Latest / Unnatural Death / 23 - Unnatural Death by Dorothy L. Sayers

Transcript

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

0:01
Speaker 1: Chapter twenty three of Unnatural Death by Dorothy Sayrs. This
0:07
Speaker 1: LibriVox recording is in the public domain, and smote him.
0:12
Speaker 1: Thus tis not so deep as a well, nor so
0:18
Speaker 1: wide as a church door, But tis enough twill serve
0:24
Speaker 1: Romeo and Juliet. Lord Peter missed both Miss Clemson's communications
0:32
Speaker 1: absorbed in the police inquiry. He never thought to go
0:36
Speaker 1: back to Leehampton. Bunter had duly arrived with Missus Myrtle
0:41
Speaker 1: on the Saturday evening. Immense police activity was displayed in
0:46
Speaker 1: the neighborhood of the Downs and at Southampton and Portsmouth,
0:51
Speaker 1: in order to foster the idea that the authorities supposed
0:55
Speaker 1: the gang to be lurking in those districts. Thing, as
1:00
Speaker 1: a matter of fact, was farther from Parker's thoughts. Whimsy fretted.
1:06
Speaker 1: He wanted the analysis of the body to be complete,
1:09
Speaker 1: and loathed the thought of the long days he had
1:12
Speaker 1: to wait, and he had small hope of the result.
1:17
Speaker 1: It's all very well, sitting round with your large disguised
1:21
Speaker 1: policeman outside Missus Forest's flat, he said, irritably, over the
1:27
Speaker 1: bacon and eggs on Monday morning. But you do realize,
1:31
Speaker 1: don't you, that we've still got no proof of murder,
1:34
Speaker 1: not in one single case. That's so, replied Parker, placidly. Well,
1:42
Speaker 1: doesn't it make your blood boil? Said Whimsy. Hardly, said Parker,
1:48
Speaker 1: This kind of thing happens too often. If my blood
1:52
Speaker 1: boiled every time there was a delay in getting evidence,
1:55
Speaker 1: I should be in a perpetual fever. Why worry? It
2:01
Speaker 1: may be that perfect crime you're so fond of talking about,
2:04
Speaker 1: the one that leaves no trace. You ought to be
2:08
Speaker 1: charmed with it. Oh, I dare say, oh, turpitude, where
2:14
Speaker 1: are the charms that's ages have seen in my face
2:18
Speaker 1: times called at the criminal's arms? And there isn't a
2:22
Speaker 1: drink in the place. Whimsy's standard poets with emendations by
2:28
Speaker 1: thing a mummy. As a matter of fact, I'm not
2:31
Speaker 1: at all sure that miss Dawson's death wasn't the perfect crime,
2:36
Speaker 1: if only the Whittaker girl had stopped at that and
2:40
Speaker 1: not tried to cover it up. If you notice the.
2:44
Speaker 2: Deaths are becoming more and more violent, elaborate, and unlikely
2:49
Speaker 2: in appearance telephone Again, if the post office accounts don't
2:55
Speaker 2: show a handsome prophet on telephones this.
2:58
Speaker 1: Year, it won't be your fault. It's the cap and shoes,
3:03
Speaker 1: said Parker mildly. They've traced them. They were ordered from
3:08
Speaker 1: an outfitter's in Stepney to be sent to the Reverend h.
3:12
Speaker 1: Dawson Peverel Hotel, Bloomsbury to await arrival the Peverrel Again, yes,
3:20
Speaker 1: I recognize the hand of mister Triggs's mysterious charmer, the
3:26
Speaker 1: Reverend Hallelujah. Dawson's card with message please give parcel to
3:31
Speaker 1: bearer was presented by a district messenger next day with
3:36
Speaker 1: a verbal explanation that the gentleman found he could not
3:40
Speaker 1: get up to town after all. The messenger, obeying instructions
3:45
Speaker 1: received by a telephone, took the parcel to a lady
3:48
Speaker 1: in a nurse's dress on the platform at Charing Cross.
3:53
Speaker 1: Asked to describe the lady, he said she was tall
3:57
Speaker 1: and wore blue glasses and the usual cloak and bonnet.
4:01
Speaker 1: So that's that. How were the goods paid for? Postal
4:07
Speaker 1: order purchased at the West Central office at the busiest
4:11
Speaker 1: moment of the day. And when did all this happen?
4:16
Speaker 1: That's the most interesting part of the business. Last month,
4:21
Speaker 1: shortly before Miss Whittaker and Miss findlater returned from Kent.
