Mad Hatter's Holiday by Peter Lovesey

Author:Peter Lovesey [Lovesey, Peter]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Historical, Mystery
ISBN: 9780754045939
Google: xvu5kQEACAAJ
Amazon: 1569475601
Barnesnoble: 1569475601
Goodreads: 1482415
Publisher: Chivers
Published: 1972-12-31T18:30:00+00:00

CHAPTER

10

ON THE BEACH NEXT afternoon Albert Moscrop lifted the newspaper that was serving to screen his face from the sun, propped himself on one elbow and read the leading article for the fourth time that day.

A Gruesome Discovery on Brighton Beach

The evidence of a sinister and probably murderous crime was uncovered yesterday by a team of police officers and Corporation workmen digging on one of the most frequented sections of the Brighton foreshore, the site of the fish market. The excavation, which was observed by a large crowd of holidaymakers and residents, proceeded under the direction of Sergeant Cribb, a detective of the Criminal Investigation Department of Scotland Yard, who was summoned to the town in the morning, consequent upon the discovery of A SEVERED HUMAN HAND in the new Alligator and Crocodile Cavern of the Aquarium. This horrifying discovery was made by a schoolboy shortly after the Aquarium opened yesterday morning. The lad, who is understood to be a visitor, drew the attention of the manager, Mr. Pym, to the tank in question. The police were informed without delay, and a decision was made at once to telegraph for the assistance of Scotland Yard.

Sergeant Cribb, an officer who is understood to have investigated successfully a number of murders in the Metropolis in recent years, arrived at Brighton on the 2.15 p.m. train, accompanied by an assistant, and proceeded at once to the police station in Grafton Street, and shortly after to the Aquarium, where the gruesome object of his investigation was extracted from its resting place among the saurians and removed to the police station. The experts from Scotland Yard there conducted a minute examination of the hand, as a consequence of which Sergeant Cribb became convinced that particles of sand and fish scales adhering to it indicated a connection with the fishmar-ket, some quarter of a mile to the west of the Chain Pier. Orders were issued for AN EXHAUSTIVE SEARCH FOR A SHARP-BLADED INSTRUMENT among the stalls and barrows which comprise the market. A large body of local police was assigned to this task and within a short time Sergeant Cribb was observed to be standing beside a table bearing a formidable haul of knives, cleavers and hand-saws, while the fish-mongering contingent vainly solicited prospective customers to purchase unfilleted sole and plaice.

A suitable weapon not having been identified, the search was extended to the arches under the adjacent promenade, in which nets, pots and other impedimenta of the fishing community are stored. Those tenants of the arches who were present unlocked their premises, but a number of doors had to be forced open on the Sergeant’s orders. After some twenty minutes the search was concentrated on a particular arch in which the lock was found to be faulty. Inside, the officers found CLEAR EVIDENCE OF RECENT BLOOD-STAINS on the floor and on several packing cases which appeared to have been utilised as a dissecting table. Nothing else having been found, Sergeant Cribb took the unusual steps of ordering the stretch of beach where the market is situated to be cleared and roped off.

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