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21 - Unnatural Death by Dorothy L. Sayers · Unnatural Death

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Speaker 1: Chapter twenty one of Unnatural Death by Dorothy Sayers. This
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Speaker 1: LibriVox recording is in the public domain. By what means
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Speaker 1: death hath so many doors to let out life? Beaumont
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Speaker 1: and Fletcher custom of the country. The doctor turned out
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Speaker 1: to be a plumpish, fussy man and what Whimsy impatiently
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Speaker 1: called a tutster. He tutted over the mangled head of
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Speaker 1: poor Vera Findlater, as though it was an attack of
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Speaker 1: measles after a party, or a self provoked fit of
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Speaker 1: gout a terrible blow. How did we come by that?
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Speaker 1: I wonder life extinct? Oh, for several days, you know,
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Speaker 1: which makes it so much more painful? Of course, dear me,
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Speaker 1: how shocking for her poor parents and her sisters. They
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Speaker 1: are very agreeable girls, you know them, of course, Sir Charles, Yes,
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Speaker 1: there is no doubt. I suppose, said Parker that it
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Speaker 1: is miss Findlater, none whatever, said Sir Charles. Well, as
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Speaker 1: you can identify her, it may be possible to spare
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Speaker 1: the relatives the shock of seeing her like this Just
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Speaker 1: a moment, doctor, the photographer wants to record the position
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Speaker 1: of the body before you move anything. Now, mister Andrews, Yes,
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Speaker 1: have you ever done any photographs of this kind before. No, well,
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Speaker 1: you mustn't be upset by it. I know it's rather unpleasant.
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Speaker 1: One from here. Please to show the position of the
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Speaker 1: body now from the top of the bank. That's right now,
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Speaker 1: one of the wound itself, a close up for you, please, yes,
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Speaker 1: thank you. Now, doctor you can turn her over please.
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Speaker 1: I'm sorry, mister Andrews. I know exactly how you're feeling,
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Speaker 1: but these things have to be done. Hello. Look how
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Speaker 1: her arms are all scratched about. Looks as if she'd
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Speaker 1: put up a bit of a fight, the right wrist,
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Speaker 1: left elbow, as though somebody had been trying to hold
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Speaker 1: her down. We must have a photograph of the marks,
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Speaker 1: mister Andrews. They may be important, I say, doctor, what
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Speaker 1: do you make of this on the face? The doctor
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Speaker 1: looked as though he would have preferred not to make
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Speaker 1: so much as an examination of the face. However, with
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Speaker 1: his many tuts, he worked himself up to giving an opinion.
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Speaker 1: As far as one can tell, with all these post
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Speaker 1: wortem changes, he ventured it looks as though the face
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Speaker 1: had been roughened or burnt about the nose and lips.
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Speaker 1: Yet there is no appearance of the kind on the
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Speaker 1: bridge of the nose, neck or forehead. Otherwise I should
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Speaker 1: have put it down to severe sunburn. How about chloroform burns,
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Speaker 1: suggested Parker. I wish you, gentlemen of the police force,
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Speaker 1: would not be quite so abrupt. You want everything decided
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Speaker 1: in too great a hurry. I was about to remark,
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Speaker 1: if you had not anticipated me that since I could
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Speaker 1: not put the appearance down to sunburn, there remain some
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Speaker 1: such possibility as you suggest. I can't possibly say that
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Speaker 1: it is the result of chloroform. Medical pronouncements of that
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Speaker 1: kind cannot be hastily made without cautious investigation. But I
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Speaker 1: was about to remark that it might be in that case,
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Speaker 1: put in Whimsy. Could she have died from the effects
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Speaker 1: of chloroform? Supposing she was given too much or that
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Speaker 1: her heart was weak? My good sir, said the doctor,
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Speaker 1: deeply offended this time. Look at that blow upon her head,
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Speaker 1: and ask yourself whether it is necessary to suggest any
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Speaker 1: other cause of death. Moreover, if she had died of
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Speaker 1: the chloroform, where would be the necessity for the blow?