4:26
Speaker 1: This plot was well thought out beforehand. Yes, well that's
4:32
Speaker 1: something more for you to pin onto, missus Forrest. It
4:37
Speaker 1: looks like proof of conspiracy, but whether it's proof of murder,
4:42
Speaker 1: it's meant to look like conspiracy of cousin hallelujahs. I suppose,
4:48
Speaker 1: Oh well, we shall have to trace the letters and
4:51
Speaker 1: the typewriter that wrote them and interrogate all these people.
4:55
Speaker 1: I suppose. God, what a grind. Hello, come in, Oh
5:01
Speaker 1: it's you doctor. Excuse my interrupting your breakfast, said doctor Faulkner.
5:09
Speaker 1: But early this morning, while lying awake, I was visited
5:13
Speaker 1: with a bright idea. So I had to come and
5:16
Speaker 1: work it off on you while it was still fresh.
5:19
Speaker 1: About the blow on the head and the marks on
5:22
Speaker 1: the arms, you know, do you suppose they served a
5:26
Speaker 1: double purpose besides making it look like the work of
5:31
Speaker 1: a gang. Could they be hiding some other smaller mark? Poison,
5:37
Speaker 1: for instance, could be injected and the mark covered up
5:41
Speaker 1: by scratches and cuts inflicted after death. Frankly, said Parker,
5:48
Speaker 1: I wish I could think it. It's a very sound idea,
5:52
Speaker 1: and maybe the right one. Our trouble is that in
5:56
Speaker 1: the two previous deaths which we have been investigating, and
6:00
Speaker 1: which we are inclined to think form a part of
6:03
Speaker 1: the same series as this one. There have been no
6:06
Speaker 1: signs or traces of poison discoverable in the bodies at
6:11
Speaker 1: all by any examination or analysis that skill can devise.
6:17
Speaker 1: In fact, not only no proof of poison, but no
6:20
Speaker 1: proof of anything but natural death. And he related the
6:25
Speaker 1: cases in fuller detail, odd, said the doctor. And you
6:32
Speaker 1: think this may turn out the same way. Still in
6:36
Speaker 1: this case, the death can't very well have been natural,
6:41
Speaker 1: or why these elaborate efforts to cover it up. It wasn't,
6:45
Speaker 1: said Parker, the proof being that, as we know, the
6:50
Speaker 1: plot was laid nearly two months ago. But the method
6:55
Speaker 1: cried whimsy. The method hang it all. Here are all
7:00
Speaker 1: we people, with our brilliant brains and our professional reputations,
7:05
Speaker 1: and this half trained girl out of a hospital can
7:08
Speaker 1: beat the lot of us. How was it done. It's
7:13
Speaker 1: probably something so simple and obvious that it's never occurred
7:17
Speaker 1: to us, said Parker, the sort of principle you learn
7:21
Speaker 1: when you're in the fourth form and never apply to
7:24
Speaker 1: anything rudimentary like that motorcycling imbecile. We met up at Crofton,
7:30
Speaker 1: who sat in the rain and prayed for help, because
7:34
Speaker 1: he'd never heard of an air lock in his feed.
7:37
Speaker 1: Now I dare say that boy had learnt. What's the
7:41
Speaker 1: matter with you, my god, cried Whimsy. He smashed his
7:48
Speaker 1: hand down among the breakfast things, upsetting his cup. My god,
7:53
Speaker 1: but that's it. You've got it. You've done it, obvious, God,
7:59
Speaker 1: all mighty. It doesn't need a doctor. A garage hand
8:04
Speaker 1: could have told you. People die of it every day.
8:08
Speaker 1: Of course, it was an air lock in the feed.
8:13
Speaker 1: Bear up, doctor, said Parker. He's always like this. When
8:17
Speaker 1: he gets an idea, it wears off in time. Do
8:20
Speaker 1: you mind explaining yourself, old thing? Whimsy's pallid face was flushed.
8:27
Speaker 1: He turned on the doctor. Look here, he said. The
8:31
Speaker 1: body is pumpin' engine, isn't it. The jolly old heart
8:35
Speaker 1: pumps the blood round the arteries and back through the
8:38
Speaker 1: veins and so on, doesn't it. That's what keeps things working?
