CHAPTER VIII
INSPECTOR BURNS' CONCLUSIONS
I was sitting in my studio, at about half-past two that afternoon,awaiting McQuade's arrival, when a messenger boy dashed up to my doorand handed me a telegram. I examined the pink slip with some curiosity,but no great interest, when, glancing, as is my habit, at the signaturefirst, I was astounded to see that it was from Miss Temple. It was asfollows:
"Police have discovered weapon in your room wrapped in your handkerchief.
"MURIEL TEMPLE."
So strong is the consciousness of innocence that even after reading thistelegram I had no thought of what this new discovery might portend tome. It was strange, I thought, that I had forgotten the thing. But Iremembered now that, when I first found it, Sergeant McQuade was inExeter, and, when he returned, the entire evening until a late hour wastaken up with Major Temple's account of his and Ashton's adventures inChina. The next morning the coroner's inquest occupied all my thoughts,and then came Li Min's arrest and our hurried departure for London.Since then, I had had no opportunity to converse at any length with thedetective. I laid the telegram open upon the table, thinking that, ifthe Scotland Yard man did not already know of the discovery, I would beable to inform him of it on his arrival.
He came on the stroke of three, and with him was a burly, deep-chested,ruddy-faced man, with twinkling eyes and iron-gray whiskers, whom heintroduced to me as Inspector Burns, of Scotland Yard. I bade them beseated, and offered cigars, which they refused. Both seemed a trifleconstrained, I thought. The Sergeant began the conversation.
"I have brought Inspector Burns with me," he said, slowly; "he wants toask you a few questions."
I turned to the Inspector and smiled. I was quite ready to answer anyquestions that he might care to ask, and I so informed him.
"Mr. Morgan," he began, "about that cake of soap which, as the events oflast night showed, contained the missing jewel cleverly hidden withinit. Will you be so good as to tell Sergeant McQuade and myself how ithappened to be in your possession?"
"Certainly," I replied, without hesitation. "I was in my room at MajorTemple's house yesterday morning, and I heard someone moving about inthe green room in which Mr. Ashton was killed. You are no doubt awarethat the doors of the two rooms are directly opposite each other?"
"I know that," he replied, gravely.
"I saw, by looking into the mirror on my dresser, that the person in theother room was Major Temple's Chinese servant, Li Min. He seemed to meto be acting very suspiciously."
"What was he doing?" inquired the Inspector, with a look at SergeantMcQuade.
"Apparently he was searching the room for something--I could not, ofcourse, tell what. I left my room and came upon him suddenly, whereuponhe pretended to be busily engaged in setting the room to rights. I hadnoticed, immediately upon entering the room, a strong odor of perfume, aqueer, Oriental perfume that at once attracted my attention, because--"I hesitated.
"Because of what?" asked the Inspector shortly.
"Because it was the same as that upon the handkerchief which Miss Templehad left in the room upon her visit there the night before, and whichwas found there by Sergeant McQuade the next day."
"What importance did you attach to that fact?"
"I do not know--I cannot say. There seems no explanation of the matter.But, at the time of which I speak, it struck me as being peculiar--Ilooked about and found that the perfume came from a cake of soap uponthe washstand, near which I stood. It had evidently been left there byMr. Ashton, and, being so natural and usual an object, must have beenoverlooked by the police when the room was searched."
"Why did you remove it?"
"Because I wished a means of identifying the perfume. I felt then, andstill feel, that there was some intimate and unusual reason for thepresence of that perfume upon Miss Temple's handkerchief."
"Mr. Morgan, why, since you were pretending to assist Sergeant McQuadeby every means in your power to secure the missing jewel, and apprehendMr. Ashton's murderer, did you fail to disclose to him the facts thatyou have just related?" The Inspector's manner was increasinglyuncompromising. "Did you have any reason to suspect that the jewel washidden in the cake of soap?"
"None whatever. I did not mention the matter to the Sergeant because itseemed too vague and unimportant--it indicated nothing."
