The Mystery of the Hasty Arrow
Page 5
V
THREE WHERE TWO SHOULD BE
It was a good half-hour before Mr. Gryce again found himself in aposition to pursue the line of investigation thus summarily interrupted.The condition of Mrs. Taylor, which had not been improved by delay,demanded attention, and it was with a sense of great relief that Mr.Gryce finally saw her put into a taxi. Her hurried examination by CoronerPrice had elicited nothing new, and of all who had noticed her distraughtair on leaving the building, there was not one, if we except thedetective, but felt convinced that if she had not been of unsound mindprevious to this accident, she certainly had become so since. He stillheld to his theory that her story, fantastic and out of character as itseemed, was true in all its essentials, and that it was the warning shebelieved herself to have received of her husband's death, rather thanwhat had taken place under her eyes, which had caused her such extremesuffering and temporarily laid her reason low.
With the full approbation of the Coroner, to whom he had explained hisidea, Mr. Gryce began the sifting process by which he hoped to discoverthe one witness he wanted.
To subject to further durance such persons as from their position at themoment of tragedy could have no information to give bearing in any wayupon their investigation was manifestly unfair. The old woman who hadbeen found in Room A was of this class, and accordingly was allowed togo, together with such others as had been within twenty feet or more ofthe main entrance. These eliminated (it was curious to see how loaththese few chosen ones were to depart, now that the opportunity was giventhem), Mr. Gryce settled down to business by asking Mrs. Lynch to comeforward.
She, as you will see by consulting the chart, answered to the personmarked "2." A little, dried-up, eager woman rose from the bench on whichwere collected the few people still remaining, and met his inquiring lookwith a nervous smile. She, of all the persons moving about on the mainfloor at the moment of alarm, had been in the best position for seeingthe flight of the arrow and the fall of the victim in Section II. Had sheseen them? The continued jigging of the small, wiry curls hanging outfrom either side of her old-fashioned bonnet would seem to betray aninner perturbation indicative of some hitherto suppressed information. Atall events Mr. Gryce allowed himself this hope and was most bland andencouraging in his manner as he showed her the place which had beenassigned her on the chart drawn up by Sweetwater, and asked if theposition given her was correct.
Perhaps a ready reply was too much to expect--women of her stamp notknowing, as a rule, very much about charts. But when he saw her hastento the very spot assigned her by Sweetwater, he took heart and with asuggestive glance at the gallery intimated that he would be very glad tohear what she had seen there. Her surprise was evident, much too evidentfor his satisfaction. The little curls jigged about more than ever, andher cheeks grew quite pink as she answered hastily:
"I didn't see anything. I wasn't looking. Did you think I saw anything?"
"I hoped you had," he smiled. "If your eyes had chanced to be turnedtoward that end of the gallery----"
"But I was going the other way. My back was to it, not my face--likethis." And wheeling herself about, she showed him that she had beenwalking toward the rear of the building rather than advancing toward thefront.
His disappointment was great; but it would have been greater if he hadnot realized that under these conditions she was in the precise positionto meet face to face any person emerging into the court from the foot ofthe small staircase. If she could tell him of having seen any suchperson, and closely enough to be able to give a description of thisperson's appearance, then she might prove to be his prime witness, afterall. But she could not satisfy him on this point. She had been on her wayout, and was too busy searching in her bag for her umbrella check tonotice whether there were people about her or not. She had not found itwhen the great shout came.
"And then?"
Oh, then she was so frightened and so shocked that everything swam beforeher eyes and she nearly fell! Her heart was not a strong one andsometimes missed a beat or two, and she thought it must have done sothen, for when her head steadied again, she found herself clinging to thebalustrade of the great staircase.
"Then you have nothing whatever to add to what the others have told?"
Her "no," if a shaky one, was decisive, and seeing no reason fordetaining her further, he gave her permission to depart.
Disturbed in his calculations, but not disheartened, Mr. Gryce nextproceeded to interrogate the door-man at this end of the building. Fromhis position, facing as he did the approach from the small staircase, heshould be able to say, if the old lady could not, whether anyone hadcrossed the open strip of court toward which she had been advancing. ButMr. Gryce found him no more clear-headed on this point than she. He wasthe oldest man connected with the museum, and had been very much shakenup by what had occurred. Really, he could not say whether anyone hadpassed across his line of vision at that time or not. All he could besure of was that no attempt had been made by anyone to reach the doorafter he had been bidden to close it.
So this clue ended like the rest in no thoroughfare. Would he have anybetter luck with the subject of his next inquiry? The young ladytabulated as No. 13 was where she could have seen the upper edge of thetapestry shake if she had been looking that way; but she was not. Shealso was going from instead of toward the point of interest--in otherwords, entering and not leaving the room on whose threshold she stood.
Only two men were left from whom he could hope to obtain the importanttestimony he was so anxiously seeking: Nos. 10 and 11. He had turned backtoward the bench where they should be awaiting his attention and wasdebating whether he would gain more by attacking them singly or together,when he suddenly became aware of a fact which drove all these smallconsiderations out of his mind.
According to every calculation and according to the chart, there shouldbe only these two men on that bench. But he saw _three_. Who was thisthird man, and where had he come from?