8:43
Speaker 1: What round and home again in two minutes, that sort
8:46
Speaker 1: of thing. Certainly, little valve to let the blood out,
8:52
Speaker 1: another little valve to let it in, just like an
8:55
Speaker 1: internal combustion engine, which it is, of course, And s'posin
9:01
Speaker 1: that stops you die. Yes, now look here, s'posin. You
9:08
Speaker 1: take a good big hypodermic empty and dig it into
9:13
Speaker 1: one of the big arteries and push the handle. What
9:17
Speaker 1: would happen? What would happen? Doctor, You'd be pumping a
9:23
Speaker 1: big air bubble into your engine feed, wouldn't you? What
9:27
Speaker 1: would become of your circulation? Then it would stop? It
9:32
Speaker 1: said the doctor without hesitation. That is why nurses have
9:36
Speaker 1: to be particular to fill the syringe properly, especially when
9:40
Speaker 1: doing an intravenous injection. I knew it was the kind
9:45
Speaker 1: of thing you learnt in the fourth form. Well, go on,
9:48
Speaker 1: your circulation would stop. It would be like an embolism
9:53
Speaker 1: in its effect, wouldn't it Only if it was in
9:56
Speaker 1: the main artery. Of course, In a small vein, blood
10:00
Speaker 1: would find a way round. That is why this seemed
10:05
Speaker 1: to be the doctor's favorite opening. That is why it
10:09
Speaker 1: is so important that embolisms blood clots should be dispersed
10:14
Speaker 1: as soon as possible and not left to wander about
10:17
Speaker 1: the system. Yes, yes, but the air bubble, doctor, in
10:23
Speaker 1: a main artery, say the fhemeral or the big vein
10:26
Speaker 1: in the bend of the elbow. That would stop the circulation,
10:30
Speaker 1: wouldn't it? How soon? Why? At once? The heart would
10:35
Speaker 1: stop beating, and then you would die with what symptoms?
10:41
Speaker 1: None to speak of, just a gasp or two. The
10:45
Speaker 1: lungs would make a desperate effort to keep things going.
10:49
Speaker 1: Then you'd just stop, my heart failure. It would be
10:53
Speaker 1: heart failure. How well I know it that sneeze in
10:58
Speaker 1: the carburetor, I guess as you say. And what would
11:02
Speaker 1: be the post mortem symptoms?
11:05
Speaker 2: None?
11:06
Speaker 1: Just the appearances of heart failure, and of course the
11:10
Speaker 1: little mark of the needle if you happened to be
11:13
Speaker 1: looking for it. You're sure of all this, doctor, said Parker.
11:19
Speaker 1: Well it's simple, isn't it a plain problem in mechanics?
11:23
Speaker 1: Of course that would happen, It must happen. Could it
11:27
Speaker 1: be proved? Insisted Parker. That's more difficult. We must try,
11:34
Speaker 1: said Parker. It's ingenious and it explains a lot of things. Doctor,
11:40
Speaker 1: Will you go down to the mortuary again and see
11:43
Speaker 1: if you can find any puncture mark on the body.
11:47
Speaker 1: I really think you've got the explanation of the whole thing. Peter,
11:51
Speaker 1: Oh dear, who's on the phone now? What? What? Oh? Hell? Well,
11:59
Speaker 1: that's torn it. She'll never come back. Now, warn all
12:04
Speaker 1: the ports, send out in all stations, call watch the railways,
12:09
Speaker 1: and go through Bloomsbury with a toothcomb. That's the part
12:13
Speaker 1: she knows best. I'm coming straight up to town now, yes, immediately,
12:19
Speaker 1: right you are. He hung up the receiver with a
12:23
Speaker 1: few brief choice expressions. That adjectival imbecile. Pillington has let
12:30
Speaker 1: out all he knows. The whole story is in the
12:34
Speaker 1: early editions of the banner. We're doing no good here.
12:38
Speaker 1: Mary Whittaker will know the game's up, and she'll be
12:41
Speaker 1: out of the country in two twos. If she isn't
12:44
Speaker 1: already coming back to town, whimsy naturally, take you up
12:50
Speaker 1: in the car, lose no time. Ring the bell for Bunter,
12:53
Speaker 1: would you? Oh, Bunter, we're going up to town. How
12:56
Speaker 1: soon can we start? At once? My lord? I have
13:00
Speaker 1: holding your lordships and mister Parker's things ready packed from
13:04
Speaker 1: hour to hour in case a hurried adjournment should be necessary.
13:09
Speaker 1: Good man, And there is a letter for you, mister Parker, sir.
13:14
Speaker 1: Oh thanks, ah. Yes. The fingerprints off the check hmm,
13:20
Speaker 1: two sets only besides those of the cashier, of course,
13:25
Speaker 1: cousin Haleneluljah's, and a female set presumably those of Mary Whittaker. Yes, obviously,
13:34
Speaker 1: here are the forefingers of the left hand, just as
13:37
Speaker 1: one would place them to hold the check flat while
13:40
Speaker 1: signing pardon me, sir, but might I look at that photograph?
