Mike Ashley - The Mammoth Book of Locked-Room Mysteries And Impossible Crimes

Just an ordinary plain, untouched photographic print showed a long strip of thin, flat steel, one end of which came to a sharp point, while the other was embedded in a long piece of cork.

“The steel is sharp at each edge,” went on Brinsley. “The police have notified us of that. And with that sharp point it would go through the flesh like a knife through butter. And the long piece of cork would make a splendid handle, so that anybody could use it as a dagger.”

There was silence for a few moments, while each member of the club in turn examined the photograph.

“And this is the latest news my men brought into the office,” said Brinsley. “Sir George Borgham’s chauffeur, Edward Morris, said that his master alighted from the car and stayed for a few minutes at Everton’s bookshop in Piccadilly. He was inside about two minutes, and returned to the car, which the chauffeur drove to the Law Courts by way of Garrick Street and the Strand, to avoid the Covent Garden traffic in Long Acre. The outside limit of time that the journey took from Piccadilly to the Law Courts was five minutes, so, in that time Sir George Borgham met his death. And now, gentlemen, if you’ll excuse me,” Brinsley rose, “I’ve got to get back to The Wire. Don’t forget that the resources of The Wire are at your disposal, and £500 is my offer for anyone who brings me exclusive news of the identity of Sir George Borgham’s murderer.”

“Come and have a look at Everton’s, the bookshop,” said Mr Bowen, the clergyman from Cornwall, to his friend Eustace Golbourne, as they walked away from Brinsley’s house. “It might give us something to think about. That £500 would be rather useful to send my godson, your boy, to college with, wouldn’t it?”

Golbourne nodded, and they walked on to Everton’s, in Piccadilly.

“Now,” said Mr Bowen, “let’s reconstruct the incident. Sir George leaves the shop, jumps into his car, presumably shuts the door himself, and arrives a few minutes later at the Law Courts with a piece of steel in his heart. Now, Sir George couldn’t possibly have killed himself. The attitude in which he was found precludes all possibility of that. If he had stabbed himself, the body would have collapsed forward; it wouldn’t have been leaning back.”

“How do you know that?” put in Golbourne quickly.

“I was in the War, my friend,” said Bowen a little sadly. “One learnt a good deal there. Very well then, let us assume that Sir George was murdered. Now, he was lying in the corner, nearest to the kerb. Suppose that he was stabbed through the window, by somebody leaning in and striking the blow.”

“Impossible!” said Golbourne suddenly and firmly.

“Here’s an empty taxi. I just want to try an experiment. Hi! Just a moment,” he cried to the driver. “Stop still, will you? You’ll get your fare just the same. I only want to get in and out of the cab.”

Golbourne let down the window of the cab nearest the pavement, shut the door to again, and then, putting his hand and arm through the window, struck an imaginary blow, as if attempting to kill a man in the near-side corner. Then he opened the door, got inside the cab, and Bowen saw him, from various attitudes, bring his arm downwards, more than once, as if again endeavouring to strike a murderous blow.

“That’s all right!” Golbourne jumped out and handed the astonished driver half-a-crown. “I don’t want you any longer. Come on,” and he took the clergyman’s arm, “I’ve got an idea, a wild, freakish sort of idea, but I’m going to sleep on it and try an experiment in the morning. It’s too late to-night, the shops aren’t open.”

After breakfast the next morning, Golbourne said to his friend at the hotel where they were staying:

“I’m going down to Guildford Street, Tom. I shan’t be more than a few minutes. You wait here till I come back.”

In less than a quarter of an hour Golbourne returned, and, placing a small, square cardboard box on the table, asked Mr Bowen to take off his coat and roll up his shirt sleeves.

“Don’t look so surprised,” said the professor, smiling, “for here’s something else to make you still more puzzled. Hold out your arm, there’s a good fellow.”

From the cardboard box Golbourne took what at first sight appeared to be a wrist-watch, encased in the usual strap. This he proceeded to fasten round Bowen’s forearm, just below the elbow.

“I’ll tell you all about it in a minute,” he said, settling himself in his chair.

“Now take a penholder, or pencil, or ruler, or anything you like, off that side-table over there, and then stand over me and stab downwards at my heart. You needn’t dig the deadly weapon into me, let it just touch me, that’s all. Just stab downwards and then check it.”

Puzzled, Bowen did as he was directed. Then Golbourne got up and consulted the little round dial in the wrist-strap, and scribbled a figure or two on a scrap of paper.

“All right,” he said. “And now, Tom, you can help me if you’ll just go down to the hall and ring up The Wire office, and ask for Brinsley or Crimp if, with the influence of The Wire , they could communicate with Scotland Yard and ascertain the weight of that weapon which was found in Sir George’s body. Also, I want the height of Sir George’s car from the floor to the roof, and I should like to know whether all the windows in the car, which, I understand, was a large one, were open. Just a minute! What height are you, Tom?”

“Five foot eight and three-quarters.”

“And your length of arm?”

“About two and a half feet, I suppose. I’m pretty long in the arm.”

“Right! I’ll get to work while you’re at the ‘phone. I think I’m just beginning to see a little bit of daylight. I should like to see Sir George’s car, if possible, and measure it myself, but get The Wire people to communicate with Scotland Yard as soon as they can, will you? And ask them to ring us up here. Say that we’ll be down at The Wire office to see Mr Brinsley later on.”

While the clergyman was downstairs at the ‘phone in the hall, Golbourne sat and figured away busily, covering sheet after sheet with figures and geometrical symbols, and was still busy with his calculations when Bowen returned.

“Just a moment, Tom,” he said, without turning round. “Don’t talk for a second or two. I’m in the middle of a most intricate bit of work.”

“There, that’s done for the present,” said the professor a minute later, laying down his pencil with a sigh of relief. “Just let me get the weight and the length of that piece of steel, and things may begin to move. What’s the news? Did you get on to The Wire all right?”

“Yes, I spoke to Crimp. He said Brinsley will be down there before twelve this morning, and he’ll ring up as soon as possible and let us know about the weight and the length of that piece of steel, etc. As regards Sir George’s car, he thinks there’ll be no difficulty in our seeing it. Of course, the police have taken charge of it, but-”

“I suppose he wouldn’t know whether all the windows were open or not?” asked Golbourne.

“No,” answered Bowen, “but the police will be sure to keep it in exactly the same condition as when the body was found in it. Crimp tells me it’s in the police station yard at Bow Street.”

“Good! Then we can look in there on our way down to The Wire office. Ask Crimp whether that can’t be arranged. Perhaps we may represent ourselves as belonging to The Wire , which, indeed, we do while we are investigating this case. Pop along now, Tom, and wait for the answer. Put the figures down carefully, won’t you?”

Bowen returned in a few minutes with a scrap of paper in his hand.