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Speaker 1: That is exactly what I was wondering, said Whimsy. I
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Speaker 1: suppose went on the doctor, you will hardly dispute my
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Speaker 1: medical knowledge. Certainly not said Whimsy. But as you say,
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Speaker 1: it is unwise to make any medical pronouncement without cautious investigation,
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Speaker 1: and this is not the place for it, put in
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Speaker 1: Parker hastily. I think we have done all there is
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Speaker 1: to do here. Will you go with the body to
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Speaker 1: the mortuary doctor, mister Andrews, I shall be obliged if
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Speaker 1: you will come and take a few photographs of some
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Speaker 1: footmarks and so on up in the wood. The light
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Speaker 1: is bad, I'm afraid, but we must do our best.
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Speaker 1: He took Whimsy by the arm. The man is a fool,
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Speaker 1: of course, he said, But we can get a second opinion.
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Speaker 1: In the meantime, we had better let it be supposed
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Speaker 1: that we accept the surface explanation of all this. What
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Speaker 1: is the difficulty, asked Sir Charles curiously. Oh, nothing much,
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Speaker 1: replied Parker. All the appearances are in favor of the girls,
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Speaker 1: having been attacked by a couple of ruffians who have
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Speaker 1: carried miss Whittaker off with a view to ransom, after
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Speaker 1: brutally knocking Miss Findlater on the head when she offered resistance.
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Speaker 1: Probably that is the true explanation. Any minor discrepancies will
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Speaker 1: doubtless clear themselves up in time. We shall know better
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Speaker 1: when we have a proper medical examination. They returned to
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Speaker 1: the wood where the photographs were taken and careful measurements
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Speaker 1: made of the footprints. The Chief Constable followed these activities
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Speaker 1: with intense interest, looking over Parker's shoulder as he entered
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Speaker 1: the particulars in his note book, I say, he said, Suddenly,
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Speaker 1: isn't it rather odd? Here's somebody coming broke in Parker.
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Speaker 1: The sound of a motorcycle being urged in second year
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Speaker 1: over the rough ground proved to be the herald of
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Speaker 1: a young man armed with a camera. Oh god, groaned Parker.
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Speaker 1: The damned press already he received, the journalists courteously enough,
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Speaker 1: showing him wheel tracks and the footprints, and outlining the
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Speaker 1: kidnapping theory as they walked back to the place where
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Speaker 1: the body was found. Can you give us any idea
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Speaker 1: inspector of the appearance of the two wanted men, well,
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Speaker 1: said Parker. One of them appears to be something of
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Speaker 1: a dandy. He wears a loathsome mauve cap and narrow
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Speaker 1: pointed shoes. And if those marks on the magazine cover
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Speaker 1: mean anything, one or other of the men may possibly
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Speaker 1: be a colored man of some kind. Of the second man,
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Speaker 1: all we can definitely say is that he wears number
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Speaker 1: ten shoes with rubber heels. I was going to say,
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Speaker 1: said Pillington, that proposed, but it is rather remarkable. And
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Speaker 1: this is where we found the body of miss Finn. Later,
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Speaker 1: went on Parker ruthlessly. He described the injuries and the
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Speaker 1: position of the body, and the journalist gratefully occupied himself
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Speaker 1: with taking photographs, including a group of whimsy Parker and
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Speaker 1: the Chief Constable standing among the gorse bushes, while the
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Speaker 1: latter majestically indicated the fatal spot with his walking stick.
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Speaker 1: And now you've got what you want, old son, said Parker, benevolently.
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Speaker 1: Buzz off, won't you and tell the rest of the boys.