13:46
Speaker 1: Certainly take a copy for yourself. I know it interests
13:49
Speaker 1: you as a photographer. Well, cheerio, doctor, see you in
13:54
Speaker 1: town sometime. Come on, Peter, Lord Peter came on. And that,
14:00
Speaker 1: as Doctor Faulkner would say, was why Miss Clemson's second
14:04
Speaker 1: letter was brought up from the police station too late
14:08
Speaker 1: to catch him. They reached town at twelve, owing to
14:13
Speaker 1: Whimsey's brisk work at the wheel, and went straight to
14:17
Speaker 1: Scotland Yard, dropping Blunter at his own request as he
14:21
Speaker 1: was anxious to return to the flat. They found the
14:25
Speaker 1: Chief Commissioner in rather a brusque mood, angry with the
14:29
Speaker 1: banner and annoyed with Parker for having failed to muzzle Pillington.
14:35
Speaker 1: God knows where she'd be found next. She's probably got
14:39
Speaker 1: a disguise and get away all ready, probably gone already,
14:44
Speaker 1: said Whimsy. She could easily have left England on the
14:48
Speaker 1: Monday or Tuesday, and nobody a penny the wiser. If
14:53
Speaker 1: the coast had seemed clear, she'd have come back and
14:57
Speaker 1: taken possession of her goods again. Now, well, she'll stay abroad,
15:01
Speaker 1: that's all. I'm very much afraid you're right, agreed Parker gloomily. Meanwhile,
15:08
Speaker 1: what is missus Forrest doing? Behaving quite normally. She's been
15:14
Speaker 1: carefully shadowed, of course, but not interfered with in any way.
15:20
Speaker 1: We've got three men out there now, one as a coster,
15:24
Speaker 1: one as a dear friend of the hall porters who
15:27
Speaker 1: drops in every so often with racing tips, and an
15:31
Speaker 1: odd job man doing a spot of work in the
15:33
Speaker 1: back yard. They report that she has been in and out,
15:38
Speaker 1: shopping and so on, but mostly having her meals at home.
15:43
Speaker 1: No one has called. The men deputed to shadow her
15:47
Speaker 1: away from the flat have watched carefully to see if
15:50
Speaker 1: she speaks to any one or slips money to any one.
15:54
Speaker 1: We are pretty sure that the two haven't met yet.
15:58
Speaker 1: Excuse me, sir. An officer put his head in at
16:02
Speaker 1: the door. Here's Lord Peter Whimsey's man, Sir, with an
16:06
Speaker 1: urgent message. Bunter entered trimly correct in bearing, but with
16:12
Speaker 1: a glitter in his eye. He laid it down. Two
16:16
Speaker 1: photographs on the table. Excuse me, my lord and gentlemen,
16:21
Speaker 1: but would you be so good as to cast your
16:24
Speaker 1: eyes on these two photographs finger prints, said the Chief interrogatively.
16:31
Speaker 1: One of them is our own official photograph of the
16:34
Speaker 1: Prince on the ten thousand dollar check, said Parker. The
16:38
Speaker 1: other where did you get this, Bunter. It looks like
16:42
Speaker 1: the same set of prints, but it's not one of ours.
16:46
Speaker 1: They appeared similar, sir, to my uninstructed eye. I thought
16:51
Speaker 1: it better to place the matter before you send Dewsby here,
16:56
Speaker 1: said the Chief Commissioner. Dewsby was the head of the
17:00
Speaker 1: finger print apartment, and he had no hesitation at all.
17:05
Speaker 1: They are undoubtedly the same prince, he said. A light
17:10
Speaker 1: was slowly breaking in on whimsy, Bunter, Did these come
17:15
Speaker 1: off that wine glass? Yes, my lord, but they are
17:20
Speaker 1: miss forests, So I understood you to say, my lord
17:25
Speaker 1: and I have filed them under that name. Then if
17:30
Speaker 1: the signature on the check is genuine, we haven't far
17:35
Speaker 1: to look for our bird, said Parker, brutally, a double identity.
17:41
Speaker 1: Damn the woman. She's made us waste a lot of time. Well,
17:46
Speaker 1: I think we shall get her now on the findlater
17:49
Speaker 1: murder at least, and possibly on the go to bed business.
