Bony - 14 - Batchelors of Broken Hill

by Arthur W. Upfield

  The murderer had carried his victim for nine hundred-odd yards before that mullock dump loomed ahead of him, and then he had dropped the body and stood hesitant about his next move. That had been to trudge back across the sand waste towards the distinctive lighting of Argent Street.

  It was Crome’s theory that the story told by the trackers indicated that the murderer was a stranger to Broken Hill, for every man working at the mine beyond the dump would know that path tramped hard by their feet and used daily by dozens who rode a bicycle to and from work. Having arrived at the end of the street, the man had killed his victim, intending to dispose of the body among the mine machinery and thus divert sus­picion in the mind of anyone who had chanced to see him with the woman. Faced by the steep wall of the mullock dump, he had not seen the path and, wearied by the trek across the sand, he decided finally to drop the body there.

  This theory was supported, as to the stranger in Broken Hill, by the fact that no miner would be unaware of what aborigines can read on impressionable surfaces, and no other resident of Broken Hill would be ignorant of it, either. In all of this Bony concurred, and Crome’s confidence rose a fraction of the percentage Pavier said was needful.

  Again at Headquarters, Bony was shown the knife blade. It was seven inches in length, fluted in triangular shape to within an inch of the fine point. That it had been partly filed through close to the haft was evident, and the purpose had been effectual because the wound had not bled. After that came the plaster casts of the mur­derer’s footprints made by shoes size eight, worn slightly at the back of the heels and at no particular edge of the soles.

  “Certainly a large man and heavy,” Bony said. “He struts in the manner of the egotist, head up, shoulders squared. It’ll be Tuttaway without doubt. Telegraph Melbourne for all available information concerning the history of the man, as well as the medical history, and ask if the gaol authorities have a boot or shoe worn by Tuttaway. Urge prompt despatch by air, Crome, for I cannot spend too much time on this case.”

  “I’ll do it at once—and thank you, sir.”

  Left alone, Bony perused the transcript of notes taken by Crome of Pavier’s interview with the dead woman’s sister. It was quickly seen that the conversation was con­fined to the immediate past, for Pavier would have known, and the Staff Records would include, the details of Police­woman Lodding’s previous employment and places of abode.

  It could be accepted with certainty that the murdered woman knew her companion of that night, for she was as remote from the pick-up type as platinum is from lead. And yet her sister had declared repeatedly to Pavier that Muriel Lodding had no male friends with whom she was sufficiently intimate to walk arm in arm at night. The two women lived quietly. Both disliked the cinema but often went to a concert or a lecture. Their interests were identical, and men were not included.

  Bony rang Pavier.

  “What were your impressions of Mrs Dalton?” he asked.

  “Quite good,” replied Pavier. “Slightly older than Lodding but still attractive. Was positive that her sister hadn’t a man friend in Broken Hill. I pressed the matter further, went back to the years before they came here, and Mrs Dalton was equally emphatic that Lodding had never shown interest in any man. Used to tax her about it, warn her she’d become a sour old maid.”

  “So I see from the transcript, sir. Extraordinary set­up.”

  Bony read the statements obtained from the sweethearts. Time and circumstances and identification of the man as far as it went were identical in both statements. That made by the girl gave more, but not much more than the records would provide.

  Staff Records did not help much.

  Muriel Lodding and her sister arrived in Australia from London in June 1936. They had lived in Sydney from that date until transferring to Broken Hill in November 1938. In Sydney the dead woman worked for a firm of wool brokers and station agents, and the transfer to Broken Hill had been dictated by the Broken Hill office of the same firm. She had remained with the Broken Hill office for two years, left to work for a solicitor, and finally joined the clerical staff of the Police Department, subsequently ranking as senior police­woman only for salary.

  Next morning before eleven Crome came into Bony’s office with a substantial package.

  “Just arrived from Melbourne by special air freight,” he announced, and proceeded to remove the covering to disclose a pair of shoes and a long official envelope.

  “Those casts,” snapped Bony.

  Crome brought them, surprising Bony by his swiftness of movement. They were compared with the shoes, and there was triumph in the sergeant’s eyes when they met the gleaming blue eyes over the laden desk.

