The Lady Sleuths MEGAPACK ™: 20 Modern and Classic Tales of Female Detectives

by Catherine Louisa Pirkis

  The doctor was called next. His testimony was most important, and contained a surprise for me and more than one surprise for the others. After a short preliminary examination, he was requested to state how long the woman had been dead when he was called in to examine her.

  “More than twelve and less than eighteen hours,” was his quiet reply.

  “Had the rigor mortis set in?”

  “No; but it began very soon after.”

  “Did you examine the wounds made by the falling shelves and the vases that tumbled with them?”

  “I did.”

  “Will you describe them?”

  He did so.

  “And now”—there was a pause in the Coroner’s question which roused us all to its importance, “which of these many serious wounds was in your opinion the cause of her death?”

  The witness was accustomed to such scenes, and was perfectly at home in them. Surveying the Coroner with a respectful air, he turned slowly towards the jury and answered in a slow and impressive manner:

  “I feel ready to declare, sirs, that none of them did. She was not killed by the falling of the cabinet upon her.”

  “Not killed by the falling shelves! Why not? Were they not sufficiently heavy, or did they not strike her in a vital place?”

  “They were heavy enough, and they struck her in a way to kill her if she had not been already dead when they fell upon her. As it was, they simply bruised a body from which life had already departed.”

  As this was putting it very plainly, many of the crowd who had not been acquainted with these facts previously, showed their interest in a very unmistakable manner; but the Coroner, ignoring these symptoms of growing excitement, hastened to say:

  “This is a very serious statement you are making, doctor. If she did not die from the wounds inflicted by the objects which fell upon her, from what cause did she die? Can you say that her death was a natural one, and that the falling of the shelves was merely an unhappy accident following it?”

  “No, sir; her death was not natural. She was killed, but not by the falling cabinet.”

  “Killed, and not by the cabinet? How then? Was there any other wound upon her which you regard as mortal?”

  “Yes, sir. Suspecting that she had perished from other means than appeared, I made a most rigid examination of her body, when I discovered under the hair in the nape of the neck, a minute spot, which, upon probing, I found to be the end of a small, thin point of steel. It had been thrust by a careful hand into the most vulnerable part of the body, and death must have ensued at once.”

  This was too much for certain excitable persons present, and a momentary disturbance arose, which, however, was nothing to that in my own breast.

  So! so! it was her neck that had been pierced, and not her heart. Mr. Gryce had allowed us to think it was the latter, but it was not this fact which stupefied me, but the skill and diabolical coolness of the man who had inflicted this death-thrust.

  After order had been restored, which I will say was very soon, the Coroner, with an added gravity of tone, went on with his questions:

  “Did you recognize this bit of steel as belonging to any instrument in the medical profession?”

  “No; it was of too untempered steel to have been manufactured for any thrusting or cutting purposes. It was of the commonest kind, and had broken short off in the wound. It was the end only that I found.”

  “Have you this end with you—the point, I mean, which you found imbedded at the base of the dead woman’s brain?”

  “I have, sir”; and he handed it over to the jury. As they passed it along, the Coroner remarked:

  “Later we will show you the remaining portion of this instrument of death,” which did not tend to allay the general excitement. Seeing this, the Coroner humored the growing interest by pushing on his inquiries.

  “Doctor,” he asked, “are you prepared to say how long a time elapsed between the infliction of this fatal wound and those which disfigured her?”

  “No, sir, not exactly; but some little time.”

  Some little time, when the murderer was in the house only ten minutes! All looked their surprise, and, as if the Coroner had divined this feeling of general curiosity, he leaned forward and emphatically repeated:

  “More than ten minutes?”

  The doctor, who had every appearance of realizing the importance of his reply, did not hesitate. Evidently his mind was quite made up.

  “Yes; more than ten minutes.”

  This was the shock I received from his testimony.

  I remembered what the clock had revealed to me, but I did not move a muscle of my face. I was learning self-control under these repeated surprises.

  “This is an unexpected statement,” remarked the Coroner. “What reasons have you to urge in explanation of it?”

  “Very simple and very well known ones; at least, among the profession. There was too little blood seen, for the wounds to have been inflicted before death or within a few minutes after it. Had the woman been living when they were made, or even had she been but a short time dead, the floor would have been deluged with the blood gushing from so many and such serious injuries. But the effusion was slight, so slight that I noticed it at once, and came to the conclusions mentioned before I found the mark of the stab that occasioned death.”

  “I see, I see! And was that the reason you called in two neighboring physicians to view the body before it was removed from the house?”

  “Yes, sir; in so important a matter, I wished to have my judgment confirmed.”

  “And these physicians were—”

  “Dr. Campbell, of 110 East —— Street, and Dr. Jacobs, of —— Lexington Avenue.”

  “Are these gentlemen here?” inquired the Coroner of an officer who stood near.

  “They are, sir.”