17:54
Speaker 1: But I understood there was an alibi for that, said
17:58
Speaker 1: the chief. There was us, said Parker grimly. But the
18:03
Speaker 1: witness was the girl that's just been murdered. Looks as
18:07
Speaker 1: though she'd made up her mind to split and was
18:10
Speaker 1: got rid of. Looks as though several people had had
18:14
Speaker 1: a near squeak of it, said Whimsy, including you. That
18:19
Speaker 1: yellow hair was a wig? Then probably it never looked natural,
18:24
Speaker 1: you know? Then I was there that night she had
18:28
Speaker 1: on one of those close turban affairs. She might have
18:32
Speaker 1: been bald, for all one could see. Did you notice
18:36
Speaker 1: the scar on the fingers of the right hand? I
18:39
Speaker 1: did not, for the very good reason that her fingers
18:42
Speaker 1: were stiff with rings to the knuckles. There was pretty
18:46
Speaker 1: good sense behind her ugly bad taste. I suppose I
18:52
Speaker 1: was to be drugged, or failing that, caressed into slumber,
18:57
Speaker 1: and then shall we say, put out of circulation, highly distress,
19:03
Speaker 1: an incident. Amorous clubman dies in a flat relations very
19:09
Speaker 1: anxious to hushmatter up. I was selected, I suppose, because
19:14
Speaker 1: I was seen with Evelyn Cropper at Liverpool. Bertha go
19:19
Speaker 1: to bed. Got the same sort of dose too, I
19:22
Speaker 1: take it met by old employer accidentally on leaving work
19:28
Speaker 1: five pound note, a nice little dinner, lashings of champagne.
19:33
Speaker 1: Poor kid as drunk as a blind fiddler, bundled into
19:37
Speaker 1: the car, finished off there and trundled out to Epping
19:41
Speaker 1: in company with a ham sandwich and a bottle of bass. Easy,
19:46
Speaker 1: ain't it when you know how? That? Being so, said
19:51
Speaker 1: the Chief Commissioner. The sooner we get hold of her,
19:54
Speaker 1: the better you'd better go at once, inspector take a
19:58
Speaker 1: warrant for which or forest and any help you may require.
20:04
Speaker 1: May I come, asked Whimsy when they were outside the building.
20:08
Speaker 1: Why not? You may be useful with the men We've
20:12
Speaker 1: got there already. We shan't need any extra help. The
20:16
Speaker 1: car whizzed swiftly through Pall Mall, up Saint James's Street
20:21
Speaker 1: and along Piccadilly. Half Way up South Audley Street, they
20:26
Speaker 1: passed the fruit cellar, with whom Parker exchanged an almost
20:30
Speaker 1: imperceptible signal. A few doors below the entrance to the flats.
20:35
Speaker 1: They got out and were almost immediately joined by the
20:38
Speaker 1: hall porter's sporting friend I was just going to call
20:43
Speaker 1: you up, said the latter. She's arrived, what the Whittaker woman? Yes,
20:50
Speaker 1: went up about two minutes ago. Is Forrest there too, Yes,
20:55
Speaker 1: she came in just before the other woman, queer, said Parker.
21:00
Speaker 1: Another good theory, gone west. Are you sure it's Whittaker?
21:05
Speaker 1: Well she's made up with old fashioned clothes and grayish
21:09
Speaker 1: hair and so on, but she's the right height and
21:12
Speaker 1: general appearance, and she's running the old blue spectacle stunt. Again.
21:18
Speaker 1: I think it's the right one, though of course I
21:20
Speaker 1: didn't get close to her, remembering your instructions. Well, we'll
21:25
Speaker 1: have a look anyhow. Come along the coster had joined
21:30
Speaker 1: them now, and they all entered together. Did the old
21:34
Speaker 1: girl go up to Forest's flat? All right? Asked the
21:38
Speaker 1: third detective of the porter. That's right, went straight to
21:42
Speaker 1: the door and started something about a subscription. Then missus
21:47
Speaker 1: Forrest pulled her in quick and slammed the door. Nobody's
21:50
Speaker 1: come down since right, we'll take ourselves up, and mind
21:56
Speaker 1: you don't let anybody give us the slip by the staircase. Now, then, Whimsy,
22:01
Speaker 1: she knows you as Templeton, but she may still not
22:05
Speaker 1: know for certain that you're working with us. Ring the bell,
22:09
Speaker 1: and when the door's open, stick your foot inside. It
22:12
Speaker 1: will stand just round the corner here and be ready
22:15
Speaker 1: to rush. This maneuver was executed. They heard the bell
22:20
Speaker 1: trill loudly. Nobody came to answer it. However, Whimsy rang
22:26
Speaker 1: again and then bent his ear to the door. Charles,
22:31
Speaker 1: he cried, suddenly, there's something going on here. His face
22:35
Speaker 1: was white. Be quick, I couldn't stand another. Parker hastened
22:41
Speaker 1: up and listened. Then he caught Peter's stick and hammered
22:45
Speaker 1: on the door, so that the hollow liftshaft echoed with
22:48
Speaker 1: the clamor, come on there, open the door. This is
22:52
Speaker 1: the police. And all the time a horrid, stealthy thumping
22:57
Speaker 1: and gurgling sound inside, dragging of something heavy, and a
23:02
Speaker 1: scuffling noise. Then a loud crash, as though a piece
23:06
Speaker 1: of furniture had been flung to the floor, and then
23:09
Speaker 1: a loud, hoarse scream, cut brutally off in the middle.
