise it would have smoldered in an ever
widening ring until the whole of the dead woman's garments
were destroyed. Missus Meredith may have extinguished it herself in
(15:33):
her dying moments, said Caldo, who had been following his
companion's deductions with the closest attention. That is unlikely in
view of the nature of her injuries. The bullet, after
traversing the left lung, lodged in the spinal column. After
such a wound, Missus Haredith was not likely to be
conscious of her actions. It may have been extinguished by Mussard,
(15:57):
who tried to stop the flow of blood while Missus
Haredith was dying. He would have mentioned it to you,
it is my intention to ask him. But my own
opinion is that we are faced with a different explanation.
What is that the presence of another person in the room,
somebody who escaped through the window, exclaimed caldu placing his
(16:18):
own interpretation on the deduction, do you suspect anybody? Not exactly,
but I intend to investigate Captain Nepcote's actions on the
night of the murder. Caldew, who lacked some of the
information possessed by his companion, found this jump too great
for his mind to follow. For what purpose, he asked,
(16:39):
Nepcote returned to France before the murder was committed. He
did not. He stayed in London that night and did
not return to France until the following day. He explained
that yesterday by stating that when he reached London after
leaving the Moat House, he found another telegram from the
War Office extending his leave for twenty four hours. Merrington
(17:02):
said nothing of this to me. All he told me
was that you and he had seen Nepcoat, who identified
the revolver as his property and said that he had
left it behind at the moat House by accident. Merrington
is a man of fixed ideas, to use your phrase,
he insisted on, trying to fit in the loss of
the necklace with his own theory of hazel Rath's guilt.
(17:25):
It was his obstinacy which led him to commit the
folly of going to see Captain Nepcot before endeavoring to
trace the missing necklace. It is only fair to Nepcoat
to add that he volunteered the information that he did
not return to France on the night of the murder.
That does not seem like the action of a man
with anything to hide, commented Caldew thoughtfully, unless he was
(17:47):
facing a dangerous situation. In that case, frankness would be
his best course to remove Merrington's suspicions. The fact that
the murder was committed with his revolver is in itself
a suspicious circaircumstance. In spite of the apparently plausible explanation,
I have realized that all along I had also previously
(18:08):
acquainted Merrington with the fact that Nepcot did not return
to France on the night of the murder, as was supposed.
Merrington led up to that point skillfully enough. But it
struck me that Nepcote saw the trap and took the
boldest course. It gave him time, at all events, time
for what time to profit by Merrington's folly in putting
(18:30):
him on his guard, time to permit him to make
his escape if he is actually implicated in the crime,
surely you are reading too much into this, exclaimed Caldoo
in a protesting voice. Nepcote's story seems to me quite
consistent with what we know of his movements. Miss Heredith,
when giving us the names of the guests who had
(18:51):
been staying at the Moat House, mentioned that Captain Nepcot
had been recalled to France on the afternoon of the
murder by a telegram from the War Office. Nepcote tells
you that when he reached London he found another telegram
awaiting him, extending his leave. Surely that is consistent. Is
it consistent that the two telegrams were sent to different addresses?
(19:14):
They would have been either both sent to the Moat
House or both sent to his London flat. That is,
if they were sent by the War Office, only a
relative or a personal friend would take the trouble to
send to different addresses. There lies the weak point of
Nepcote's statement. By Jove, there is a point in that,
(19:34):
said Caldou in a startled tone. But these are facts
which can be ascertained. He added, as though seeking to
reassure himself. They can be ascertained too late. I have
already set inquiries on foot, but it takes some time
to gain any information about official telegrams. Nepcote has plenty
of time to take advantage of Merrington's blunder if there
(19:56):
is any occasion for him to do so. No matter
what his explaination is, the fact remains that he was
in England and not in France on the night the
murder was committed, and I propose to find out how
he spent the time. But it is of the first
importance to find out what has become of the missing necklace,
which is the really important clue. Is Scotland Yard making
(20:17):
any investigations about it? Yes, Merrington has put me on
to that because I let you score the point over
him of discovering that it was missing. I am sure
he hopes I will fall down over the job of
tracing it. I shouldn't be surprised if I did too.
It's no easy thing to get on the track of
missing jewelry, especially if it has been hidden. I have
(20:38):
not even got a description of the necklace to help me.
I can give you a description and perhaps help you
in the work of tracing it. Can you. That's awfully
good of you. Caldew's face showed that he meant his words.
Have you any idea where it is? I have at
least something to guide me in commencing the search, something
(20:59):
which curious. I owe to Merrington's blunder in visiting Napcote
before he looked for the necklace. We will go across
to Hatton Garden and I will put my idea to
the test. End of Chapter twenty
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