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Speaker 1: You've got all we can tell you, and we've got
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Speaker 1: other things to do beyond granting special interviews. The reporter
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Speaker 1: asked no better. This was tantamount to making his information exclusive,
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Speaker 1: and no Victorian matron could have a more delicate appreciation
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Speaker 1: of the virtues of exclusiveness than a modern newspaper man. Well, now,
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Speaker 1: sir Charles, said Parker, when the man had happily chugged
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Speaker 1: and popped himself away. What were you about to say
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Speaker 1: in the matter of the footprints? But Sir Charles was
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Speaker 1: offended the Scotland yard man had snubbed him and thrown
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Speaker 1: out on his discretion nothing. He replied, I feel sure
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Speaker 1: that my conclusions would appear very elementary to you, and
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Speaker 1: he preserved a dignified silence throughout the return journey. The
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Speaker 1: Whittaker case had begun almost imperceptibly in the overhearing of
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Speaker 1: a casual remark dropped in a Soho restaurant. It ended
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Speaker 1: amid a roar of publicity that shook England from end
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Speaker 1: to end and crowded even Wimbledon into second place. The
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Speaker 1: bare facts of the murder and kidnapping appeared exclusively that
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Speaker 1: night in a late edition of the Evening News. Next morning,
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Speaker 1: it sprawled over the Sunday papers with photographs and full details,
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Speaker 1: actual and imaginary. The idea of two English girls, the
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Speaker 1: one brutally killed the other carried off for some unthinkably
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Speaker 1: sinister and by a black man, aroused all the passion
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Speaker 1: of horror and indignation of which the English temperament is capable.
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Speaker 1: Reporters swarmed down upon Crow's Beach like locusts. The downs
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Speaker 1: near Shelley Head were like a fair, with motors, bicycles
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Speaker 1: and parties on foot rushing out to spend a happy
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Speaker 1: weekend amid surroundings of mystery and bloodshed. Parker, who with
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Speaker 1: Whimsy had taken rooms at the Gray Lion, sat answering
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Speaker 1: the telephone and receiving the letters and wires which descended
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Speaker 1: upon him from all sides, with a stalwart policeman posted
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Speaker 1: at the end of the passage to keep out all
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Speaker 1: in times, Whimsy fidgeted about the room, smoking cigarette after
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Speaker 1: cigarette in his excitement. This time we've got them, he said.
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Speaker 1: They've overreached themselves. Thank God. Yes, but have a little patience,
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Speaker 1: old man. We can't lose them, but we must have
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Speaker 1: all the facts first. You are sure those fellows have
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Speaker 1: got missus forrest safe. Oh? Yes, she came back to
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Speaker 1: the flat on Monday night, or so, the garage man says.
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Speaker 1: Our men are shadowing her continually and will let us
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Speaker 1: know the moment anybody comes to the flat Monday night. Yes,
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Speaker 1: but that's no proof in itself. Monday night is quite
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Speaker 1: a usual time for week enders to return to town. Besides,
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Speaker 1: I don't want to frighten her till we know whether
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Speaker 1: she's the principal or merely the accoupl Look here, Peter,
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Speaker 1: I've had a message from another of our men. He's
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Speaker 1: been looking into the finances of Miss Whittaker and missus Forrest.
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Speaker 1: Miss Whittaker has been drawing out big sums ever since
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Speaker 1: last December year in checks to self, and these correspond
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Speaker 1: almost exactly amount for amount, with sums which missus Forrest
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Speaker 1: has been paying into her own account. The woman has
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Speaker 1: had a big hold over Miss Whittaker ever since Miss
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Speaker 1: Dawson died. She's in it up to her neck. Peter,
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Speaker 1: I knew it. She's been doing the jobs while the
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Speaker 1: Whittaker woman held down her alibi in Kent. For God's sake, Charles,
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Speaker 1: make no mistake, nobody's life is safe for a second
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Speaker 1: while either of them is at large. When a woman
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Speaker 1: is wicked and unscrupulous, said Parker sententiously, she is the
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Speaker 1: most ruthless criminal in the world, fifty times worse than
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Speaker 1: a man because she is always so much more single
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Speaker 1: minded about it. They are not troubled with sentimentality. That's why,
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Speaker 1: said Whimsy. And we poor mutts of men stuff ourselves
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Speaker 1: up with the idea that they are romantic and emotional.
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Speaker 1: All punk, my son, Damn that phone, Parker snatched up
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Speaker 1: the receiver. Yes, yes, speaking, good God, you don't say so,
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Speaker 1: all right, yes, yes, of course you must detain him.
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Speaker 1: I think myself it's a plant. But he must be
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Speaker 1: held and questioned. And see that all the papers have it.
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Speaker 1: Tell him you are sure he's the man's ee. Soak
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Speaker 1: it well into him. That that's the official view. And
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Speaker 1: wait a moment. I want photographs of the check and
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Speaker 1: of any finger prints on it. Send em down immediately
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Speaker 1: by special messenger. It's genuine. I suppose the bank people
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Speaker 1: say it is good. What's his story? Oh? Any envelope destroyed?