23:14
Speaker 1: Break in the door, said Whimsy, the sweat pouring down
23:18
Speaker 1: his face. Parker signaled to the heavier of the two policemen.
23:23
Speaker 1: He came along, shoulder first, lunging the door shook and cracked.
23:29
Speaker 1: They stamped and panted in the narrow space. The door
23:33
Speaker 1: gave way and they tumbled into the hall. Everything was
23:36
Speaker 1: ominously quiet. Oh quick, sobbed Peter. A door on the
23:43
Speaker 1: right stood open. A glance assured them that there was
23:47
Speaker 1: nothing there. They sprang to the sitting room door and
23:50
Speaker 1: pushed it. It opened about a foot. Something bulky impeded
23:55
Speaker 1: its progress. They shoved violently, and the obstacle gave. Whimsy
24:02
Speaker 1: leapt over it. It was a tall cabinet, fallen with
24:06
Speaker 1: broken china strewing the floor. The room bore signs of
24:10
Speaker 1: a violent struggle, tables flung down, a broken chair, a
24:14
Speaker 1: smashed lamp. He dashed for the bedroom, with Parker hard
24:19
Speaker 1: at his heels. The body of a woman lay limply
24:23
Speaker 1: on the bed. Her long, grizzled hair hung in a
24:26
Speaker 1: dark rope over the pillow, and blood was on her
24:30
Speaker 1: head and throat. But the blood was running freely, and
24:34
Speaker 1: Whimsy could have shouted for joy at the sight. Dead
24:38
Speaker 1: men do not bleed. Parker gave only one glance at
24:42
Speaker 1: the injured woman. He made promptly for the dressing room.
24:46
Speaker 1: Beyond a shot sang past his head. There was a
24:50
Speaker 1: snarl and a shriek, and the episode was over. The
24:56
Speaker 1: constable stood shaking his bitten hand while Parker put the
25:00
Speaker 1: come along the Mee grip on the quarry. He recognized
25:04
Speaker 1: her readily, though the peroxide wig had fallen awry, and
25:09
Speaker 1: the blue eyes were bleared with terror and fury. That'll do,
25:15
Speaker 1: said Parker quietly. The game's up. It's not a bit
25:20
Speaker 1: of use. Come be reasonable. You don't want us to
25:24
Speaker 1: put the bracelets on, do you, Mary Whittaker alias Forrest?
25:29
Speaker 1: I arrest you on the charge. He hesitated for a moment,
25:34
Speaker 1: and she saw it. On What charge? What have you
25:39
Speaker 1: got against me of attempting to murder this lady for
25:44
Speaker 1: a start, said Parker. The old fool, she said, contemptuously.
25:50
Speaker 1: She forced her way in here and attacked me. Is
25:53
Speaker 1: that all? Very probably not? Said Parker. I warn you
25:58
Speaker 1: that anything you see may be taken down and used
26:02
Speaker 1: in evidence at your trial. Indeed, the third officer had
26:07
Speaker 1: already produced a note book and was imperturbably writing down.
26:12
Speaker 1: When told the charge, the prisoner said, is that all?
26:18
Speaker 1: The remark evidently struck him as an injudicious one, for
26:22
Speaker 1: he licked his pencil with an air of satisfaction. Is
26:26
Speaker 1: the lady all right? Who is it, asked Parker, coming
26:30
Speaker 1: back to a survey of the situation. It's miss Clempson.
26:35
Speaker 1: God knows how she got here. I think she's all right,
26:39
Speaker 1: but she's had a rough time. He was anxiously sponging
26:43
Speaker 1: her head, and at that moment her eyes opened. Help,
26:48
Speaker 1: said Miss Clemson, confusedly. The syringe you shan't. Oh, she
26:53
Speaker 1: struggled feebly, and then recognized Whimsy's anxious face. Oh dear,
26:59
Speaker 1: she exclaimed, Lord Peter, such an upset. Did you get
27:04
Speaker 1: my letter?