  “Tuttaway, all right,” Bony stated. “I’m expecting a great friend of mine at any moment. He’ll clinch it, I’m sure. Open the report.”

  There was a covering letter, which Crome put aside pro tem. The report was detailed, and the gist of it ran thus:

  Tuttaway was born in Birmingham, England, in 1880. The son of a hardware merchant, he had been educated at Winchester and Cambridge. Became prominent in vaudeville in 1907, was associated for several years with the Great Martini, and shortly after World War I formed a company of his own which he took on tour through Europe and North and South America. He had dis­banded the company in 1937, in which year he had come to Australia. The following year he bought a property at Doncaster, Victoria.

  The property was valuable, the house being large and built in a previous era, and the grounds extensive. There he lived the life of a recluse, keeping no staff and no out­side domestic help. First evidence of a disordered mind was when he had twenty acres of valuable fruit trees cut down for no apparent reason.

  A girl aged sixteen disappeared from the nearby dis­trict of Lilydale, and eventually she was found in Tutt­away’s house, where she had been confined in a cellar for five months. On being rescued, she was physically healthy and clean, but mentally prostrate. Under nursing care she was able to tell the story of her abduction and im­prisonment.

  Tuttaway, the once famed Great Scarsby, hammered incessantly to make her a magnificent magician, told her that he would present her to the world as such. It mat­tered nothing to him that the girl didn’t want to be a magician. When she failed to master simple tricks and refused to practise, he caned her, twisted her arms, and sometimes forced her to stand on her toes with her thumbs noosed to the wall.

  He ranted at her stubbornness and raved about her beautiful, useless hands.

  When the police found the girl he threw himself at her feet and implored her to remain with him and become the greatest magician the world had ever known. The verdict was inevitable.

  His behaviour in gaol was exemplary, and progress of the mental illness appeared to be arrested. Consequently he was granted a measure of freedom.

  The break had been effected sometime in the afternoon of 27 September 1949. He was not missed until five-fifteen and had not since been sighted with certainty as to identification.

  “It’ll be him,” confidently asserted Crome. “Must have come in by road,”

  “All the police on those road exits?”

  “Too right. If he didn’t clear out immediately after murdering Lodding, then the only way he can get out now is through the scrub. And he’s no bushman.”

  “We’ll see if my friend is waiting,” Bony decided, and rang the public office. Mr James Nimmo was waiting. Jimmy appeared, escorted by a uniformed constable. To Jimmy’s relief, the constable withdrew, but this was counted out by the glimmer of recognition in the small grey eyes of the large man he had taped a policeman long ago. Jimmy was elegantly attired in grey tweed with a faint red stripe.

  “Glad to see you, Jimmy,” Bony said smoothly. “This is Detective Sergeant Crome. Meet Mr Nimmo, Crome.”

  Before the sergeant realised it, he held out his hand, saying:

  “Pleased to meet you, Mr Nimmo.” Jimmy awkwardly accepted the offered fist, smiled faintly, as though amused, sat down
in the indicated chair, and regarded Bony reproachfully. Nonchalantly Bony said:

  “Ever seen this man, Jimmy?”

  Jimmy accepted the official pictures, appeared to edge a fraction farther away from Crome, who sat beside him, and examined the pictures of George Henry Tut­taway.

  “Yes, that’s the fella I saw at Goldspink’s,” he said without looking up. “When I saw him he had a grey moustache and goatee ziff. It’s easy.”

  “Sure?” asked Crome from force of habit.

  “Like ourselves, Crome, Mr Nimmo is a professional observer of faces,” Bony cut in. “As you see at the foot of the pictures, Jimmy, the man’s stage name is the Great Scarsby. Remember the case?”

  “Yes, I do,” answered Jimmy, memory vivid of being seated in a heavy truck and hearing two drivers discuss the escape of Tuttaway. “First time I seen his picture, though. Supposed to be batty, wasn’t he?”

  “Is,” corrected Bony. “Well, thanks, Jimmy, for com­ing along. See you again sometime. Leave you to find your way out.”

