In White Raiment

by William Le Queux

myself.

  Where was Beryl? I called her Beryl, for that was the name by which Ihad first known her, and it appeared to me that her cousin had falselyintroduced her to me as Feo. Had they both returned to London, or werethey still at the Park?

  At a point beyond Kneller Hall, just then within sight of TwickenhamTown, I turned back, and, passing along the boundary of the park toHounslow railway station, made inquiries of a friendly ticket collector,from whom I learnt that the two ladies had left, with several of theother guests for Waterloo half an hour before.

  This information decided me. I went on into the town, and, entering thepolice-station, sought an interview with the inspector. It fortunatelyhappened that Mr Rowling, the sub-divisional inspector from Brentford,a tall, rosy-faced, smart-looking man, was there, and he being the chiefof that sub-district of the T Division, I gave him my card and placedmyself at his disposal.

  He had ridden over from Brentford in response to a telegram, and lookeda veritable giant in his long police riding-boots and spurs. When Itold him that I was a medical man who took a great interest in thedetection of crime, and therefore wished to assist in the inquiriesregarding the Colonel's death, he looked at me curiously with his merryblue eyes, and again glanced at my card.

  "Well, Doctor," he said, "I've sent to Scotland Yard as well as to mysuperintendent at Hammersmith, and we are expecting three or four menfrom the Criminal Investigation Department to take up the case. Theyleft by the 09:05 from Waterloo, and will arrive here in a few minutes,I hope."

  "But cannot you give me permission to assist them?"

  "That, I fear, is beyond my power. The inquiries are, you see, leftentirely to them."

  "But you are chief of this division of police. Surely you can give mepermission?"

  Before replying he made further inquiries as to who I was and where Ilived.

  While we were talking three men in plain clothes entered the office andsaluted. Then, after briefly explaining the discovery to them, Rowlingintroduced me as an assistant.

  The elder of the three, a thin-faced, dark-haired man, who was aninspector--Bullen by name--while his companions were sergeants, seemedgreatly surprised at my application.

  "It's quite irregular, you know," he said briefly.

  "But I think, under the circumstances," said Rowling, "that the Doctormight be of some service. He has had previous experience in murdercases, and has just applied to me. Of course I referred him to you, asyou are to direct the inquiry."

  "The difficulty is that any little indiscretion on his part might upsetour plans," responded the detective.

  "I will give you my word of honour to preserve secrecy in everything,and likewise to obey your orders as though I were a subordinate," I saideagerly.

  "Very well," he replied at last, but not without some reluctance. "Ofcourse, you are not attached to the inquiry officially, but I will giveyou permission to act with us."

  I thanked him, declaring my intention to use every discretion; and thenRowling gave them a brief description of the character of the man whohad discovered the body, and handed them a written report made by thepolice surgeon, Doctor Douglas, who had been called to examine the body.

  "There are no suspicions against any one?" inquired Bullen, after he hadread the medical statement aloud to his two companions.

  "None," answered Rowling. "The boundary of the Park is patrolled, butthe man on duty last night declares that he saw nobody of whom he couldentertain, any suspicion."

  Then, going to the wall, he pointed out on the ordnance map the positionof the park and mansion. This having been examined carefully by allthree, Rowling gave them a brief description of the murdered man, hiswife and his son, very similar to that given by my gossiping friend ofthe _Red Lion_.

  "There were a lot of visitors at the Park, you say," Bullen observed."Are they still there?"

  "No. Most of them have returned to London, I believe," I responded.

  "Ah!" said the detective, in a tone of disappointment; "it would haveassisted us greatly if we could have seen what kind of persons theywere. But we'd better go down to the house and have a look round."

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN.

  A THEORY.

  Half an hour later I stood beside the body of Colonel Chetwode, making athorough and complete examination.

  It was still clothed, just as it had been found, for the local policehad given orders that it should not be touched before the arrival of thedetectives from headquarters.

  The body was that of a tall, thin man, with aquiline, refined features,about sixty or so, with iron-grey hair and moustache, and a brow linedby care and anxiety. His evening clothes, wet and muddy, in the broadlight of day gave the corpse a disreputable, neglected appearance, whichwas rendered even more striking by his dishevelled hair and moustachematted with dried mud.

  Bullen was alone with me, his companions being at the spot where thebody was found, and as I proceeded to draw up the blind and examine thewound in the dead man's scalp, the detective stood by in silencewatching my examination.

  The wound near the base of the skull was, I found to my surprise, quitea superficial one. By its appearance I saw that the police doctor hadprobed it and quickly found that the injury was not of such a nature asto have caused death.

  "Well?" Bullen asked anxiously. "What do you make out of it. Doctor?"

  "At present, I can only say that death was not caused by that wound," Iresponded.

  "Then how, in your opinion, was the crime committed? What, in youropinion, was the weapon used?" he asked.

  "At present I am unable to say," I responded. "The natural conclusionis that it was caused by a blow from a life-preserver, yet a round knobcould never have inflicted such a wound. I incline to the opinion thatthe wound might have been caused by a fall from the bridge upon therough stones below."

  By the aid of my probe I satisfied myself that the bone was notfractured, as it would have been by a deliberate blow dealt from behind.The nature of the wound, indeed, was very much as if it had been causedby the unfortunate man's head coming into contact with some sharp stone.

  Then, after very careful investigation, lasting over half an hour,during which I took a number of accurate measurements which might beused later in the identification of the weapon, I came to the rathervague conclusion that the crime had been committed not by a blow, but byhurling the victim from the little bridge below which he had been found.

  "Do you believe that death was instantaneous?"

  "I am not certain," I responded. "There is no injury to the spinalcolumn which could have caused death. He was, without doubt, pinionedfrom behind, at the moment he had crossed the foot-bridge, and thrownbackward, rolling down the bank into the lake."

  "His shirt-stud has gone," remarked the detective. "That looks likerobbery."

  "I don't think so," I answered.

  "Why not?"

  "Well, do you notice a long green mark there?" I said, pointing to thelimp shirt-front. "You see that it runs straight across the stud-hole.By that mark I feel assured there was no robbery."

  "I see the mark," Bullen answered, "but at the same time, I don't quitesee your argument."

  "That mark was made by a damp branch or bramble. When he fell hetumbled backward into the bushes, and, crashing through them, rolledinto the water. One of the branches caught his shirt-stud and broke itout. If you have a strict search made you will find it somewhere nearwhere he fell. His watch and chain and ring are still upon him, youwill notice."

  "I quite understand your theory," he responded. "I will order activesearch to be made, for it is an important point whether the murder wasdone by thieves whom he discovered upon his property. It might havebeen that burglars were lurking there, and, being disturbed by him, theykilled him in order to prevent an alarm being raised."

  "I scarcely think that," I argued. "If they were burglars they wouldnot have attacked him from behind without any ulterior motive. Theywould have remained in hiding."


  "But how do you account for him wandering about the park at that hour?"asked the detective.

  "That point can only be cleared up by his widow," I exclaimed. "I thinkwe should see Mrs Chetwode without delay."

  With this suggestion he agreed, and having rearranged the body, I leftit to the police surgeon to make his post-mortem.

  Out in the corridor we met the butler, by whom Bullen sent his card tothe widow with the request that she would grant us an interview.

  Ten minutes later we were received in the morning-room by a pale,fair-haired, rather fragile woman, the redness of whose eyes toldplainly that she had been crying, but whose improvised mourning becameher well. She was perhaps thirty, certainly not more, rather