27:05
Speaker 2: Is it all right?
27:07
Speaker 1: Oh dear, what a state I'm in?
27:09
Speaker 2: I that woman?
27:11
Speaker 1: Now, don't worry, Miss Clemson. Everything's quite all right, and
27:16
Speaker 1: you mustn't talk. You must tell us about it later.
27:21
Speaker 1: What was that about a syringe, said Parker, intent on
27:25
Speaker 1: his case. She'd got a syringe in her hand, panted
27:29
Speaker 1: Miss Clemson, trying to sit up and fumbling with her
27:33
Speaker 1: hands over the bed. I fainted, I think, such a struggle,
27:39
Speaker 1: and something hit me on the head, and I saw
27:42
Speaker 1: her coming at me with the thing, and I knocked
27:45
Speaker 1: it out of her hand. And I can't remember what
27:48
Speaker 1: happened afterwards, but I have remarkable vitality, said miss Clemson cheerfully.
27:54
Speaker 1: My dear father always used to say, Clemson's take a
27:58
Speaker 1: lot of killing. Parker was groping on the floor. Here
28:03
Speaker 1: you are, said he. In his hand was a hypodermic syringe.
28:09
Speaker 1: She's mental, That's what she is, said the prisoner. That's
28:14
Speaker 1: only the hypodermic I use for my injections when I
28:17
Speaker 1: get neuralgia. There is nothing in that that is quite correct,
28:23
Speaker 1: said Parker, with a significant nod at Whimsey. There is
28:28
Speaker 1: nothing in it. On the Tuesday night, when the prisoner
28:34
Speaker 1: had been committed for trial on the charges of murdering
28:38
Speaker 1: Bertha gotobed and vera findlater and attempting to murder Alexandra
28:43
Speaker 1: Clemson Whimsy dined with Parker. The former was depressed and nervous.
28:51
Speaker 1: The whole thing's been beastly, he grumbled. They had sat
28:56
Speaker 1: up discussing the case into the small hours. Interesting, said Parker. Interesting,
29:04
Speaker 1: I owe you seven and six. By the way, we
29:07
Speaker 1: ought to have seen through that forest business earlier, but
29:11
Speaker 1: there seemed no real reason to suspect the findlader girl's
29:15
Speaker 1: word as to the alibi. These mistaken loyalties make a
29:19
Speaker 1: lot of trouble. I think the thing that put us
29:24
Speaker 1: off was that it all started so early. There seemed
29:28
Speaker 1: no reason for it. But looking back on Triggs's story,
29:33
Speaker 1: it's as plain as a pike staff. She took a
29:36
Speaker 1: big risk with that empty house, and she couldn't always
29:40
Speaker 1: expect to find empty houses handy to do away with
29:44
Speaker 1: people in the idea was I suppose to build up
29:48
Speaker 1: a double identity, so that if Mary Whittaker was ever
29:53
Speaker 1: suspected of anything, she could quickly disappear and become the
29:58
Speaker 1: frail but otherwise innocent Missus Forrest. The real slip up
30:04
Speaker 1: was forgetting to take back that five pound note from
30:07
Speaker 1: Bertha Gota bed. If it hadn't been for that, we
30:11
Speaker 1: might never have known anything about Missus Forrest. It must
30:15
Speaker 1: have rattled her horribly when we turned up there after
30:19
Speaker 1: that she was known to the police in both her characters.
30:24
Speaker 1: The Findlater business was a desperate attempt to cover up
30:28
Speaker 1: her tracks, and it was bound to fail because it
30:31
Speaker 1: was so complicated. Yes, but the Dawson murder was beautiful
30:37
Speaker 1: in its ease and simplicity. If she had stuck to
30:42
Speaker 1: that and left well alone, we could never have proved anything.
30:46
Speaker 1: We can't prove it now, which is why I left
30:49
Speaker 1: it off the charge sheet. I don't think I've ever
30:53
Speaker 1: met a more greedy and heartless murderer. She probably really
30:58
Speaker 1: thought that anyone who in convenienced he had no right
31:02
Speaker 1: to exist. Greedy and malicious fancy trying to shove the
31:08
Speaker 1: blame on poor old Hallelujah. I suppose he'd committed the
31:13
Speaker 1: unforgivable sin of asking her for money. Well he'll get it.