  Jimmy got up, nodded to Crome, smiled at Bony, and vanished. Bony waited for his footsteps to die away before saying:

  “Good man, that. Ought to have been a detective. Now that we are sure that your murderer is the escaped Tuttaway, I suggest we give Luke Pavier the entire story for publication tomorrow. If Tuttaway is still in Broken Hill, that will make him bolt, and one of the road patrols will nab him. If you don’t sight him within three days, you can accept the fact that he cleared out before the roads were blocked.”

  “Fair enough, sir. Meanwhile I’ll keep this set of finger­prints and other data close to hand. I’ve men hunting antique shops and others where the knife might have been sold to Tuttaway. By the way, I’ve seen your Mr Nimmo before.”

  “Without doubt, Crome. My friend has been in Broken Hill for several months. On holiday, you know, but not averse to doing a small job now and then. He’s a burglar, and on several occasions I have found him invaluable.”

  “A burg——” Sergeant Crome broke off and gave a low respectful whistle, saying: “Perhaps I can now see through a brick wall, and the recovery of that loot from three break-and-entries.”

  “There were no breakings, Crome. Just enterings.”

  The sergeant’s face reddened. He almost gaped, caught himself in time, and stood stiffly to attention.

  “Yes, sir,” he said, almost as though he agreed.

  “I may have to use Mr Nimmo again, Crome. That is but one of his names and not the name he uses when in Sydney. What is theft compared with homicide? My friend is an expert burglar, almost an artist. I admire experts, no matter in what field, and I never hesitate to use such talent in my search for a killer.”

  “But a burg——”

  Crome began to laugh, checked himself, really laughed, and Bony gravely advised:

  “Keep your eyes on a star, and let not your gaze be diverted by lesser illuminants. Use the lesser luminaries to light your way to reach the star. Your star is the Great Scarsby.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  Many a Slip …

  TWO DAYS passed, yielding nothing. Men questioned and probed: and Superintendent Pavier forgot the date terminating Bony’s association with his police divi­sion: and the Great Scarsby remained elusive.

  The murder of Policewoman Lodding almost over­shadowed that of Hans Gromberg, owing in distinct measure to Luke Pavier, and Wally Sloan reported there was no falling off of lounge trade. The public were wholly absorbed in the hunt for the Great Scarsby.

  Friday afternoon came round again, and Patrick O’Hara went walking with Dublin Kate. The day was brilliant, clear and hot, and as both were putting on weight, they decided to walk to the city and meet their friends down Argent Street.

  Patrick O’Hara was tubby, red, volcanic. He knew everyone and was known to all for a downright honest bookmaker, and since it was the day prior to the weekly races, he could not avoid the business thrust upon him. He drank much beer, and although Dublin Kate did not approve of strong drink, she followed O’Hara in and out of pubs and patiently waited for him when he was stopped in the street.

  Presently they came to a drinking fountain erected at the kerb-side in memory of a civic father who had owned ten pubs and a distillery. If you must drink water you could press a button and direct your mouth to a spurt of water from the basin, or you could fill a metal cup from a tap. You couldn’t take the cup home, pretend it was pewter, and fill it with beer, because it was chained to the fountain.

  At the foot of the fountain was a small drinking trough served by a tap below the basin, but long ago a drunk had assaulted the tap, since when it had never functioned.

  Patrick O’Hara was about to pass this fountain when Dublin Kate made known her objection to dying of thirst. So he filled the metal cup and emptied it into the trough, and Dublin Kate, knowing nothing of Oliver Twist, asked for more.

  Having filled the cup a second time, Patrick O’Hara was about to empty it into the trough when he was accosted by a client, and the bookmaker poised the cup on the edge of the basin. An occasional pedestrian acci­dentally bumped him and apologised, although O’Hara should have stood on the kerb. These apologies were properly acknowledged, and the bookmaker continued to talk with his client for something like five minutes.

  When his client moved on O’Hara emptied the cup of water into the trough and was about to fill it for the third time when again he was saluted by a would-be punter.

  “What about Silver Star for the third, Pat?”

  “Fives to you,” replied O’Hara.

  “Suits me for a tenner. Hi! What’s the matter with your dog?”

