Tragedy at Ravensthorpe (A Clinton Driffield Mystery) by J. J. Connington

Author:J. J. Connington [Connington, J. J.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781471905940
Publisher: Orion Publishing Group
Published: 2012-11-30T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nine

THE MURAMASA SWORD

AS the door closed behind Michael Clifton, the Chief Constable turned to the Inspector.

“Now we can get to business, Inspector. Let’s have a look round the place at leisure, and perhaps the surgeon will turn up before we reach the body itself.”

Followed by Armadale, he stepped over to the bay containing the corpse of Foss and began methodically to inspect the surroundings.

“This must have been the case that Marden slipped against when he cut his hand,” the Inspector pointed out. “There’s a big hole in the glass and some blood on the broken edges of the gap.”

“Oh, yes, there’s blood enough to suit most people,” Sir Clinton admitted, with a glance towards the shattered case. But he seemed less interested in the glass than in the floor surface; for he moved slowly to and fro, evidently trying to place himself so that the sunlight from the window was reflected up to him from the parquet. After a moment or two, he seemed satisfied.

“That part of Marden’s story seems true enough. He did slip here. If you come across, you’ll see a line where the polish of the parquet has been taken off by some hard part of his shoe. You won’t be able to spot it unless you make a mirror of the floor.”

The Inspector in his turn moved over and satisfied himself of the existence of the faint mark.

“That confirms part of his story,” he admitted, grudgingly. “There’s a lot of blood about, quite apart from the stuff from the body. One might make something out of that.”

“Suppose we try,” Sir Clinton suggested. “Assume that he cut his hand here on the glass. He’d be all asprawl on the floor; and the first thing he’d do would be to put his hands down to help himself up. That would account for these biggish patches here, under the case. Then a foot or so away you see those round marks of droplets with tiny splashes radiating from them with a fair regularity all round. These must have been made by drops falling from his hand while he stood still—no doubt while he was feeling with the other hand for his handkerchief to stanch the bleeding.”

The Inspector indicated his agreement.

“After he’d got it fixed up, one might expect him to go over and look at Foss. He’d gone down on the floor, you remember, while he was hurrying to Foss’s assistance.”

“There’s no sign of that,” Armadale hastened to point out. “I can’t see any blood-drops round about the body.”

“Oh, don’t be in too much of a hurry, Inspector. Perhaps they fell in the pool of Foss’s own blood or, more probably, his handkerchief soaked up any blood that flowed just then.”

Sir Clinton, still with his eyes on the ground, began to cast about in search of further traces.

“Ah, here are a couple of drops at the end of the bay. Have a look at them, Inspector.”

Armadale knelt down and examined the clots.

“Made on his way to the door, probably,” he suggested.

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