Nigel Moss - The Middle Temple Murder

‘Found in a hole in his pocket, I understand: I wasn’t present myself. It’s not much, but it may afford some clue to identity.’

Spargo picked up the scrap of grey paper and looked closely at it. It seemed to him to be the sort of paper that is found in hotels and in clubs; it had been torn roughly from the sheet.

‘What,’ he asked meditatively, ‘what will you do about getting this man identified?’

The inspector shrugged his shoulders.

‘Oh, usual thing, I suppose. There’ll be publicity, you know. I suppose you’ll be doing a special account yourself, for your paper, eh? Then there’ll be the others. And we shall put out the usual notice. Somebody will come forward to identify—sure to. And—’

A man came into the office—a stolid-faced, quiet-mannered, soberly attired person, who might have been a respectable tradesman out for a stroll, and who gave the inspector a sidelong nod as he approached his desk, at the same time extending his hand towards the scrap of paper which Spargo had just laid down.

‘I’ll go along to King’s Bench Walk and see Mr Breton,’ he observed, looking at his watch. ‘It’s just about ten—I daresay he’ll be there now.’

‘I’m going there, too,’ remarked Spargo, but as if speaking to himself. ‘Yes, I’ll go there.’

The newcomer glanced at Spargo, and then at the inspector. The inspector nodded at Spargo.

‘Journalist,’ he said, ‘Mr Spargo of the Watchman . Mr Spargo was there when the body was found. And he knows Mr Breton.’ Then he nodded from Spargo to the stolid-faced person. ‘This is Detective-Sergeant Rathbury, from the Yard,’ he said to Spargo. ‘He’s come to take charge of this case.’

‘Oh?’ said Spargo blankly. ‘I see—what,’ he went on, with sudden abruptness, ‘what shall you do about Breton?’

‘Get him to come and look at the body,’ replied Rathbury. ‘He may know the man and he mayn’t. Anyway, his name and address are here, aren’t they?’

‘Come along,’ said Spargo. ‘I’ll walk there with you.’

Spargo remained in a species of brown study all the way along Tudor Street; his companion also maintained silence in a fashion which showed that he was by nature and custom a man of few words. It was not until the two were climbing the old balustraded staircase of the house in King’s Bench Walk in which Ronald Breton’s chambers were somewhere situate that Spargo spoke.

‘Do you think that old chap was killed for what he may have had on him?’ he asked, suddenly turning on the detective.

‘I should like to know what he had on him before I answered that question, Mr Spargo,’ replied Rathbury, with a smile.

‘Yes,’ said Spargo, dreamily. ‘I suppose so. He might have had—nothing on him, eh?’

The detective laughed, and pointed to a board on which names were printed.

‘We don’t know anything yet, sir,’ he observed, ‘except that Mr Breton is on the fourth floor. By which I conclude that it isn’t long since he was eating his dinner.’

‘Oh, he’s young—he’s quite young,’ said Spargo. ‘I should say he’s about four-and-twenty. I’ve met him only—’

At that moment the unmistakable sounds of girlish laughter came down the staircase. Two girls seemed to be laughing—presently masculine laughter mingled with the lighter feminine.

‘Seems to be studying law in very pleasant fashion up here, anyway,’ said Rathbury. ‘Mr Breton’s chambers, too. And the door’s open.’

The outer oak door of Ronald Breton’s chambers stood thrown wide; the inner one was well ajar; through the opening thus made Spargo and the detective obtained a full view of the interior of Mr Ronald Breton’s rooms. There, against a background of law books, bundles of papers tied up with pink tape, and black-framed pictures of famous legal notabilities, they saw a pretty, vivacious-eyed girl, who, perched on a chair, wigged and gowned, and flourishing a mass of crisp paper, was haranguing an imaginary judge and jury, to the amusement of a young man who had his back to the door, and of another girl who leant confidentially against his shoulder.

‘I put it to you, gentlemen of the jury—I put it to you with confidence, feeling that you must be, must necessarily be, some, perhaps brothers, perhaps husbands, and fathers, can you, on your consciences do my client the great wrong, the irreparable injury, the—the—’

‘Think of some more adjectives!’ exclaimed the young man. ‘Hot and strong ’uns—pile ’em up. That’s what they like—they—Hullo!’

This exclamation arose from the fact that at this point of the proceedings the detective rapped at the inner door, and then put his head round its edge. Whereupon the young lady who was orating from the chair jumped hastily down; the other young lady withdrew from the young man’s protecting arm; there was a feminine giggle and a feminine swishing of skirts, and a hasty bolt into an inner room, and Mr Ronald Breton came forward, blushing a little, to greet the interrupter.

‘Come in, come in!’ he exclaimed hastily. ‘I—’

Then he paused, catching sight of Spargo, and held out his hand with a look of surprise.

‘Oh—Mr Spargo?’ he said. ‘How do you do?—we—I—we were just having a lark—I’m off to court in a few minutes. What can I do for you, Mr Spargo?’

He had backed to the inner door as he spoke, and he now closed it and turned again to the two men, looking from one to the other. The detective, on his part, was looking at the young barrister. He saw a tall, slimly-built youth, of handsome features and engaging presence, perfectly groomed, and immaculately garbed, and having upon him a general air of well-to-do-ness, and he formed the impression from these matters that Mr Breton was one of those fortunate young men who may take up a profession but are certainly not dependent upon it. He turned and glanced at the journalist.

‘How do you do?’ said Spargo slowly. ‘I—the fact is, I came here with Mr Rathbury. He—wants to see you. Detective-Sergeant Rathbury—of New Scotland Yard.’

Spargo pronounced this formal introduction as if he were repeating a lesson. But he was watching the young barrister’s face. And Breton turned to the detective with a look of surprise.

‘Oh!’ he said. ‘You wish—’

Rathbury had been fumbling in his pocket for the scrap of grey paper, which he had carefully bestowed in a much-worn memorandum-book. ‘I wished to ask a question, Mr Breton,’ he said. ‘This morning, about a quarter to three, a man—elderly man—was found dead in Middle Temple Lane, and there seems little doubt that he was murdered. Mr Spargo here—he was present when the body was found.’

‘Soon after,’ corrected Spargo. ‘A few minutes after.’

‘When this body was examined at the mortuary,’ continued Rathbury, in his matter-of-fact, business-like tones, ‘nothing was found that could lead to identification. The man appears to have been robbed. There was nothing whatever on him but this bit of torn paper, which was found in a hole in the lining of his waistcoat pocket. It’s got your name and address on it, Mr Breton. See?’

Ronald Breton took the scrap of paper and looked at it with knitted brows.

‘By Jove!’ he muttered. ‘So it has; that’s queer. What’s he like, this man?’

Rathbury glanced at a clock which stood on the mantelpiece.

‘Will you step round and take a look at him, Mr Breton?’ he said. ‘It’s close by.’

‘Well—I—the fact is, I’ve got a case on, in Mr Justice Borrow’s court,’ Breton answered, also glancing at his clock. ‘But it won’t be called until after eleven. Will—’

‘Plenty of time, sir,’ said Rathbury; ‘it won’t take you ten minutes to go round and back again—a look will do. You don’t recognise this handwriting, I suppose?’