The Inspector frowned. "Of that you were perhaps not the best judge. Youcommitted a grave error. I dislike to imply that it might have beenanything worse." He glanced at a notebook he held in his hand. I beganto feel indignant at the tone and manner in which he was conducting hiscross-questioning.
"Is it not true, Mr. Morgan," he asked suddenly, "that Miss Temple wasviolently opposed to any marriage with Mr. Ashton, and that either hisdeath, or the abstracting of the jewel which was to have been the pricepaid by him for her hand, would have been of great benefit to her?"
"Miss Temple could have no hand in such an affair. It is preposterous!"I cried angrily.
"I do not imply that she could, or would." The Inspector wasirritatingly calm. "I merely asked you if such an event or events wouldnot have been to her benefit?"
"I suppose they would," I answered, sulkily, "if you put it that way."
"Did not Miss Temple ask you to assist her in preventing this marriage,Mr. Morgan, the night before the tragedy, and did you not promise tohelp her in every way in your power?"
"This is absurd," I cried, now thoroughly angry. "You will be accusingme of murdering Mr. Ashton next."
"So long as we have not done so, Mr. Morgan, you need not accuseyourself. We only know, so far, that the jewel for which Mr. Ashton wasmurdered has been found in your possession."
The significant way in which he uttered these words thrilled me with avague sense of alarm. There upon the table, before Sergeant McQuade, layMiss Temple's telegram. It was open, and I felt sure he had already readit. My mind seemed confused--my brain on fire. The Inspector turned toMcQuade. "Sergeant," he said, "you have the handkerchief in questionwith you, I believe?"
McQuade nodded, then drew from his pocket a leather wallet, and,extracting the folded handkerchief from its recesses, spread itcarefully upon the table. He then produced a magnifying glass from oneof his pockets and requested me to examine the surface of the bit ofcambric and lace. I did so, and observed that it was covered with minuteparticles of some green substances, some very small, others ofconsiderable size. I did not at first realize what they were.
"Do you see anything?" asked the Inspector.
"Yes," I replied. "The handkerchief is full of fine green specks, but Icannot imagine what they are."
"They are bits of soap, Mr. Morgan," said the detective, as he folded upthe handkerchief and replaced it in his wallet.
"Soap," I cried, more than ever mystified.
"Exactly!" The Inspector looked at me keenly. "Has it not occurred toyou, Mr. Morgan, that in order to place the jewel inside the cake ofsoap, it was first necessary to cut it in two, and hollow out a space inthe interior? Is it not also quite evident that anyone so hiding thejewel would perform this operation very carefully, so as to leave behindno traces, and that the bits of soap removed from the interior of thecake must have been carefully collected upon some object, thishandkerchief, for instance, and subsequently thrown away, leaving theminute particles that you see still clinging to its surface?"
"Yes," I replied, dazed. "But who?"
"That, Mr. Morgan, is just what we are trying to find out. It hardlyseems likely that Mr. Ashton would have gone to all this trouble,although it is possible, since he had reason, after his quarrel withMajor Temple, to fear an attempt to gain possession of the jewel. If hedid, how does it happen that he used Miss Temple's handkerchief for thepurpose? He may of course have found it upon the floor and so utilizedit, but it seems unlikely."
"What, then, seems more likely?" I asked, hotly. "Would the murdererhave gone to all that trouble to get the stone, and then have left i
tbehind?"
"Possibly, Mr. Morgan, to have been recovered at leisure--as you,indeed, happened to recover it. Such a jewel would not be a good thingto have in one's possession, immediately after the murder."
"But the operation of hiding the stone in the soap would have takenfifteen or twenty minutes at least," I objected, "and we burst in thedoor within less than ten minutes from the time Mr. Ashton's cry washeard."
