Crime at Guildford by Freeman Wills Crofts

Author:Freeman Wills Crofts [Crofts, Freeman Wills]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2020-06-11T17:00:00+00:00

13

Enter a Rope

Superintendent Fenning listened with politeness but no great enthusiasm to French’s new idea.

‘Yes,’ he said when he had heard it to the end, ‘I agree that if someone had used the window, that would explain a good deal. Who have you in mind? Norne?’

‘Norne admits he left the others for ten or twelve minutes about half-past ten. Ricardo and Osenden may also have left the room. If so, any one of them could have carried out any trick, unknown to the other two.’

Fenning nodded expectantly.

‘Suppose,’ continued French, ‘Norne threw out a rope ladder when he was up at ten. Or if you like, suppose Ricardo or Osenden found out that Minter was to have that room and threw out a rope ladder before ever Minter arrived. Couldn’t whoever did that have climbed up, killed Minter, climbed down again, and gone back into the library, without anyone being a bit the wiser?’

‘And conveniently closed the window from the inside and removed the ladder from the ground.’

‘H’m,’ said French, ‘that’s a nasty one. My point is simply this: Minter was probably murdered about ten. If Norne didn’t do it during his known visit and if Jeffries’ statement is true, entrance through the window is the only possibility left.’

Fenning saw that French was keen on his idea and evidently wished to humour him, for he said: ‘Let’s go up and have another look at the room.’

This was what French had really wanted and he agreed with alacrity. Fenning rang for his car, and a few minutes later the two men reached Severno.

Norne had not required the room Minter had occupied, and as the adjourned inquest had not yet been held, Fenning had kept the door sealed. He now broke the seals and they entered. French crossed the room to the window.

It was an ordinary four-sectioned window with lead lights and steel frames. Three vertical wooden bars divided it into the four sections. The whole of the two end sections opened outwards on side hinges, the hinges being at the extreme sides of the windows. The bottom portions of the two centre sections were fixed, but their upper two-fifths opened outwards, the hinges being along the tops. The wooden bars and surrounding casing were painted cream and the steel frames black.

‘Now, let’s see,’ said French when he had assimilated these facts, ‘you found the two side windows shut and latched, and the upper quadrants of the centre ones partly open?’

‘That’s correct.’

‘Well, see, super. Suppose a man set a ladder up against the sill, he could put his arm in through one of the centre upper quadrants and reach down and unlatch the adjoining side window.’

‘Those latches should always be put to the side of the frame away from the quadrant for that very reason.’

‘Yes, but they very seldom are. They weren’t here, at all events. Do you agree with that, super?’

‘That a man standing on the sill could stretch in through the quadrant and open a side window? Yes, I suppose he could.

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