“The Proverbial Murder Case”

Waikato Times, Volume 122, Issue 20426, 17 February 1938, Page 4

“The Proverbial Murder Case”

By WILLIAM SUTHERLAND

A Thrilling Mystery -Stor

CHAPTER Will.— Continued.) Urn wireless. Actually it was not a s c re a . 11 h o u g h Is 1 1 at a distance. 1! was ;i sharp, high js Rich > turn 1 n t set. It was ■ porta Me set, on- of those small. compart. instruments im larger than a small handbag. The moment Gm-ncit left the !;oijs- !!:«•:.ey slipp'd out. through the Jihrary \ylndow and ran around to the tile nl'mlh T A l e'way! t ' , ! , |e placed the 1- 'idaide wircl-ss was md leased Hie hrnke. and let the ear rol noißrdrsslv down the drive, Garnett meanwhile, was walking down the upper drive, from which he could no f the w >d Richey turned on the set. but ha vim e t w e e n ing the car and adjusting the dials hturned the volume control a bit to high, and the noise resulted which Gar nett heard. ‘ The ear reached the road, natur ally, lone before Garnett did. and i was then safe to start the engine an■ po #lnng. He came to the intersectio outside the village, and turned int the other road toward Buckfastleigt He knew that Blayre was due to pas that point at about six o’clock, for h had heard him say at lunch that h would he hack at the inn at ahou dinner-time. He stopped his car at th side of the road and settled down t wait, some distance beyond the inter section, so that Garnett would nc ! see him on his way to the village. “It was not long before ho recog i nised the bis: lights of the Bentley an heard the sound of its engine ap I pronching. The Bentley was not bar to distinguish, oven in the dark. H ' swung Ids car across the road and gc , nut on the farther s : dm The Bentle stopped, and Hr Grosley got out 1 investigate. Richey, who had slippe around behind in the slim lows, cam up and struck him. Tlmn ho discovers that ho had killed iho wrong man. 11 dragged flu* hn.lv |o I hr* kislvaen. hut ri«»d 1 v changed the proverb. and wer hark' b. h’< house." “Bui. \vl i' did Im wan! to ki Hlayro?" s liii Iho r.liinf Gonslable. * ' can'l si'o Iho nrmiccti«>n between Rlayi and tho map.” ••;:!•, l-r 1: Id Iho map. sir. as 1 din : COvcrod when I overheard Ids acriisa timi of r.arnotl ;d 11)c inn Iii;«I aflot iiimu. ’I mi son. Blayre was not entil'd unaware of wlial was going oil. II know llial IU-. Grosley mils! have give 1 li»* map In his limthri-. f..c ho, nvoi j hoard onougli of their argument o | that Tuesday morning to •umlcrsltm the situation. When the Vicar disaj peared that night he concluded the Dr. Crosley must have killed him. I was a hard blow to the boy, for h was very fond of both men, but h could think of no other explanation. H determined, however, to get possessio of the mop. With that, as a sort c trump card, he would have control c the situation, and he hoped that there by he might be able to keep Dr Cros ley from any further madness. '“Thinking the thing over that nigh after the rest had retired, he conclude that the map could not be in th Vicar's room, for Dr Crosley woul have searched that before going t the length of murder to get posses sion .of it. II must, therefore, ha\ been hidden somewhere else. Suddenl he remembered something which b i had noticed during the evening servic ; at the church the night before—i queer expression on the Vicar’s fac I as he read the lesson. The lesson ha been from Ezekiel, ami had been fu of strange language about measure ments, numbers of paces and distance the sort of thing which would sug gest the ancient formula of treasui maps. It occurred to him that if th map had been hidden at all, it mm have been hidden in, the church, pei haps in the large Bible itself. “Blayre slipped out of the inn ar went to the church. By the light of a electric torch lie searched between tl i leaves of the Bible. The map w; i there, inserted, as it happened, at 11 beginning of the Book ol' Proverb although -he paid little attention ‘ the place. He took it, and went bac to the inn. "What he failed to notice, howeve was the figure of Richey, who h? been outside the door when he went i and had watched him as he found tl map. Richey had come to leave the pr< ’ verb, and saw the whole tiling. t didn't know what it was that Blav: found, but he guessed it the next da when lie learned about the existem of the map after the general questioi ing of everybody. After Blayre left tl church Richey went in and looked ■ e first -thing which m his eye was I he beginning of the Boc of Proverbs. And it was then that 1 j got the idea which lie carried out du | ing the rest of the case. It was j mad idea, of course, but well fitted ! Richey's state of mind. It made, a so j of game out of the business, adjustiT the tinm of the murders to roincii with the lessons of the church s* 3 vice. But it was some time, before guessed it. When 1 did the rest \v easier. "Richey saw in the map the sop tiou of his difficulties. It would gi him the money which lie needed, f his income was not large, and he kne that, as soon as the excitement da down he would have to leave Englan To get. the map he would now have kill Blayre, and lie began to inn plans accordingly. The trip to Exet oh the day of the. inquest provided I j circumstances lie needed, for he kne that Blayre would not leave tho nr in his room during his absence. at it was fairly sure t>» he on his perse “lit' made a mistake, as we kno and found it necessary to alter t proverb. 1 fancy lie disliked that pa ~f it for i» dislmedi'd his little schei for typevci t < i > with t> which could m-t be found. His tvp writer wa> of an old make with int*' i • h: i: l - e a 1 • 1 e type, and it was qtli lie had Used it. It v a> .-asi.*r to Ili | than the whol- m id ne. » II wing i 1 ■ »nd : ' lei : 1.,,i: oi- 1 • III!.- d \\ h.-n Bl -> tl d ! It- c-mii-c ‘ mil Willi th- IT . . . • ’ ulrivd t . 1 '!! . I „• Ml 11 a I II! - . Jh d'd II