"The alarm was given by you, Mr. Morgan. You alone heard Mr. Ashton'scry. Whether you heard it at six o'clock, or five, or four, rests uponyour word alone. We do not accuse you, remember, we are trying to arriveat the truth. We do not imply that you hid the jewel any more than weimply that Miss Temple did so herself, and left her handkerchief behindas a mute witness of the fact. We do know that somebody did so, and thefacts we have just stated, coupled with Miss Temple's refusal to explainher early expedition from the house that morning, all point to somethingwe do not yet understand. With Miss Temple and yourself workingtogether, much seems explainable that before seemed dark andmysterious. Even the closing of the window from within the green roommay be explained, upon this hypothesis, for you had ample time to closeit while Major Temple was examining Mr. Ashton's belongings in hisfrenzied search for the lost emerald. We are convinced of one thing:that the Chinaman did not commit the murder, for, had he done so, hewould have taken the stone along with him, since that was the solepurpose he had in view."
"I do not agree with you there," I said. "Mr. Ashton may have hidden thejewel himself, and then the Chinaman, after committing the murder, mayhave been unable to find it. That would account for Li Min's subsequentsearch of the room, and his confederates' actions when they began tosuspect, as Li Min no doubt did when he saw me remove the cake of soap,that the emerald was hidden within it."
"You are right in what you say, Mr. Morgan, if Mr. Ashton hid the jewelhimself. But the subsequent actions of Li Min and his confederates areequally explainable upon the theory that they had nothing to do with themurder whatever, and were merely attempting to steal the jewel at thefirst opportunity."
I made no reply. They seemed to be weaving a net of circumstantialevidence about me that, try as I would, I did not seem able to breakthrough.
"We have alluded," continued the Inspector, "to your sympathy with MissTemple, to the use of her handkerchief to hold the bits of soap, to thefact that you alone heard Mr. Ashton's cry and alarmed the house, toyour presence in the murdered man's room at a time when you couldreadily have bolted the window from within, to your strange failure tomention the matter of the cake of soap to Sergeant McQuade, and to thefact that the jewel was found in your possession. We now come to anothercurious fact, which we trust you may be able to explain satisfactorily.The weapon with which this murder was apparently committed was foundthis morning, locked in a drawer in the room you occupied at MajorTemple's house. It was wrapped in a handkerchief marked with yourinitials. Can you tell us how it came to be there?"
I turned to the Inspector with a bitter laugh. "I can tell you," Ireplied, "but, I presume, you will not believe me. I put the weapon,which was a brass-headed poker, there myself. I found it on the lawnoutside of Mr. Ashton's window, the day before yesterday."
"Why did you also conceal this important piece of evidence from SergeantMcQuade?" demanded the Inspector in a stern voice.
I felt like a fool, and looked like one, as well, I fear. "I forgot it,"I mumbled in confusion.
"You forgot it!" The Inspector believed that I was lying, and showedit. "Can you expect a sane man to believe any such folly as that?"
"Folly, or not," I replied, "it is the truth. I found the poker the daybefore yesterday, late in the afternoon. I intended to show it privatelyto Sergeant McQuade. He was in Exeter at the time and I placed it in thedrawer for safe keeping. When he returned that evening, it was just intime to listen to Major Temple's story of his experiences in China, and,when he had finished, it was close to midnight and the matter hadcompletely slipped my mind. The inquest the following morning took myentire attention and, after that, the sudden arrest of Li Min, and ourdeparture for London. You know what has occurred since. I had forgottenthe matter completely until I received this telegram from Miss Templenot half an hour before you came." I took the dispatch from the tableand handed it to the Inspector, who read it with interest.
"Why did Miss Temple send you this?" he inquired suddenly.
"I do not know--I suppose she thought it would be of interest to me."
"Did it not occur to you that it might be in the nature of a warning?"
Again I saw a chasm yawning before me. Every step in this miserableaffair seemed to make matters look blacker and more sinister as far as Iwas concerned.
"Miss Temple has no reason to suspect me of any part in the matter," Ireplied. "Do you think it at all likely that, if I had committed themurder, I could have left such damning evidence as the weapon where thepolice would have been certain to discover it, and wrapped in my ownhandkerchief, to render my detection the easier? What is your theory ofthe crime, Inspector Burns, upon the present evidence? Reconstruct theevents of that night as you think they might have occurred. I will nottake it to heart if you do me any injustice, for I am as innocent ofany complicity in Mr. Ashton's murder as you are."