  “Very good; we will now proceed to ask one or two more questions of this witness. You told us that even had the woman been but a few minutes dead when she received these contusions, the floor would have been more or less deluged by her blood. What reason have you for this statement?”

  “This; that in a few minutes, let us say ten, since that number has been used, the body has not had time to cool, nor have the blood-vessels had sufficient opportunity to stiffen so as to prevent the free effusion of blood.”

  “Is a body still warm at ten minutes after death?”

  “It is.”

  “So that your conclusions are logical deductions from well-known facts?”

  “Certainly, sir.”

  A pause of some duration followed.

  When the Coroner again proceeded, it was to remark:

  “The case is complicated by these discoveries; but we must not allow ourselves to be daunted by them. Let me ask you, if you found any marks upon this body which might aid in its identification?”

  “One; a slight scar on the left ankle.”

  “What kind of a scar? Describe it.”

  “It was such as a burn might leave. In shape it was long and narrow, and it ran up the limb from the ankle-bone.”

  “Was it on the right foot?”

  “No; on the left.”

  “Did you call the attention of any one to this mark during or after your examination?”

  “Yes; I showed it to Mr. Gryce the detective, and to my two coadjutors; and I spoke of it to Mr. Howard Van Burnam, son of the gentleman in whose house the body was found.”

  It was the first time this young gentleman’s name had been mentioned, and it made my blood run cold to see how many side-long looks and expressive shrugs it caused in the motley assemblage. But I had no time for sentiment; the inquiry was growing too interesting.

  “And why,” asked the Coroner, “did you mention it to this young man in pref
erence to others?”

  “Because Mr. Gryce requested me to. Because the family as well as the young man himself had evinced some apprehension lest the deceased might prove to be his missing wife, and this seemed a likely way to settle the question.”

  “And did it? Did he acknowledge it to be a mark he remembered to have seen on his wife?”

  “He said she had such a scar, but he would not acknowledge the deceased to be his wife.”

  “Did he see the scar?”

  “No; he would not look at it.”

  “Did you invite him to?”

  “I did; but he showed no curiosity.”

  Doubtless thinking that silence would best emphasize this fact, which certainly was an astonishing one, the Coroner waited a minute. But there was no silence. An indescribable murmur from a great many lips filled up the gap. I felt a movement of pity for the proud family whose good name was thus threatened in the person of this young gentleman.

  “Doctor,” continued the Coroner, as soon as the murmur had subsided, “did you notice the color of the woman’s hair?”

  “It was a light brown.”

  “Did you sever a lock? Have you a sample of this hair here to show us?”

  “I have, sir. At Mr. Gryce’s suggestion I cut off two small locks. One I gave him and the other I brought here.”

  “Let me see it.”

  The doctor passed it up, and in sight of every one present the Coroner tied a string around it and attached a ticket to it.

  “That is to prevent all mistake,” explained this very methodical functionary, laying the lock aside on the table in front of him. Then he turned again to the witness.

  “Doctor, we are indebted to you for your valuable testimony, and as you are a busy man, we will now excuse you. Let Dr. Jacobs be called.”

  As this gentleman, as well as the witness who followed him, merely corroborated the statements of the other, and made it an accepted fact that the shelves had fallen upon the body of the girl some time after the first wound had been inflicted, I will not attempt to repeat their testimony. The question now agitating me was whether they would endeavor to fix the time at which the shelves fell by the evidence furnished by the clock.

  CHAPTER X

  IMPORTANT EVIDENCE

  Evidently not; for the next words I heard were: “Miss Amelia Butterworth!”

  I had not expected to be called so soon, and was somewhat flustered by the suddenness of the summons, for I am only human. But I rose with suitable composure, and passed to the place indicated by the Coroner, in my usual straightforward manner, heightened only by a sense of the importance of my position, both as a witness and a woman whom the once famous Mr. Gryce had taken more or less into his confidence.

  My appearance seemed to awaken an interest for which I was not prepared. I was just thinking how well my name had sounded uttered in the sonorous tones of the Coroner, and how grateful I ought to be for the courage I had displayed in substituting the genteel name of Amelia for the weak and sentimental one of Araminta, when I became conscious that the eyes directed towards me were filled with an expression not easy to understand. I should not like to call it admiration and will not call it amusement, and yet it seemed to be made up of both. While I was puzzling myself over it, the first question came.

  As my examination before the Coroner only brought out the facts already related, I will not burden you with a detailed account of it. One portion alone may be of interest. I was being questioned in regard to the appearance of the couple I had seen entering the Van Burnam mansion, when the Coroner asked if the young woman’s step was light, or if it betrayed hesitation.

  I replied: “No hesitation; she moved quickly, almost gaily.”

  “And he?”

  “Was more moderate; but there is no signification in that; he may have been older.”

  “No theories, Miss Butterworth; it is facts we are after. Now, do you know that he was older?”

  “No, sir.”

