The Mystery of the Downs

by John R. Watson and Arthur J. Rees

  CHAPTER XVII

  "WE have evidence, Captain Marsland, that the statement you made toSergeant Westaway regarding your discovery of the dead body of FrankLumsden at Cliff Farm on the night of Friday, 16th October, is untrue."

  If Detective Gillett had expected the young man to display either alarmor resentment at this statement he was disappointed. Marsland made nooutward sign of astonishment at being addressed by his military titleby the detective, or at being accused of having made a false statement.With steady eyes he met the detective's searching gaze.

  In response to a request telephoned by Detective Gillett to Sir GeorgeGranville's house at Staveley, Marsland and Crewe had motored overto Ashlingsea police station. They had been met on their arrival bythe detective and Sergeant Westaway, and after a constrained welcomehad been conducted to the Sergeant's inner room. The door had beencarefully closed, and Constable Heather, who was in the outer room, hadbeen told by his superior that on no account were they to be disturbed.

  There was such a long pause after Detective Gillett had exploded hisbomb, that the obligation of opening up the situation suggested itselfto him.

  "Do you deny that?" he asked.

  "I do not." In a clear tone and without any indication ofembarrassment the young man made his reply.

  "You admit that your statement is false?"

  "I do."

  "What was your object in making a false statement to the police?"

  "I am not prepared to tell you at present."

  "Well, perhaps you know your own business best, Captain Marsland, butI warn you that you are in a very serious position. It is for you todecide whether the truth will help you or not."

  "Do you intend to make a charge against me?"

  Gillett was taken aback at this blunt question. He had arranged theinterview because he believed he was in a position to embarrass theyoung man with a veiled threat of police action, but the young man,instead of waiting for the threats, wanted to know if the police wereprepared to act. But Detective Gillett was too experienced an officerto display the weakness of his hand.

  "I intend to detain you until I have made further inquiries," he said.

  "How long will these inquiries take?" asked Crewe.

  "No one knows better than you, Mr. Crewe, that it is impossible forme to answer such a question," said the Scotland Yard man. "Onething leads to another in these cases. As Captain Marsland shows nodisposition to help us, they will take at least three or four days."

  "But perhaps I can help you," suggested Crewe.

  "Well, I don't know what evidence you have picked up in the course ofyour investigations, Mr. Crewe, but I can tell you that Westaway and Ihave some evidence that will startle you. Haven't we, Westaway?"

  "Very startling evidence, indeed," said the sergeant, in a proudofficial tone.

  "I am glad of that," said Crewe. "Perhaps the addition of the little Ihave picked up--that is the addition of whatever part of it is new toyou--will enable you to solve this puzzling crime."

  "Very likely indeed," said Gillett. "There are not many links missingin our chain of evidence."

  "I congratulate you," responded Crewe. "There are a good many missingin mine."

  Gillett broke into a laugh in which there was a distinct note ofself-satisfaction.

  "That is a very candid admission, Mr. Crewe."

  "As between you and me why shouldn't there be candour?" said Crewe."But what about my young friend Marsland? As it is a case for candourbetween you and me, we can't have him present. For my part, I shouldprefer that he was present, but of course that is impossible fromyour point of view. You cannot go into your case against him in hispresence."

  "Certainly not," said Gillett decisively. "And before I produce myevidence to you, Mr. Crewe, I must have your word of honour not to tella living soul, not to breathe a hint of it to any one, least of all toCaptain Marsland. If you give me your word of honour I'll be satisfied.That is the sort of reputation you have at Scotland Yard--if you wantto know."

  "It is very good of you to talk that way," replied Crewe. "I giveyou my word of honour not to speak to any one of what happens here,until you give me permission to do so. Marsland will wait outside incharge of Constable Heather. He will give you his word of honour not toattempt to escape."

  "Is that so?" asked Gillett of the young man.

  Marsland nodded, and was handed over to Constable Heather's care bySergeant Westaway. When the sergeant returned he closed the doorcarefully.

  "Lock it," said Gillett. "And cover up the key-hole; we don't want anyone peeping through at what we've got here."

  "I like this," said Crewe with a smile. "I feel that I am behind thescenes."

  "As regards Captain Marsland," said Gillett after a pause, "I mayas well tell you, Mr. Crewe, that I don't want to deal more harshlywith him than the situation demands--at this stage. Things may bevery different a little later--it may be outside my power to showhim any consideration. But I don't want to detain him here--I don'twant to lock him up if it can be avoided. You know what talk therewould be both here and in Staveley. I am thinking of his uncle, SirGeorge Granville. I'll tell you what I'll do. If he will give me hisword of honour that he will not attempt to escape, and if you and hisuncle will do the same, I'll let him go back to Staveley in charge ofHeather. There will be no difficulty in explaining Heather's presencethere to any friends of Sir George's. What do you think of it?"

  "Excellent!" said Crewe.

