Last Seen Wearing by Waugh Hillary

Author:Waugh, Hillary [Waugh, Hillary]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Mystery, Pulp, NewBook
ISBN: 9781464213069
Google: iO_5DwAAQBAJ
Goodreads: 571194
Publisher: Dales Large Print Books
Published: 1952-01-01T05:00:00+00:00

Monday, 20 March

The papers on Monday morning, 20 March, started their stories, ‘A grief-stricken Mitchell family depart today for Philadelphia bearing with them the body of their daughter Lowell, the Parker freshman who so tragically met her death in Wheeler River two weeks ago…’ The articles ended with the announcement that the inquest into the circumstances of the death was scheduled to start that morning at ten o’clock.

The inquest was a private one, held in the private chambers of Judge Clifford M. Lee of the County Court in Bristol. The decision to close it to the public was due to the disclosure of pregnancy. That fact was public knowledge but it was a ticklish subject to delve into when the man responsible was not known.

Ford and Cameron along with Lieutenant Stewart of the State police, who was permanently attached to the DA’s office, were the only ones permitted to hear all the testimony. They were invited because of their familiarity with the background and McNarry was wise enough to realize the value of anything they might contribute.

The first witness called was Dr Howe, and he described the position of the body, face up, head pointing downstream, his testimony being backed up by Leslie’s pictures, which Ford had brought. There was no water in the lungs, he reiterated, no marks of violence, the body had been in the water about two weeks, and death had been caused by a broken neck. The neck, he said, had been broken not forward but sideways.

‘If she dove into the water head first,’ said McNarry, ‘would that kind of a break be possible?’

Howe nodded. ‘Not only possible, but probable. Striking the bottom at a slight sideways angle would do it.’

‘Assuming she held her breath, which would be natural, and she died instantly, then there would be no water in the lungs?’

‘That’s right. The lungs weren’t entirely devoid of water, of course. There had been some seepage. However, she never inhaled any.’

‘Could she have fallen in any other way than head first and broken her neck like that?’

‘No.’

Peggy Woodling was the next witness, and she sat in the chair vacated by the medical examiner at one end of the table facing Judge Lee. There, in a hesitating, faltering voice, she told again the story of Lowell’s last morning on earth, her apparent sickness and subsequent disappearance. McNarry, sitting on the judge’s right, next to Lieutenant Stewart, kept shifting his eyes from the girl’s face to the faces of Ford and Cameron across from him. There was nothing in either of the policemen’s manner to indicate the girl’s tale was at variance in any point with the story she had told before. Ford sat in apparent deep thought, staring into his lap or at the table in front of him. Occasionally he slumped back and stared at the ceiling. He did not look at McNarry, nor did he look at Peggy. He did not appear to be listening.

After she had finished her story McNarry asked her some questions regarding Lowell in general, her behaviour, her interest in boys.

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.