  “Did you get any idea as to his age?”

  “The impression he made was that of being a young man.”

  “And his height?”

  “Was medium, and his figure slight and elegant. He moved as a gentleman moves; of this I can speak with great positiveness.”

  “Do you think you could identify him, Miss Butterworth, if you should see him?”

  I hesitated, as I perceived that the whole swaying mass eagerly awaited my reply. I even turned my head because I saw others doing so; but I regretted this when I found that I, as well as others, was glancing towards the door beyond which the Van Burnams were supposed to sit. To cover up the false move I had made—for I had no wish as yet to centre suspicion upon anybody—I turned my face quickly back to the crowd and declared in as emphatic a tone as I could command:

  “I have thought I could do so if I saw him under the same circumstances as those in which my first impression was made. But lately I have begun to doubt even that. I should never dare trust to my memory in this regard.”

  The Coroner looked disappointed, and so did the people around me.

  “It is a pity,” remarked the Coroner, “that you did not see more plainly. And, now, how did these persons gain an entrance into the house?”

  I answered in the most succinct way possible.

  I told them how he had used a door-key in entering, of the length of time the man stayed inside, and of his appearance on going away. I also related how I came to call a policeman to investigate the matter next day, and corroborated the statements of this official as to the appearance of the deceased at time of discovery.

  And there my examination stopped. I was not asked any questions tending to bring out the cause of the suspicion I entertained against the scrub-woman, nor were the discoveries I had made in conjunction with Mr. Gryce inquired into. It was just as well, perhaps, but I would never approve of a piece of work done for me in this slipshod fashion.

  A recess now followed. Why it was thought necessary, I cannot imagine, unless the gentlemen wished to smoke. Had they felt as much interest in this murder as I did, they would not have wanted bite or sup till the dreadful question was settled. There being a recess, I improved the opportunity by going into a restaurant near by where one can get very good buns and coffee at a reasonable price. But I could have done without them.

  The next witness, to my astonishment, was Mr. Gryce. As he stepped forward, heads were craned and many women rose in their seats to get a glimpse of the noted detective. I showed no curiosity myself, for by this time I knew his features well, but I did feel a great satisfaction in seeing him before the Coroner, for now, thought I, we shall hear something worth our attention.

  But his examination, though interesting, was not complete. The Coroner, remembering his promise to show us the other end of the steel point which had been broken off in the dead girl’s brain, limited himself to such inquiries as brought out the discovery of the broken hat-pin in Mr. Van Burnam’s parlor register. No mention was made by the witness of any assistance which he may have received in making this discovery; a fact which caused me to smile: men are so jealous of any interference in their affairs.

  The end found in the register and the end which the Coroner’s physician had drawn from the poor woman’s head were both handed to the jury, and it was interesting to note how each man made his little effort to fit the two ends together, and the looks they interchanged as they found themselves successful. Without doubt, and in the eyes of all, the instrument of death had been found. But what an instrument!

  The felt hat which had been discovered under the body was now produced and the one hole made by a similar pin examined. Then Mr. Gryce was asked if any other pin had been picked up from the floor of the room, and he replied, no; and the fact was established in the minds of all present that the young woman had be
en killed by a pin taken from her own hat.

  “A subtle and cruel crime; the work of a calculating intellect,” was the Coroner’s comment as he allowed the detective to sit down. Which expression of opinion I thought reprehensible, as tending to prejudice the jury against the only person at present suspected.

  The inquiry now took a turn. The name of Miss Ferguson was called. Who was Miss Ferguson? It was a new name to most of us, and her face when she rose only added to the general curiosity. It was the plainest face imaginable, yet it was neither a bad nor unintelligent one. As I studied it and noted the nervous contraction that disfigured her lip, I could not but be sensible of my blessings. I am not handsome myself, though there have been persons who have called me so, but neither am I ugly, and in contrast to this woman—well, I will say nothing. I only know that, after seeing her, I felt profoundly grateful to a kind Providence.

  As for the poor woman herself, she knew she was no beauty, but she had become so accustomed to seeing the eyes of other people turn away from her face, that beyond the nervous twitching of which I have spoken, she showed no feeling.

  “What is your full name, and where do you live?” asked the Coroner.

  “My name is Susan Ferguson, and I live in Haddam, Connecticut,” was her reply, uttered in such soft and beautiful tones that every one was astonished. It was like a stream of limpid water flowing from a most unsightly-looking rock. Excuse the metaphor; I do not often indulge.

  “Do you keep boarders?”

  “I do; a few, sir; such as my house will accommodate.”

  “Whom have you had with you this summer?”

  I knew what her answer would be before she uttered it; so did a hundred others, but they showed their knowledge in different ways. I did not show mine at all.

  “I have had with me,” said she, “a Mr. and Mrs. Van Burnam from New York. Mr. Howard Van Burnam is his full name, if you wish me to be explicit.”