Death in Dark Glasses (Inspector Littlejohn) by George Bellairs

Author:George Bellairs [Bellairs, George]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: PFD Books
Published: 2015-02-26T05:00:00+00:00

11

ARSENIC AND HANDWRITING

DIGGING up a body is a horrible job, especially when there is little purpose except curiosity in it. The confirmation that Mrs. Oates had died from a dose of poison would really lead nowhere. It would simply settle the fact that her husband had poisoned her. But Finloe Oates was dead and past paying the price. Even Lysander, who was presumed to have found out the crime, and, in his fashion, avenged it, was not there to answer questions. He, too, was dead. All the same it had to be done. The necessary order was obtained to sanction the exhuming, which was performed by night. Nobody knew what was toward in Netherby churchyard, except P.C. Mee, three men from Rodley, one from the Home Office and the two Scotland Yard detectives. An old lady who lived near the churchyard rose at three in the morning for a dose of bicarbonate of soda, peeped through the curtains, saw lights cautiously bobbing among the tombstones, plunged back in bed, drew the clothes over her head and forgot her flatulence in her terror.

The organs of poor, neglected Mrs. Oates—once so fair and the cause of strife among friends—revealed arsenic and plenty of it. The experts said there had been enough in the food to kill five more women. And that was that. It added another shocking chapter to the drama of the Oates family, and little else.

Meanwhile, the handwriting experts at Scotland Yard had been busy, too. The writing on the note Littlejohn had found in the Isle of Man had to be established as that of Theodore Hunt beyond doubt. First, an authentic copy of the schoolmaster's handwriting was required. That was easier than they expected. Littlejohn telephoned to the Superintendent of Police at Bishop's Walton and asked for his help. The Superintendent laughed ironically. He had plenty of specimens. His son attended Dalbay Hall School and his copybooks were plentifully sprinkled with caustic samples of just the thing Scotland Yard were asking for. A special messenger arrived very promptly, bearing two grubby, ink-bespattered exercise-books with Superintendent Slatter's compliments. Both bore the stamp of Dalbay Hall, with a statement, in atrocious printing, that they were the property of Thomas J. Slatter, of Form IIIb, and then, in larger and more appalling lettering, "ALGEBRA" and "SCRIPTURE".

The handwriting expert, who had boys of his own and was also skilled enough to do their homework for them when they couldn't do it themselves, had to be reminded by his colleagues that they weren't concerned with the Journeys of St. Paul and Quadratic Equations, but with Theodore Hunt's comments on them. There were many, for Mr. T. J. Slatter's average mark out of a possible twenty, was about three or four.

"The chap at Bishop's Walton ought to blush at sendin' out stuff like this for others to see," said the calligraphist. "Ashamed of himself, too. My boys always get top marks. I see to it they do. . . ."

They concentrated on two statements.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.