A large house, untenanted, occupied the bank, a house with solid front facing the road, and a lawn running from the drawing-room windows to the river. Down the right side of the grounds the boundary was sharply marked by a narrow lane, probably a disused ferry road, and access to this thoroughfare was obtained from the lawn by a garden gate.
A newly marked seam in the roadway showed the line of the drainage work, and Bruce did not glance at the point where the pipe entered the Thames, as the structural features here were recent.
He went to the office of the contractor who had carried out the alterations. An elderly foreman readily answered his questions.
“Yes, sir. I was in charge of the men who were on the job. It was an easy business. Just an outlet for rain from the road. An old-fashioned affair; been there thirty or forty years, I should think; all the pipes were crumbling away.”
“Why were the repairs effected at this moment?”
“Well, sir, the house was empty quite a while. You see it used to be a school, a place where young gents were prepared for the army. It was closed about a year ago, and it isn’t everybody as wants so many bedrooms. I do hear as how the new tenant has sixteen children.”
“The incoming people have not yet arrived?”
“No, sir.”
“Can you tell me the name of the schoolmaster?”
“Oh, yes. When I was younger I have done a lot of carpenter’s work for him. He was the Reverend Septimus Childe.”
Bruce made a note of the name, and next sought the local police-inspector.
“No, nothing fresh,” said the latter, in reply to a query concerning the woman “found drowned.”
“I suppose these things are soon lost sight of?” said Bruce casually.
“Sometimes they are, and sometimes they aren’t. It’s wonderful occasionally how a matter gets cleared up after years. Of course we keep all the records of a case, so that the affair can be looked into if anything turns up.”
“Ah, that brings me to the most important object of my visit. A small piece of iron was found imbedded in the woman’s skull.”
The inspector smiled as he admitted the fact.
“May I see it? I want either the loan of it for a brief period, or an exact model.”
Again the policeman grinned.
“I don’t mind telling you that you are too late, sir.”
“Too late! How too late?”
“It’s been gone to Scotland Yard for the best part of a week.”
So others besides the barrister thought that the Putney incident required more attention than had been bestowed upon it.
Bruce concluded his round by a visit to the surgeon who gave evidence at the inquest.
The doctor had no manner of doubt that the woman had been murdered before being placed in the water, the state of the lungs being proof positive on that point.
“It was equally indisputable that she was put to death by malice aforethought?”
“Oh, yes. A small iron spike was absolutely wedged into the brain through the hardest part of the skull.”
“What was the nature of the injuries that caused death?”
“This piece of iron penetrated the occipital bone at the lowest part, and injured the cerebellum, damaging all the great nerve centres at the base of the brain.”
“Would death ensue instantly?”
“Yes. Such a blow would have the effect of a high voltage electric current. Complete paralysis of the nerve centres means death.”
“Then I take it that great force must have been used?”
“Not so much, perhaps, as the nature of the wound seems to imply; but considerable — sufficient, at any rate, to break the piece of iron.”
“It was broken, you say? Was it cast-iron?”
“Yes, of good quality. Off some ornament or design, I should imagine. But it snapped off inside the head at the moment of the occurrence.”
“Curious, is it not, for a person to be killed in such a manner by such an instrument?”
“I have never before met such a case. Were it not for the way in which the body was jammed beneath a hidden drain-pipe, and the effective means taken to destroy the identity, I should have inclined to the belief that some strange accident had happened. At any rate, the murderer must have committed the crime on the spur of the moment, and seized upon the first weapon to hand.”
“You say she was forcibly placed where found?”
“Yes; the workmen’s description left no other idea.”
“Could not the tide have done this?”
“Hardly. One cannot be quite emphatic, as such odd things do happen. But it seems to be almost impossible for the tide at Putney to pack a body beneath a jutting drain-pipe in such a manner that the waist, or narrowest part, should be beneath the pipe and the body remain securely held.”
“Yet it is not so marvellous as the coincidence that this particular drain should need repairs at the precise period when this tragedy happened.”
“Quite so. It is exceedingly strange. Are you interested in the case? Have you reason to believe that this poor woman — ?”
“I hardly know,” broke in the barrister. “I have no data to go upon, but I feel convinced that I shall ultimately establish her identity. You, doctor, can help me much by telling me your surmises in addition to the known facts.”
The medico looked thoughtfully through the window before he exclaimed: “I am certain that the woman found in the Thames came from the upper walks of life. Notwithstanding the disfiguring effects of the water and rough usage, any medical man can rapidly appreciate the caste of his subject. She was, I should say, a woman of wealth and refinement, one who led an orderly, well-regulated life, whose surroundings were normal and healthy.”
Bruce thanked his informant and hurried back to London. A telegram to Inspector White preceded him. He had not long reached his Victoria-street chambers when the detective was announced. He soon made known his wishes. “I want you to give me that small piece of iron found in the head of the woman at Putney,” he said. “If necessary, I will return it in twenty-four hours.”
Mr. White’s face showed some little sign of annoyance. “It is against the rules,” he began; but Bruce curtly interrupted him.
“Very well, I will make direct application to the Commissioner.”
“I was going to say, Mr. Bruce, that although not strictly in accordance with orders, I will make an exception in your case.” And the detective slowly produced the piece de conviction from a large pocket-book.
In sober fact, the police officer was somewhat jealous of the clever lawyer, who saw so quickly through complexities that puzzled his slower brain. He was in nowise anxious to help the barrister in his inquiries, though keenly wishful to benefit by his discoveries, and follow out his theories when they were defined with sufficient clearness.
Bruce did not at first take the proffered article.
“Let me understand, Mr. White,” he said. “Do you object to my presence in this inquiry? Are you going to hinder me or help me? It will save much future misunderstanding if we have this point settled now.”
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