  Dublin Kate was slewed sideways as though suffering from a stitch, and abruptly she collapsed into the dry gutter. The astounded O’Hara dropped the cup into the basin, stooped over the body, and swore loudly. A uni­formed policeman materialised out of thin air and asked what was going on.

  “Can’t you ruddy well see?” demanded O’Hara. “Me dog’s been poisoned, that’s what’s going on. I give her a drink of water from the fountain and now look at her.”

  The policeman happened to be he who had been called by a frantic barman to look at Hans Gromberg, and his actions now obliterated his failure to see the woman who had sat next to Mrs Wallace. He took position with his back to the fountain, and his feet were angled to guard the moisture in the trough. He ordered the people to move along and then demanded harshly:

  “What d’you mean, poisoned?”

  Two plain-clothes men took charge. The bookmaker related the facts. One detective dissolved into the crowd, and a minute later reappeared from the taxi which drew up beside the fountain. The dead animal was lifted into the taxi and O’Hara told to get in with it. The uniformed policeman went with him to Headquarters.

  One of the plain-clothes men guarded the fountain, while the other obtained two files and a wad of blotting paper. The moisture in the trough was mopped up by the blotting paper and the files used to detach the cup from the chain. The foot traffic down Argent Street flowed once again.

  Abbot took charge of Patrick O’Hara and the body of Dublin Kate. He listened to the bookmaker’s story, his assistant recording it in shorthand. He heard the report of the uniformed man and that of the senior plain-clothes man. It was then four-thirty and Dr. Hoadly’s surgery period. A plain-clothes man was sent with the metal cup and the blotting paper, with the request that Dr Hoadly telephone his opinion even if not substantiated.

  Patrick O’Hara was introduced to Bony by Abbot, who placed the statement and the reports on the desk. The bookmaker was told to smoke if he wished, but was so infuriated that he broke four matches in lighting a cigar, and his breathing was a whistling noise in his bulbous nose. He was wearing a single-breasted light grey suit, old but clean. The striped silk shirt was thrust into the background by a brilliant green tie. The shirt was clean, but the tie was stained by what could be tomato soup.

  “What age are you, Mr O’Hara?” Bony a
sked.

  “Age!” gasped the bookmaker. “Why, sixty-four, maybe -five.”

  “Married?”

  “Yes. Twice. Why? What’s being married got to do with——”

  “Let’s take it easy, Mr O’Hara. Is your second wife alive?”

  “No. She died eleven years ago. I’m living with me daughter by me first wife.”

  “Now I’m going to ask Senior Detective Abbot a routine question which you must not allow to annoy you,” Bony went on. “What is Mr O’Hara’s reputation?”

  “Good as far as we know, sir,” replied Abbot.

  “I been in business for twenty-nine years and never at any time——”

  “Of course not, Mr O’Hara. We’ll discuss the circum­stances concerning the death of your dog. Was it a valuable dog?”

  “No value. Too old, but I thought a lot of her. Won a lot of races in her day. Ruddy shame, poisoning her like that. Don’t get it.”

  “We’re not certain that she was poisoned,” Bony said. “We’ll have the report soon, and meanwhile tell me—are you sure that your dog showed no distress after lapping up the first cupful of water?”

  “Yes, because it was some time after that I gave her the second cup. A pal of mine bailed me up.”

  “And you held that second cup of water for some time?”

  “Yes, held it on the edge of the basin for two or three minutes. Could have been longer.”

  “Just show me.” Bony moved the inkstand to the edge of the desk. “This is the fountain, and the desk is the roadway. Stand in the position you were when talking to your friend.”

  The bookmaker complied, and Abbot was placed where the friend stood. The fountain faced to the pavement, and O’Hara’s position was partly to one side. He demon­strated how the filled cup had rested on the edge of the basin, and Bony said:

  “Naturally, the street being so busy, people bumped you, I suppose?”

  “Yes, some of ’em did,” agreed O’Hara. “You see, I was caught sort of in a bad position. A bloke bumped me arm and went on, and then another bloke bumped me and gave me a dirty look. After all, it was me own fault. Then a woman sort of knocked me and said she was sorry, and she patted Dublin Kate and said some­thing to her and went on.”