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Speaker 1: Silly devil? Right right, good bye? He turned to whimsy
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Speaker 1: with some excitement. Hallelujah. Dawson walked into Lloyd's Bank in
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Speaker 1: Stepney yesterday morning and presented Mary Whittaker's check for ten
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Speaker 1: thousand pounds drawn on their lee Hampton branch, two bearer
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Speaker 1: and dated Friday the twenty fourth. As the sum was
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Speaker 1: such a large one and the story of the disappearance
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Speaker 1: was in Friday night's paper, they asked him to call again. Meanwhile,
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Speaker 1: they communicated with Lee Hampton. When the news of the
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Speaker 1: murder came out yesterday evening, the Lee Hampton manager remembered
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Speaker 1: about it and phoned the yard with the result that
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Speaker 1: they sent round this morning and had Hallelujah up for
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Speaker 1: a few inquiries. His story is that the check arrived
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Speaker 1: on Saturday morning, all by itself, in an envelope, without
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Speaker 1: a word of explanation. Of course, the old Juggins chucked
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Speaker 1: the envelope away so that we can't verify his tail
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Speaker 1: or get a line on the postmark. Our people thought
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Speaker 1: the whole thing looked a bit fishy. So Hallelujah is
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Speaker 1: detained pending investigation. In other words, arrested for murder and conspiracy.
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Speaker 1: Poor old Hallelujah Charles. This is simply devilish, that innocent, decent,
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Speaker 1: old creature who couldn't harm a fly. I know well
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Speaker 1: he's in for it, and we'll have to go through
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Speaker 1: with it. It's all the better for us. Hell's bells. There's
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Speaker 1: somebody at the door. Come in. It's doctor Faulkner to
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Speaker 1: see you, sir, said the constable, putting his head in.
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Speaker 1: Oh good, come in, doctor have you made your examination,
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Speaker 1: I have, inspector very interesting. You were quite right, I'll
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Speaker 1: tell you that much straightway. I'm glad to hear that.
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Speaker 1: Sit down and tell us all about it. I'll be
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Speaker 1: as brief as possible, said the doctor. He was a
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Speaker 1: London man, sent down by Scotland Yard and accustomed to
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Speaker 1: police work, A lean, gray badger of a man, business
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Speaker 1: like keen eyed, the direct opposite of the tutster who
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Speaker 1: had annoyed Parker the evening before. Well, first of all,
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Speaker 1: the blow on the head had, of course nothing whatever
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Speaker 1: to do with the death. You saw that yourself. There
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Speaker 1: was next to no bleeding. The wound was inflicted some
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Speaker 1: time after death, no doubt, to create the impression of
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Speaker 1: an attack by a gang. Similarly, with the cuts and
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Speaker 1: scratches on the arms, they are the merest camouflage. Exactly
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Speaker 1: your colleague, My colleague, as you call him, is a fool,
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Speaker 1: snorted the doctor. If that's a specimen of his diagnosis,
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Speaker 1: I should think there would be a high death rate
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Speaker 1: in Crow's Beach. That's, by the way, you want their
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Speaker 1: cause of death chloroform. Possibly. I opened the body, but
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Speaker 1: found no special symptoms suggestive of poisoning or anything. I
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Speaker 1: have removed the necessary organs and sent them to Sir
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Speaker 1: James Lubbock for analysis at your suggestion, but candidly I
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Speaker 1: expect nothing from that. There was no odor of chloroform
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Speaker 1: on opening the thorax, either the time elapsed since death
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Speaker 1: was too long, as is very possible seeing how volatile
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Speaker 1: the stuff is, or the dose was too I found
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Speaker 1: no indications of any heart weakness, so that to produce
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Speaker 1: death in a healthy young girl, chloroform would have had
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Speaker 1: to be administered over a considerable time. Do you think
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Speaker 1: it was administered at all? Yes? I think it was.
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Speaker 1: The burns on the face certainly suggest it. That would
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Speaker 1: also account for the handkerchief found in the car, said Whimsy.
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Speaker 1: I suppose pursued Parker that it would require considerable strength
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Speaker 1: and determination to administer chloroform to a strong young woman.
