Detective and mystery stories; England -- Fiction; Murder -- Investigation -- Fiction
"Nothing--absolutely nothing. But see here, Mr. Fane; put yourself in
my place, in the place of any man. A woman gains admittance to your
house and there is murdered. You alone have the key. On the face of
it, does not that look as though you alone killed her, else, why the
use of your key to let her enter the house? It is lucky for you, as
you say, that in full open court, and in the ears of all men, you were
able to prove an alibi, else nine out of ten would have suspected you
of knowing more than you stated."
"I said all I knew."
"I am sure of that, sir; and you proved--with the assistance of Mrs.
Fane--your innocence. As they say, you leave the court without a
stain. All the same, the case is strange. For my part, pending the
discovery of the young man who dropped the key, I shall hunt for the
woman. In her past life will be found the explanation of her death. I
shall let you know how I get on, but I must ask you to also keep me
advised of what you see and hear."
Fane shrugged his shoulders and took out a cigar. "I shall take no
further steps in the matter. Once this woman is buried, and I have
left Ajax Villa, the thing will be relegated to obscurity so far as I
am concerned."
"Well," said Derrick, with a side look, "perhaps that's natural."
He then said good-bye to Fane, and went away thoughtfully. Derrick was
not a particularly brilliant mortal, as his conduct of the case shows.
As the saying goes, he could not see further than his nose. But he
certainly wondered in his own mind, if despite the evidence of Mrs.
Fane, her husband might not have something to do with the matter. To
save his life, to keep him from shame, she might have kept silence.
"But it's impossible," said Derrick aloud. "If he was guilty, she
would not lie. If the victim had been a man now. But as it was a
woman, a jealous creature like Mrs. Fane would certainly not sacrifice
herself to save a man who deceived her. No; Fane is guiltless. But who
is the culprit? That's the question." And it was a question which
Derrick could not answer, though he tried to do so in his blundering
way.
So the unknown woman was duly buried. Tracey and Fane went to the
funeral, and the body was followed by a large concourse of those who
wished to see the last of the victim of this mysterious tragedy. Every
one agreed that Fane was behaving very well in thus giving the poor
wretch decent burial. Fane looked white and worn when the grave was
being filled in, and the rumour went round of how ill he had been, and
how he had come up from a sick-bed to see this matter through. Several
people shook hands with him as he left the cemetery, and he was
congratulated on all hands. Then the gates of the burial-ground were
closed, and the grave was left to the rain and the sunshine. For all
any one present knew, its secret would not be delivered up until the
Judgment-day.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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