The Inspector seemed impressed by my words and manner. He looked atSergeant McQuade, who nodded slightly. Then he transferred his gaze tome. "I have no objection, Mr. Morgan, to outlining a theory of themurder which seems to me to fit the facts as we know them. It may or maynot be correct, but it is my plan to work out whatever theory will mostnearly fit all the facts in my possession, and then test it from everystandpoint until it either fails, or is proven true. I shall be obligedto you if you will indicate, when I have finished, any points which seemto you not to coincide with such evidence as we now have before us.
"Miss Temple," began the Inspector, "knew that Ashton had her letter inwhich she agreed to marry him in his possession, and she also knew that,if Ashton delivered the emerald to her father in the morning, she wouldbe compelled to keep her word. She detested Ashton--the thought ofmarriage with him was unbearable to her. She retired to her room, butcould not sleep. At some hour later, possibly shortly after midnight, asshe says, she went to Mr. Ashton's room, and was admitted by him. Shebegged for the letter--he refused--a violent altercation ensued--in herrage she grasped the poker, and struck him with it. He fell, but shefound, by feeling his heart, that he was not dead. She believed that shehad only stunned him, and set to work to secure the jewel. Afterremoving it from the case, she feared to take it from the room. She hadno wish to steal it, but only to prevent Mr. Ashton from making use ofit. She hit upon the plan of hiding it in the cake of soap. In half anhour the thing was done, and the pieces, collected upon herhandkerchief, thrown out of the window. She then set about leaving theroom, but, on again feeling Mr. Ashton's heart, she found it very weak.She feared the result of her blow. To destroy the evidence of what shehad done, she threw the poker out of the window into the grass, andhurriedly left the room, forgetting the handkerchief in her agitation asshe did so. She returned to her room, but was doubtless unable to sleep,in terror at her act. Toward morning she decided to leave the house andflee, and, with this object in view, changed her clothes and shoes, butonce more went to Mr. Ashton's room, to assure herself that he no longerlived. In doing this, she awoke you, either by accident or design. Youheard her story, she threw herself upon your mercy, and you agreed tostand by her; you advised her against running away, but suggested thatshe go down and get the poker, which she had thrown from the window, inorder that it might be replaced in the room, or otherwise disposed of.This she did. You meanwhile entered the room, bolted the door on theinside, and left by the window. It is probable that you examined thebody while in the room, and, unknown to yourself, your hand becamestained with blood. On reaching the roof, you rested it upon the sillwhile closing the window with the other hand. You then re-entered thehouse by the hall window, meeting Miss Temple, who had secure
d thepoker, and taking it from her. You placed it in your room, meanwhileurging her to retire to hers and change her dress and shoes. A littlelater you aroused the house with your cries and, upon entering the room,rebolted the window while Major Temple was not observing you. You latersecured the cake of soap containing the jewel, as we know. You no doubtintended to replace the poker in the room at the first opportunity. Nonehad occurred up to the time of your leaving the house, for the room waskept locked by the police until after the inquest. You entered it once,just before your departure, and secured the jewel, but Li Min'spresence prevented you from replacing the poker."
As the Inspector concluded, he glanced at me triumphantly, as who shouldsay--dispute it, if you can.
I laughed, though with little mirth. The Inspector seemed soconvincingly right, and was so hopelessly wrong. "Why don't you simplysay that I killed Ashton, and put the weapon in my dresser, and leaveMiss Temple out of it entirely?" I said. "It's equally plausible."
"Possibly so, although that would account for neither the handkerchief,nor Miss Temple's leaving the house that morning."
"She has already accounted for the one: she can readily do so for theother," I replied.
"That we shall see," said the Inspector, rising from his chair. "We willgo to Exeter at once, and question Miss Temple."
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