Detective and mystery stories; Forensic scientists -- Fiction
It was, and with ink, so that the mark could only be removed by
taking out a piece of the stuff. “If the corpse is Rand, where the
devil did his shirt come from?” said Reggie. “The slayer unpicked the
name from his coat. That was one of the Savile Row suits. But the
shirt? Did the slayer bring a change of linen with him? Provident
fellow, very provident.”
Bell, on his knees by a chest of drawers, gave a grunt. “Lord, here’s
a drawer tumbled. And that’s the first yet. It’s new stuff, too--not
worn.”
Reggie bent over him and whistled. “Not marked. Same sort of stuff as
the corpse wears. And the drawer’s left untidy. The first untidy
drawer. Well, well. Everybody breaks down somewhere. He began to be
untidy then. When he got to the shirt and the vest.” He shivered and
turned away to the window. “This damned place looks out on the well,”
he cried out, and turned back and sat down. “Bah! The slayer did
that, I suppose,” he muttered, and sprang up. “Believe in ghosts, you
men?”
“Good Lord, sir, don’t you start giving us the jumps!” said Bell.
Reggie was at the dressing-table. “Sorry, sorry,” he said over his
shoulder, opening and shutting drawers. Then he turned with something
in his hands. “That wasn’t such a bad shot of mine, Bell. Here’s a
wig. The corpse is uncommon bald. The elusive Rand had lots of brown
hair. Here’s a nice brown wig.”
“There’s no blood on it!” Bell cried.
“No. I guess this is Mr. Rand’s second best. The one he had on when
he was killed wouldn’t look nice now.”
“That about settles it,” Bell said slowly.
“We haven’t seen the bathroom,” said Reggie.
Bell looked at him and shrugged.
“Not likely to be much there, sir,” said the inspector.
“There could be,” said Reggie gravely, and led the way.
It was a bathroom of some size but no luxury. Only the sheer
necessities of bathing were provided. The lower half of the walls was
tiled, the floor of linoleum. Reggie stopped in the doorway.
“Anything strike you about it, Bell?”
“Looks new, sir.”
“Yes. Nice and clean. Tidy, don’t you know. But there’s no towels and
no sponge. Yet in the bedroom everything was ready for Rand to sleep
there to-night--pyjamas, brushes and comb, everything. Didn’t he use
towels? Didn’t he have a sponge?”
“What do you mean, sir?”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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