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Speaker 1: She would probably resist strenuously, she would, said the doctor grimly.
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Speaker 1: But the odd thing is she didn't. As I said before,
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Speaker 1: all the marks of violence were inflicted post mortem. Suppose
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Speaker 1: she had been asleep at the time, suggested Whimsy. Couldn't
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Speaker 1: it had been done quietly? Then? Oh, yes, easily, after
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Speaker 1: a few long breaths of the stuff, she would become
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Speaker 1: semi conscious and then could be more firmly dealt with.
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Speaker 1: It is quite possible. I suppose that she fell asleep
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Speaker 1: in the sunshine while her companion wandered off and was kidnapped,
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Speaker 1: and that the kidnappers then came along and got rid
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Speaker 1: of Miss finnlater. That seems a little unnecessary, said Parker.
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Speaker 1: Why come back to her at all? Do you suggest
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Speaker 1: that they both fell asleep and were both set on
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Speaker 1: and chloroformed at the same time. It sounds rather unlikely.
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Speaker 1: Parker outlined the history of their suspicions about Mary Whittaker,
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Speaker 1: to which the doctor listened in horrified amazement. What happened,
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Speaker 1: said Parker, as we think is this. We think that
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Speaker 1: for some reason Miss Whittaker had determined and to get
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Speaker 1: rid of this poor girl who was so devoted to her.
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Speaker 1: She arranged that they should go off for a picnic,
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Speaker 1: and that it should be known where they were going to.
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Speaker 1: Then when vera findlater was dozing in the sunshine. Our
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Speaker 1: theory is that she murdered her, either with chloroform, or,
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Speaker 1: more likely, I fancy, by the same method that she
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Speaker 1: used upon her other victims. Whatever that was. Then she
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Speaker 1: struck her on the head and produced the other appearances
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Speaker 1: suggestive of a struggle, and left on the bushes a
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Speaker 1: cap which she had previously purchased and stained with briantine.
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Speaker 1: I am, of course having the cap traced. Miss Whittaker
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Speaker 1: is a tall, powerful woman. I don't think it would
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Speaker 1: be beyond her strength to inflict that blow on an
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Speaker 1: unresisting body. But how about those footmarks in the wood?
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Speaker 1: I'm coming to that there are one or two very
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Speaker 1: very odd things about them. To begin with, If this
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Speaker 1: was the work of a secret gang, why should they
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Speaker 1: go out of their way to pick out the one damp,
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Speaker 1: muddy spot in twenty miles of country to leave their
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Speaker 1: footprints in, when almost anywhere else they could have come
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Speaker 1: and gone without leaving any recognizable traces at all. Good point,
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Speaker 1: said the doctor, And I add to that that they
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Speaker 1: must have noticed they'd left a cat behind. Why not
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Speaker 1: come back and remove it exactly? Then again, both pairs
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Speaker 1: of shoes left prints entirely free from the marks left
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Speaker 1: by wear and tear. I mean that there were no
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Speaker 1: signs of the heels or soles being worn at all,
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Speaker 1: while the rubbers on the larger pair were obviously just
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Speaker 1: out of the shop. We shall have the photographs here
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Speaker 1: in a moment, and you will see. Of course, it's
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Speaker 1: not possible that both men should be wearing brand new shoes,
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Speaker 1: but on the whole it's unlikely, it is agreed the doctor.
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Speaker 1: And now we come to the most suggestive thing of all.
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Speaker 1: One of these supposed men had very much bigger feet
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Speaker 1: than the other, from which you would expect a taller
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Speaker 1: and possibly heavier man with a longer stride. But on
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Speaker 1: measuring the footprints, what do we find? In all three cases,
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Speaker 1: the big man, the little man, and the woman, we
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Speaker 1: have exactly the same length of stride. Not only that,
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Speaker 1: but the footprints have sunk into the ground too, precisely
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Speaker 1: the same depth, indicating that all three people were of
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Speaker 1: the same weight. Now, the other discrepancies might pass, but
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Speaker 1: that is absolutely beyond the reach of coincidence. Doctor Faulkner
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Speaker 1: considered this for a moment. You've proved your point, he
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Speaker 1: said at length. I consider that absolutely convincing. It struck
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Speaker 1: even Sir Charles Pillington, who is none too bright, said Parker.