  What was most excellent about it, in the private opinion of Crewe, wasthe ingenious way in which it extricated Detective Gillett from anawkward situation. When he had arranged the interview for the purposeof frightening Marsland with a threat of detention, he had had thisplan in his mind. He had not quite sufficient evidence against Marslandto justify him in arresting that young man without some damagingadmissions on the part of the young man himself. And the plan to placehim in charge of Heather was a technical escape from the difficultiesthat surrounded Marsland's actual arrest at that stage; but, on theother hand, it would appear in the young man's eyes as though he wereunder arrest and this was likely to have an important influence ingetting some sort of confession from him.

  "Bring out those things," said Detective Gillett to Sergeant Westaway,and pointing to the cupboard against the wall.

  Westaway produced a hand-bag and placed it on the table. Gillett took abunch of keys from his trousers pocket and unlocked the bag.

  "First of all, here is the key of the house," he said, as he held outin the palm of his hand the key of a Yale lock. "As you must havenoticed, Mr. Crewe, the front door of the farmhouse closes with amodern Yale lock; the old lock is broken and the bolt is tied backwith a string. You will notice, inside the hole for the key to go ona ring, that there is a stain of blood. Next, we have a pair of heavyboots. These were worn by the man who murdered Frank Lumsden, for theycorrespond exactly with the plaster casts we took of the footprintsoutside the window."

  Westaway, who had opened the door of the cupboard, placed on the tablenear Crewe two plaster casts.

  Crewe, after returning the key he had been examining, compared theboots with the plaster casts.

  "I believe you are right," he said, after a pause.

  "Here we have the bullet that was fired. As you will remember, Mr.Crewe, it went clean through Lumsden's body, and through the window.But what you don't know is that it struck a man who was hiding in thegarden near the window. It struck him in the left arm."

  "Who was this man?" asked Crewe.

  "His name is Tom Jauncey. He is the son of an old shepherd who workedfor Lumsden's grandfather."

  "One of the servants who was left a legacy in the old man's will?" saidCrewe inquiringly.

  "That is correct," replied Gillett. "From the bullet we go to theweapon that fired it. Here it is--an ordinary Webley revolver such asis issued to army officers, Mr. Crewe."

  "Yes, I know a little about them," said Crewe, as he took it in hishands to look at it.

  "And, l
ast of all, here is a pair of glasses which we have ascertainedcame from the well-known optical firm of Baker & Co., who have branchesall over London, and were made for Captain Marsland."

  "Where did you find them?" asked Crewe.

  "In the well at the farm."

  "How did they get there?"

  "I don't think it is an unnatural assumption that they were blown offwhen the wearer was stooping over the well to drop some articles intoit. Remember that there was a big storm and a high wind on the night ofthe murder. The boots and the revolver we also found in the well. Ourtheory is that the murderer dropped these things into the well in orderto get rid of them, and that while he was doing it his glasses wereblown into the well. As you know, Marsland wears glasses--he is wearingthem now. But Sergeant Westaway will swear that he was not wearing themwhen he came to the station to report the discovery of the body. Wehave other interesting evidence in the same direction, but let that gofor the present."

  "But the boots," said Crewe. "You don't pretend that they belong toMarsland?"

  "They probably belonged to the murdered man--that is a point which wehave not yet settled."

  "And how does that fit in with your theory that the murderer broke intothe house?"

  "The murderer found these boots in the barn, the cowshed, or oneof the other outbuildings. Lumsden did not wear such heavy bootshabitually--remember that he had been a clerk, not a farmer. But hewould want a heavy pair of boots like these for walking about thefarm-yard in wet weather, and probably he kept them in one of theoutbuildings, or at any rate left them there on the last occasion hewore them. The intending murderer, prowling about the outbuildingsbefore breaking into the house, found these boots, and with the objectof hiding his traces put them on. After he had finished with them heput on his own boots and threw these down the well."

  "And your theory is that Marsland is the murderer?"

  "I don't say that our case against him is quite complete yet, but theevidence against him is very strong."

  "Can you suggest any motive?"

  "Yes, Marsland was a captain in the London Rifle Brigade; Lumsden wasa private in the same battalion. They served together in France."

  "But the motive?" asked Crewe.

  "Our information is that Lumsden and a man against whom CaptainMarsland had a personal grudge--a man whom it was his interest toget out of the way--were sent by Captain Marsland on a false missiontowards the German lines. Marsland expected that both would fallvictims to the Germans. Lumsden's companion was killed, but Lumsdenwas captured alive and subsequently escaped. What is more likely thanthat Marsland, riding across the downs, should call in at Cliff Farmwhen his horse fell lame. There, to his surprise, he found that Lumsdenwas the owner of the farm. They talked over old times, and Marslandlearned that Lumsden was aware of his secret motive in sending them onsuch a dangerous mission. Marsland took his leave, but determined toput Lumsden out of the way. He stole back and hid in the outbuildings,broke into the house, and shot the man who could expose him."

  "A very ingenious piece of work," said Crewe. "Everything dovetails in."

  "I am glad you agree with it," said Gillett.

  "But I don't," was the unexpected reply. "Lumsden was not murderedat the farm. He was shot in the open, somewhere between Staveleyand Ashlingsea, and his dead body was brought into the house in amotor-car. It could not have been Marsland who brought the dead bodythere, because he was on horseback, and his lamed horse was in thestable at the farm when we were all there next day."