like what he saw at Shilstone Manor on the ;ii'ternoon which he spent there -- ihe flay hr Cr->ley was killed.] He kn< .. that something was wrong) with Biein-y. .Vow. Richey 0 n his part was no fo>d, and lie saw at once that In* had m->de a mistake in inviting Garnett l" Ins house. He knew that the man w,.s suspicious of him. For that j • .- ji 1,-' turned IPs attention to eliminating harm'll and dropped. for tlie t.'i;i>*. .his plans concerning Blayre. He worked oul tlie elaborate scheme involving tlie d m. trained iln* animal wit: 4 . (;nmelts i*>\*■. and waded for a fav- \\ h 1 • was wailing he bmp occasion l«> search) hlayr. s r• <• 11 i one day, and to his own' surpr.se found Ihe map. That, ofi course, simpli:b'd matters considerably.! All he now needed to do was to get: . Game It out of the way. ••The opportunity came, and he took) ■ it. I have already outlined to you the! > way in which the attack took place, j anil the way in which l was able to < * solve it. i'm not sure, however, that II >; pointed out the really tremendous co- - incidence which strengthened Richey's j t • plan—the fact that Miss Crosley ac-j - tually was near the tor, on her way to I 1 Shilstone, at the time he said he had) 1 seen her. Of course, lie did not see I i her; the whole story was fictitious, and; ). simply designed to get his intended' * victim out where the dug might get! 5 , at him. j - "There is not much more to tell. \ * The attack did not succeed, although j 1 it was a near thing, and a little less ; 3; promptness on the part of Detective-) > Sergeant May or a little more procras- -■ tination oil that of Gubkins might have j 1 made a different story. Richey knew > at this point that Garnett had to die, | - or lie was done for. If Garnett recover- j 1 ed sufficiently to tell bis story the) whole secret would come out. But it j 1 must be noted that even here Richey's | b insane coolness and cunning did not 1 fail. y\ "This cunning saved him from mak-I 9 ing a hurried move, although lie knew! 1 that his lime wa> short, for Garnett; n might recover consciousness at any 1 -moment. He discovered that by observer ing Ihe routine movements of the nurse lie might gel into the room for a t few moments al certain times of the <i;jv by climbing in over Ihe roof of a I shed at the rear ol the inn. Unre in I the room he might, have dispatched e ipirnelt quickly. Bid Ids caution told* i him that Ihat would be 100 dangerous, - lor he would have no alibi, ami since - Blayi-, •* w.is in ga*d there would be no other suspect. Ii he had substitut'd y poison for* Ihe mcdic*im*s <>n I lie bureau e ih,. *,a lll c dilliculiv confronted him. I n had thought of 11 o' iatier p<..