American Sherlocks Nick Rennison (best big ereader txt) 📖

She plied young Sadler with questions, but he was dumb and stolid. He was as surprised, he said, as she was; he could not understand it; naturally, he shared her grief, and had not yet been able to consider the matter calmly; it was almost useless to find excuses in the light of the horrible facts; he did not know whether his adopted father had left a will, but he did know that there was no insurance; when he could bring himself to think upon the subject he would give these things his attention.

So he answered her, speaking with scarcely a trace of feeling; and, even in my own confusion, I regarded him with increased aversion. He was a hypocrite – but that mattered little.

In response to questions from me, he spoke with more directness. Mrs Sands had been an inmate of the house prior to his coming there; it was only recently that he had suspected an infatuation for her on the part of his adopted father. He had ventured on one occasion to mention the matter to Dr Haslam, but the suggestion had been received with indignation. He dared say no more, but mentioned the matter to the butler – the servants had observed nothing. The tragedy had fallen upon all like a thunderbolt.

Our visit was over. Dr Haslam had probably little need of the sympathy or affection of a sister. We returned to our home, and the two women sank under the sense of disgrace which they fancied the tragedy brought upon them. They held a portion of the stain of blood-guiltiness because of their nearness to the murderer, and although I strove to move them from such a feeling, my efforts were without avail. The gloom of the affair oppressed my own spirits in spite of my struggle to throw it off, and for days I remained closely at home, anxious to be near Jennie, who clung to me like a child frightened at the dark.

The papers dealt further with the Park Slope murder, as it came to be called, because of the prominence of Dr Haslam. Those who had known him best could not reconcile this frantic deed with any propensity of his past life; a man of scrupulous and Christian character, the crime of murder was the last of which they would have suspected him to be guilty. His disappearance also caused wonder, for no trace of him could be found. From the frightful moment when he had slipped into the night from his house, the gloom seemed to have swallowed him. The house and stable on Banning Street had both been searched with a thoroughness which satisfied the police that he had not lingered near his home. The lakes in the Park were dragged until no spot was left unexplored. In all the throngs that intervened between his dwelling and the river, or the sea, no eye could be found that had seen an elderly man, strangely garbed for the street, fleeing in gown and slippers from the scene of his crime.

The search of the police brought to light other facts as revealed by the papers, but scarcely essential in view of the known details of the murder and the motive. Dr Haslam had been ill during the week preceding the crime, and confined closely to his room, this indisposition following his visit to the police station in search of Mrs Sands. There had been high words between himself and his adopted son growing out of this trouble with the housekeeper; the servants had heard the discussion, and the young man admitted it with sorrow. Dr Haslam, under the influence of his passion, had been growing irritable. Certain improvements in the stable had necessitated the laying of a cement floor, and the teamsters, in hauling material into the yard, had broken down one of the concrete stone gate-posts at the side entrance. The doctor was furious, exhibiting unusual rage. He stormed about the premises until the servants were frightened, but under the entreaties of Dr Sadler he finally grew calm. The young man had promised to see personally to the reconstruction of the damaged post, and at once to order the making of a mould in which the great stone should be cast, with which to replace the broken member of the gate.

Strangely subdued, Dr Haslam had retired to his chamber, and there seemingly lost interest in the work which had before engrossed his attention. It progressed to completion, and, though he remained indifferent, he consented to accompany Mrs Sands and Dr Sadler to inspect it. Confined to his room for several days, they had been anxious to persuade him to take the air. The workmen had gone, but the coachman was present when the three entered the stable, and spoke with them. He also heard the old gentleman give directions to Dr Sadler as to the demolished post, the stone for which was ready. It lay upon the floor beside the cement barrels and concrete from which it had been fashioned, and with which the stable paving had been done. It was a circumstance that the coachman had absented himself for two days from that time, and the butler deposed that this was Dr Haslam’s last appearance to any member of the household except the murdered woman, until the moment his adopted son had come upon him, standing above the body of his victim.

Meantime, Dr Sadler announced the finding of a will among the papers in the study safe, which he had turned over to the family lawyer. No one doubted that the young man was the heir, but the question of the disposition of the property of the fugitive must wait upon the legal knowledge of his death. While his complete disappearance