31:19
Speaker 1: That's one good thing. The pit digged for Cousin Hallelujah
31:23
Speaker 1: has turned into a gold mine. That ten thousand pound
31:27
Speaker 1: check has been honored. I saw to that first thing
31:32
Speaker 1: before Whittaker could remember to try and stop it. Probably
31:36
Speaker 1: she couldn't have stopped it anyway, as it was duly
31:40
Speaker 1: presented last Saturday. Is the money legally hers? Of course
31:46
Speaker 1: it is. We know it was gained by a crime,
31:49
Speaker 1: but we haven't charged her with the crime, so that
31:52
Speaker 1: legally no such crime was committed. I've not said anything
31:57
Speaker 1: to cousin Hallelujah, of course, or he mightn't like to
32:01
Speaker 1: take it. He thinks it was sent him in a
32:05
Speaker 1: burst of contrition, Poor old dear so cousin Hallelujah, and
32:10
Speaker 1: all the little Hallelujahs will be rich. That's splendid. How
32:15
Speaker 1: about the rest of the money. Will the crown get
32:17
Speaker 1: it after all? No? Unless she wills it to some one,
32:23
Speaker 1: it will go to the whittaker next of kin, a
32:27
Speaker 1: first cousin I believe, called Alcock, a very decent fellow
32:32
Speaker 1: living in Birmingham. That is, he added, assailed by sudden
32:37
Speaker 1: doubt if first cousins do inherit under this confounded act, Oh,
32:44
Speaker 1: I think first cousins are safe, said whimsy. Though nothing
32:49
Speaker 1: seems safe nowadays, still dash it all? Some relations must
32:55
Speaker 1: still be allowed a look in, or what becomes of
32:58
Speaker 1: the sanctity of family life. If so, that's the most
33:02
Speaker 1: cheering thing about the beastly business. Do you know? When
33:06
Speaker 1: I rang up that man car and told him all
33:09
Speaker 1: about it, he wasn't a bit interested or grateful, said
33:14
Speaker 1: he'd always suspected something like that, and he hoped we
33:18
Speaker 1: weren't going to break it all up again because he'd
33:21
Speaker 1: come into that money he told us about, and was
33:24
Speaker 1: setting up for himself in Harley Street, so he didn't
33:28
Speaker 1: want any more scandals. I never did like that man.
33:33
Speaker 1: I'm sorry for nurse. Phileter, you needn't be I put
33:38
Speaker 1: my foot in it again over that car's too grand
33:43
Speaker 1: to marry a nurse now, at least I fancy that's
33:46
Speaker 1: what it is. Anyway, The engagement's off, and I was
33:50
Speaker 1: so pleased at the idea of playing providence to two
33:54
Speaker 1: deserving young people, added Whimsy pathetically. Dear, dear, well, the
34:01
Speaker 1: girl's well out of it. Hullo, there's the phone. Who
34:05
Speaker 1: on earth some damn thing at the yard? I suppose
34:09
Speaker 1: at three ac Emma, who'd be a policeman? Yes, oh right,
34:17
Speaker 1: I'll come right round. The case has gone west, Peter,
34:23
Speaker 1: how suicide strangled herself with a sheet. I'd better go round.
34:29
Speaker 1: I suppose I'll come with you. An evil woman, if
34:36
Speaker 1: ever there was one, said Parker softly. As they looked
34:40
Speaker 1: at the rigid body with its swollen face and the
34:44
Speaker 1: deeper red ring about the throat. Whimsy said nothing. He
34:49
Speaker 1: felt cold and sick. While Parker and the governor of
34:53
Speaker 1: the prison made the necessary arrangements and discussed the case,
34:58
Speaker 1: he sat hunched on h upon his chair. Their voices
35:03
Speaker 1: went on and on interminably. Six o'clock had struck some
35:08
Speaker 1: time before they rose to go. It reminded him of
35:12
Speaker 1: the eight strokes of the clock which announced the running
35:15
Speaker 1: up of the black and hideous flag. As the gate
35:21
Speaker 1: clanged open to let them out, they stepped into a
35:25
Speaker 1: wan and awful darkness. The June day had risen long ago,
35:30
Speaker 1: but only a pale and yellowish gleam lit the half
35:34
Speaker 1: deserted streets, and it was bitterly cold and raining. What
35:41
Speaker 1: is the matter with the day, said Whimsy. Is the
35:45
Speaker 1: world coming to an end? No, said Parker. It is
35:50
Speaker 1: the eclipse. End of chapter twenty three, end of Unnatural
35:58
Speaker 1: Death by Dorothy recording by Kirsten Webber.