-s,oiluy. Iw . - the way. ;<u<l li.ol tak"n Ihe precaution n of warning all booksellers in Ihe cl vicinity ,M report the sale of medical -j books from which lie might have got, t| information on poison, and of having tj ids mail watched at the post office. j e: ‘ The plan which he finally evolved; e! was as clever as any which he had j o ! used in the whole case. You know j n| what It was. the substitution of a; f harmless drug lor the heart stimulant: f: which wo.s l-.pe.m.'g Garnett alive, so j - that lie nearly oied through lack ofi - j medicine rather than through an active I poison. t; ' "When we discovered that in time,! i ' however, he was finally cornered. His ! e only recourse was one final, bold at- ; 3; tempt which, even if it accomplished; o its object, would lay him open to strong j suspicion. If it succeeded, however,' e ; he might have won. As il happened, 1; y was then in a position to follow Ids ! e ! reasoning and forestall the attempt. 1 ; knew as well as he that the only a ' method left was to set the inn on lire, e; hoping that Garnett either would burn d- to death or suffocate, or would die 'l : through exposure attending his removal - | from the room. He could not get at ; .! tlie man personally because of tlie - j guard, and he could not tamper again e | with his medicine or food. There was e I no time for any more elaborate plans, it Fire it had to be —and fire it was. He prepared a small tin of petrol, of the sort which is sold for cigarette liglitd ers, with a fuse, and came tj the inn n that night as usual. He made a false e excursion upstairs and locked the s dour of a vacant bedroom, in one last, o vain attempt to throw us off the scent, h It nearly succeeded at that. He left o ■ the tin in tlie coat closet in the hall, Ii having lighted the fuse, and locked the closet door. Outside he threw away t 4, the key. We were prepared for all this, d and caught him. That's the story.” i, There was silence in the room for e several moments. Then the Chief Constable spoke. e "There's only one other thing, Has■e kell, and 1 think 1 know the answer y, already. But I want you to confirm it. :e What was the cross which Eleanor i- Crosley found on the ground near the quarry?” it Inspector llaskell gazed at the smoky H ceiling and said in a curiously low k voice: "If there’s one thing which ic stands out from this whole rotten mess, sir, it's this: Francis Richey a I caused Hie death of two persons and o great suffering to many others. Yet rt m judging him we ought, in ail fairness g In give him bis due. He was not eule lire I y responsible for what he did, and > in his insane way lie was not devoid of I compassion for some <>f his fellow- : is beings, even if they happened not to be human. The cross marked the grave i- of tlie dog, and he risked ii is neck in 'e pulling it there." n 4 Ho rose suddenly and stretched, w •Tnrhinalely," lie added, "I’m not re'<l quired to judge, him. My responsibility rt. w;is only to catch him.” h> 'l’lie Chief Constable stood up and • put on his coat. "Good night. I'd like m 4 ; to see you t"-morrow in Exeter to 10 ! clo u* up the minor details." i "Good night, sir," said Haskell. He 1 P walked to the door and watched as the *d chief Constable climbed into his car ,l - and drove away, r rtlier along the v - sin "I the "Abbot's Rest" was full of T 3 lights and excited talk. He looked in bt : 1 1 .• r dii ' Ction. and saw that the "" so a fog. r-alliP'.' in from the Channel ,f * lia-l tilled the valleys of the lowlands '- with its thick ’white mist and was al-r.',-<ly risiinr around the slopes of ' c Shil>!one Tor. ,s THE END le