After leaving the works the murderer had to get rid of the duplicator. French could not estimate this item, as he had no idea how the thing could have been done. But it had certainly taken half an hour. That would make it At least another half-hour would have been spent in returning to the site of the mock tragedy, bringing the time up to
The engine and radiator had then gradually to cool, for there was no water on that part of the moor to cool them artificially. From his experiment French felt sure that this would have taken at least three hours. In other words, there would have been traces of heat up till about . And that at the very earliest possible.
But the sergeant found the car at and it was then cold. It was therefore impossible that it could have been used to carry the victim to the works as French had assumed. And if it had not been so used how could the body have been transported? There was no way without introducing an accomplice and another car, which on the face of it seemed improbable.
It would, he saw, have been possible to take the body to the works in the car if the vehicle had immediately returned to the moor. But this not only postulated an accomplice, but overlooked the duplicator. If the car had been used to dispose of the duplicator, it would have been warm when the sergeant found it.
The third point was the squaring of the night watchman. The more French thought over this, the more impossible it seemed. In an ordinary matter the man might easily have been corrupted, but unless he had some irresistible motive he would never have risked his neck by aiding and abetting a murder. And he could not have been deceived as to what was taking place. Even supposing that he had been at the time, next day’s discovery would have made clear what he had assisted in.
But even suppose he had been squared, it did not clear the matter up. In this case French did not believe he could have sustained his interrogation without giving himself away. He would have guessed what lay behind the questions and would have shown fear. No, French was satisfied the man had no suspicion of anything so grave as murder, and it seemed impossible that the body could have been put into the crate without making the terrible fact clear.
The fourth test point seemed equally convincing. If the body had been put into the crate in the works, where was the duplicator? It could not have been left in the works. The store-keeping methods would have revealed it long before this. Could it have been taken out?
French could not imagine any way in which it could have been done. The duplicator was a big machine and heavy. It could not have been lifted by less than three or four people. Of course there was the runway and differential, but even these would only have lifted it out of the crate on to a car or lorry. To have unloaded it secretly would involve the existence of a second differential in some place available only to the murderer, a farfetched hypothesis, though no doubt possible.
But what finally convinced French was the consideration that if the murderer really had been able to dispose secretly of so bulky an object, he would surely have used this method to get rid of the body and thus have saved the whole complex business of the crate.
French felt deeply disappointed as he found himself forced to these conclusions. A promising theory had gone west and he was left as far from a solution of his problem as when he took it up. Moreover, up to the present at all events, the Yard had been unable to learn anything at the St. Pancras or Euston hotels of either “John F. Stewart” or “James S. Stephenson.” Evidently in this case, as in most others, there was no royal road to success. He must simply go on trying to amass information in the ordinary humdrum routine way, in the hope that sooner or later he might come on some fact which would throw the desired light on the affair.
Tired and not a little out of sorts, he turned in.
VIII
A Fresh Start
It is wonderful what an effect a good night’s sleep and a bright morning will have on the mind of a healthy man. French had gone to bed tired and worried about this case. He woke cheery and optimistic, philosophic as to his reverses, and hopeful for the future.
On such a morning, indeed, it was impossible that anyone could be despondent. Though had begun, the sun shone with a thin brilliancy reminiscent of early summer. The air, floating up gently from the garden in the rear of the hotel, was surprisingly warm and aromatic for the time of year. Birds were singing in the trees and there was a faint hum of insects from below. As he looked out of his window French felt that life was good and that to squander it in sleep was little better than a sin.
He breakfasted at his leisure, then lighting his pipe, he sauntered out into the little town to take what he called “a turn” before settling down to the serious work of the day.
Though his conclusions of the previous evening still seemed incontrovertible, he was surprised to find that his sense of disappointment had vanished. At first he thought this was due simply to his night’s rest, then gradually he realised the reason.
In his heart of hearts he distrusted these conclusions. In spite of the difficulties involved, he was not satisfied that the Berlyn-Pyke affair should be eliminated from the case.
The murderer had shown himself an extremely ingenious man. Could it not be that these seeming