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Speaker 1: I had the greatest difficulty in preventing him from blurting
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Speaker 1: out the extraordinary agreement of the measurements to that evening
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Speaker 1: views Man. You think then, that miss Whittaker had come
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Speaker 1: provided with these shoes and produced the tracks herself, yes,
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Speaker 1: returning each time through the Bracken cleverly done. She had
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Speaker 1: made no mistake about superimposing the footprints. It was all
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Speaker 1: worked out to a nicety, each set over and under
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Speaker 1: the two others, to produce the impression that three people
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Speaker 1: had been there at the same time. Intensive study of
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Speaker 1: the works of mister Austin Freeman, I should say, and
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Speaker 1: what next? Well, I think we shall find that this
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Speaker 1: missus Forrest, who we think has been her accomplice all along,
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Speaker 1: had brought her car down the big car, that is,
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Speaker 1: and was waiting there for her. Possibly she did the
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Speaker 1: making of the footprints while Mary Whittaker was staging the assault. Anyhow,
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Speaker 1: she probably arrived there after. Mary Whittaker and Vera findlater
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Speaker 1: had left the Austin and departed to the hollow on
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Speaker 1: the downs. When Mary Whittaker had finished her part of
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Speaker 1: the job, they put the handkerchief and the magazine called
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Speaker 1: the Black Mask into the Austin and drove off in
24:43
Speaker 1: Missus Forrest's car. I'm having the movements of the car
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Speaker 1: investigated naturally. It's a dark blue Renault four seater with
24:52
Speaker 1: Micheline balloon tires and the number is x O four
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Speaker 1: two four seven. We know that it returned to Missus
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Speaker 1: Forrest's garage on the Monday night with Missus Forrest in it.
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Speaker 1: But where is miss Whittaker in hiding somewhere? We shall
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Speaker 1: get her, all right. She can't get money from her
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Speaker 1: own bank. They're warned. If Missus Forest tries to get
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Speaker 1: money for her, she will be followed. So if the
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Speaker 1: worst comes to the worst, we can starve her out
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Speaker 1: in time with any luck. But we've got another clue.
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Speaker 1: There has been a most determined attempt to throw suspicion
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Speaker 1: on an unfortunate relative of Miss Whittaker's, a black nonconformist
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Speaker 1: parson with the remarkable name of Hallelujah Dawson. He has
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Speaker 1: certainly pecuniary claims on Miss Whittaker, not legal claims, but
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Speaker 1: claims which any decent and humane person should have respected.
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Speaker 1: She didn't respect them, and the poor old man might
26:01
Speaker 1: very well have been expected to nurse a grudge against her.
26:05
Speaker 1: Yesterday morning he tried to cash a bearer check of
26:08
Speaker 1: hers for ten thousand pounds, with a lame sounding story
26:13
Speaker 1: to the effect that it had arrived by the first
26:16
Speaker 1: post without explanation in an envelope. So, of course he's
26:21
Speaker 1: had to be detained as one of the kidnappers. But
26:26
Speaker 1: that's very clumsy. Surely he's almost certain to have an alibi.
26:31
Speaker 1: I fancy the story will be that he hired some
26:35
Speaker 1: gangsters to do the job for him. He belongs to
26:38
Speaker 1: a mission in Stepney, where that mauve cap came from,
26:43
Speaker 1: and no doubt there are plenty of tough lads in
26:45
Speaker 1: his neighborhood. Of course, we shall make close inquiries and
26:49
Speaker 1: publish details broadcast in all the papers, and then well,
26:56
Speaker 1: then I fancy the idea is that miss Whittaker will
26:59
Speaker 1: turn up somewhere in an agitated condition, with a story
27:03
Speaker 1: of assault and holding to ransom made to fit the case.
27:08
Speaker 1: If cousin Hallelujah has not produced a satisfactory alibi, we
27:13
Speaker 1: shall learn that he was on the spot directing the murders.
