The Charing Cross Mystery J. S. Fletcher (summer reading list TXT) đ
- Author: J. S. Fletcher
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âThere you are, Mr. Hetherwick,â he exclaimed. âThatâs just what I expected to find outâ âthough I certainly didnât think we should discover it so quickly. This man has lived at Sellithwaite some time or other. Look there, at this addressâ ââMr. James Granett, 7, Victoria Terrace, Sellithwaite, Yorkshire.â Of course!â âthatâs how he came to know and be with Hannaford. They were old acquaintances. Seeâ âthere are several letters.â
Hetherwick took two or three of the envelopes in his hand and looked closely at them. He perceived at once what Matherfield had not noticed.
âJust so!â he said. âBut whatâs of far more importance is the date. Look at thisâ âyou see? That shows that Granett was living at Sellithwaite ten years agoâ âit was of that time that Hannaford was talking to him in the train.â
âOh, weâre getting at something!â assented Matherfield. âNow weâll put everything back, and Iâll take this box away and examine it thoroughly at leisure.â He replaced the various articles, twisted a cord round the box, knotted it, and turned to the dead manâs clothes, lying neatly folded on a chair close by. âI havenât had a look at the pockets of those things yet,â he continued. âIâll just take a glanceâ âyou never know.â
Hetherwick again watched in silence. There was little of interest revealed until Matherfield suddenly drew a folded bit of paper from one of the waistcoat pockets. Smoothing it out he uttered a sharp exclamation.
âGood!â he said. âSee this? A brand new five pound note! Now, Iâll lay anything he hadnât had that on him long! Got it that night, doubtless. Andâ âfrom whom?â
âI should say Hannaford gave it to him,â suggested Hetherwick.
But Matherfield shook his head and put the note in his own pocket.
âThatâs a definite clue!â he said, with emphasis. âI can trace that!â
IX The Medicine BottleHetherwick went away from the sordid atmosphere of Fligwoodâs Rents wondering more than ever at this new development; he continued to wonder and to speculate all the rest of that day and most of the next. That Granettâs sudden death had followed on Hannafordâs seemed to him a sure proof that there was more behind this mystery than anybody had so far conceived of. Personally, he had not the slightest doubt that whoever poisoned Hannaford had also poisoned Granett. And he was not at all surprised when, late in the afternoon of the day following upon that of the visit to Dorking, Matherfield walked into his chambers with a face full of news.
âI know what youâre going to tell me, Matherfield,â said Hetherwick, motioning his visitor to an easy chair. âThe doctors have held a postmortem on Granett, and they find that he was poisoned.â
Matherfieldâs face fell; he was robbed of his chance of a dramatic announcement.
âWell, and thatâs just what I was going to tell you,â he answered. âThatâs what they do say. Same doctors that performed the autopsy on Hannaford. Doesnât surprise you?â
âNot in the least,â replied Hetherwick. âI expected it. Theyâre sure of it?â
âDead certain! But, as in Hannafordâs case, theyâre not certain of the particular poison used. Howeverâ âalso as in his caseâ âtheyâve submitted the whole case to two big swells in that line, one of âem the man thatâs always employed by the Home Office in these affairs, and the other that famous specialist at St. Marthaâs Hospitalâ âI forget his name. Theyâll get to work; theyâre at work on the Hannaford case now. Difficult job, I understandâ âsome very subtle poison, probably little known. However, I believe weâve got a clue about it.â
âA clueâ âabout the poison?â exclaimed Hetherwick. âWhat clue?â
âWell, this,â answered Matherfield. âAfter youâd gone away from Fligwoodâs Rents yesterday afternoon, and while I was making arrangements for the removal of the poor chapâs body, I took another careful look round the room. Now, if you noticed things as closely as all that, you may have observed that Granettâs bed was partly in a sort of alcoveâ âthe head part. In the corner of that alcove, or recess, just where he could have set them down by reaching his arm out of bed, I found a bottle and a glass tumbler. The bottle was an ordinary medicine bottleâ ânot a very big one. It had the cork in it and about an inch of fluid, which, on taking out the cork, I found to be whisky, and, I should say by the smell, whisky of very good quality. But I noticed that there was the very slightest trace of some sort of sediment at the bottom. There was a trace of similar sediment in the bottom of the tumbler. Now, of course, I put these things up most carefully, sealed them, and handed them over to the doctors. For it was very evident to meâ âreconstructing things, you knowâ âthat Granett had mixed himself a drink, a nightcap, if you like to call it so, from that bottle on getting into bed, and then had put bottle and glass down by his bed-head, in the corner. And just as I mean to trace that five-pound note, Mr. Hetherwick, so I mean to trace that bottle!â
âHow?â asked Hetherwick, closely interested. âAnd to what, or whom?â
âTo the chemists where it came from,â answered Matherfield. âIt came from some chemistâs, and Iâll find which!â
âThere are hundreds of chemists in London,â said Hetherwick. âItâs a stiff proposition.â
âItâs going to be done, anyway,â asserted Matherfield. âAnd it maynât be such a stiff job as it at first looks to be. See here! There were labels on that bottle, both of âem torn and defaced, itâs true, but still with enough on them to narrow down the field of inquiry. Iâve had the face of the bottle photographedâ âhereâs a print of the result.â
He brought out a photographic print, roughly finished and mounted on a card, and handed it over to Hetherwick, who took it to the light and examined it carefully. It
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