Country homes -- England -- Fiction; Detective and mystery stories; Murder -- Investigation -- Fiction
“If we dowse the sulphur, the wind will clear away the fumes fairly
soon. We can get water from the river and put it out. There’s sure to
be something in the boat-house which we can use for bringing water—a
bucket or a bailer of some sort!”
When it seemed safe, they entered the Maze and soon reached Helen’s
Bower. No danger awaited them. Ernest’s body lay sprawling on the
grass with a bullet wound in the head and the automatic pistol still
clutched in the hand. Sir Clinton crossed over and knelt down beside
the corpse.
“We’d better search the body now and be done with it,” he said,
beginning the task as he spoke.
“Here’s something bulky in the breast-pocket,” he explained as he
extracted it. “H’m! An envelope with your name written on it,
Stenness. Your property, perhaps?”
Stenness glanced at the paper and a look of intelligence passed
between him and Sir Clinton.
“That’s mine,” he confirmed. “It ought to have notes in it!”
The Chief Constable thrust his fingers into the envelope and, pulling
out some of the contents, exhibited them to the company.
“It’s full of notes—must be a fair sum. I’ll keep this for the
present, Stenness. You don’t mind? It’s best to do things formally;
and you can always have it later on when you want it.”
“Oh, keep it, certainly,” Stenness agreed, with a certain dull
indifference.
Sir Clinton continued his search; but the only thing of interest was a
tin box which he opened carefully and held out for inspection.
“More of these darts, you see?”
He counted them rapidly.
“Yes, that’s right. This represents the balance of the lot after
deducting the ones he used in the attack on Miss Hawkhurst and last
night.”
He replaced the cover on the box and transferred the thing to his
pocket.
“That’s all we need do. You’d better have a look at the body, Ardsley.
We’ll need your evidence at the inquest. I’ll send a constable in here
to look after things until we can get the body removed.”
When Ardsley had finished his examination, they left the Maze.
“Go back to the house now,” Sir Clinton directed, as they emerged from
the entrance gate. “I’ll have to pilot my men in to the centre, you
know. You can send the car down to meet me if you like.”
He turned back with the constables, while the rest of the party got
into the motor. No one seemed inclined to talk, as they made their way
up to the house. The events of the morning had been too bizarre to
merge easily into everyday affairs. To Wendover, it seemed as though
he had spent the last hour or two in some world lying far beyond the
normal bounds of probability—already the siege of the Maze was passing
into the realm of the unreal in his mind; and he had difficulty in
forcing himself to remember that it had cost the life of a man.
But even while he reflected on this, a fresh surprise came upon him.
As the car swept round in sight of the main entrance to Whistlefield,
he heard a sharp intake of breath from Stenness and a suppressed
exclamation from Arthur.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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