27:17
Speaker 1: If he has definitely shown that he wasn't there, his
27:21
Speaker 1: name will have been mentioned, or he will have turned
27:24
Speaker 1: up at some time which the poor dear girl couldn't
27:28
Speaker 1: exactly ascertain in some dreadful den to which she was
27:33
Speaker 1: taken in a place which she won't be able to identify,
27:37
Speaker 1: but a devilish plot. Yes, Miss Whittaker is a charming
27:43
Speaker 1: young woman. If there's anything she'd stop at, I don't
27:47
Speaker 1: know what it is. And the amiable missus Forrest appears
27:52
Speaker 1: to be another of the same kidney. Of course, doctor,
27:56
Speaker 1: we are taking you into our confidence. You understand that.
28:00
Speaker 1: Or catching Mary Whittaker depends on her believing that we've
28:04
Speaker 1: swallowed all those false clues of hers. I'm not a talker,
28:09
Speaker 1: said the doctor. Gang you call it, and gang it is,
28:13
Speaker 1: as far as I'm concerned. And Miss Finn later was
28:17
Speaker 1: hit on the head and died of it. I only
28:20
Speaker 1: hope my colleague and the Chief Constable will be equally discreet.
28:25
Speaker 1: I warned them naturally after what you said last night.
28:30
Speaker 1: It's all very well said, Whimsy, but what positive evidence
28:35
Speaker 1: have we after all against this woman. A clever defending
28:39
Speaker 1: counsel would tear the whole thing to rags. The only
28:43
Speaker 1: thing we can absolutely prove her to have done is
28:46
Speaker 1: the burgling that house on Hampstead Heath and stealing the coal.
28:51
Speaker 1: The other deaths were returned as natural deaths at the inquest.
28:56
Speaker 1: And as for miss Finn later, even if we show
28:59
Speaker 1: it to be chloroform, well, chloroform isn't difficult stuff to
29:03
Speaker 1: get hold of. It's not arsenic or cyanide. And even
29:07
Speaker 1: if there were finger prints on the spanner, there were not,
29:12
Speaker 1: said Parker gloomily. This girl knows what she's about. What
29:19
Speaker 1: did she want to kill vera findlater for anyway, asked
29:23
Speaker 1: the doctor. Suddenly, according to you, the girl was the
29:27
Speaker 1: most valuable bit of evidence she had. She was the
29:30
Speaker 1: one witness who could prove that miss Whittaker had an
29:33
Speaker 1: alibi for the other crimes, if they were crimes. She
29:38
Speaker 1: may have found out too much about the connection between
29:41
Speaker 1: miss Whittaker and missus Forrest. My impression is that she
29:46
Speaker 1: had served her turn and become dangerous. What we are
29:50
Speaker 1: hoping to surprise now is some communication between Forest and Whittaker.
29:55
Speaker 1: Once we've got that, hum said doctor Faulkner. He had
30:01
Speaker 1: strolled to the window. I don't want to worry you unduly,
30:05
Speaker 1: but I perceive Sir Charles Pillington in conference with the
30:09
Speaker 1: Special Correspondent of the Wire. The yell came out with
30:14
Speaker 1: the gang story all over the front page this morning,
30:17
Speaker 1: and a patriotic leader about the danger of encouraging colored aliens.
30:22
Speaker 1: I needn't remind you that the Wire would be ready
30:25
Speaker 1: to corrupt the archangel Gabriel in order to kill the
30:28
Speaker 1: Yells story. Oh hell, said Parker, rushing to the window,
30:35
Speaker 1: too late, said the doctor. The wire man has vanished
30:39
Speaker 1: into the post office. Of course, you can phone up
30:42
Speaker 1: and try to stop it. Parker did so, and was
30:47
Speaker 1: courteously assured by the editor of the Wire that the
30:50
Speaker 1: story had not reached him, and that if it did,
30:54
Speaker 1: he would bear Inspector Parker's instructions in mind. The editor
30:59
Speaker 1: of the Wire was speaking the exact truth. The story
31:03
Speaker 1: had been received by the editor of the Evening Banner,
31:07
Speaker 1: sister paper of the Wire. In times of crisis, it
31:11
Speaker 1: is sometimes convenient that the left hand should not know
31:14
Speaker 1: what the right hand does. After all, it was an
31:19
Speaker 1: exclusive story. End of Chapter twenty one.