The Diamond Pin. Wells Carolyn
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sir, I never heard of such a thing."
"Absurd!" broke in Winston Bannard, "utterly absurd. If there were such a thing, it could certainly be discovered by your expert detectives."
"There isn't any," declared Hughes, positively. "I've sounded the walls and examined the floor and ceiling, and there's not a chance of it. The way the murderer got out of that locked room is a profound mystery, but it won't be solved by means of a secret entrance."
"Yet what other possibility can be suggested?" went on Timken, thoughtfully. "And the connection needn't be directly with Miss Clyde's room. Suppose there is a sliding wall panel, or an exit to the cellar, in some way."
"But there isn't," insisted Hughes. "I'm not altogether ignorant of architecture, and there is no such thing in any part of that room. Moreover, how could any outsider come to the house, get in, and get into that room, without any member of the household seeing his approach? The two women servants were in the house, but Campbell, the chauffeur, and Purdy, the gardener, were out of doors, and could have seen anyone who came in at the gate."
"Might not the intruder have entered while the family was at dinner, and concealed himself in Mrs. Pell's sitting room, until she went in there after dinner?"
"Possibly," agreed Hughes, "but, in that case, how did the intruder get out?"
And that was the sticking-point with every theory. No one could think of or imagine any way to account for the exit of the criminal. Mrs. Pell had undoubtedly been murdered. Her injuries were not self-inflicted. She had been brutally maltreated by a strong, angry person, before the final blow had killed her. The overturned table, and the ransacked room, the empty pocket-book and handbag were the work of a desperate thief, and it really seemed absurd to connect the name of Iris Clyde with such conditions. More plausible was the theory of Bannard's guilt, but, again, how did he get away?
"There is a possibility of locking a door from the outside," said Coroner Timken.
"I've thought of that," returned Hughes, "but it wasn't done in this case. I've tried to lock that door from outside, with a pair of nippers, and the lock is such that it can't be done. And, too, Polly heard Mrs. Pell's screams at the moment of her murder – the criminal couldn't have run out, and locked the door outside, and gone through this room without having been seen by someone. You were in the dining room, Polly?"
"Yes, sir, and I ran right in here; there was no time for anybody to get away without my seeing him."
The facts, as testified to, were so clear cut and definite, that there seemed little to probe into. It was a deadlock. Mrs. Pell had been robbed and murdered. Apparently there was no way in which this could have been done, and yet it had been done. The two who could be said to have a motive were Iris Clyde and Winston Bannard. It might even be said that they had opportunity, yet it was clearly shown that they could not have escaped unseen.
Bannard was further questioned as to his movements on Sunday.
He declared that he had risen late, and had gone for a bicycle ride, a recreation of which he was fond.
"Where did you ride?" asked Timken.
"Up Broadway and on along its continuation as far as Red Fox Inn."
"That's about half way up here!"
"I know it. I stopped there for luncheon, about noon, and after that I returned to New York."
"You lunched at the Inn at noon?"
"Shortly after twelve, I think it was. The Inn people will verify this."
"They know you?"
"Not personally, but doubtless the waiter who served me will remember my presence."
"And, after luncheon, you returned to the city?"
"I did."
"Reaching your home at what time?"
"Oh, I didn't go to my rooms until about twilight. It was a lovely day, and I came home slowly, stopping here and there when I passed a bit of woods or a pleasant spot to rest. I often spend a day in the open."
"You had your newspaper with you?"
"I did."
"What one?"
"The 'Herald.'" But even as Bannard said the words, he caught himself, and looked positively frightened.
"Ah, yes. There is even now a 'Herald' of yesterday's date in Mrs. Pell's sitting room."
"But that isn't mine. That – that one isn't unfolded – I mean, it hasn't been unfolded. You can see that by its condition. Mine, I read through, and refolded it untidily, even inside out."
"Fine talk!" said Timken, with a slight sneer. "But it doesn't get you anywhere. That New York paper, that cigarette end, and that check stub seem to me to need pretty strict accounting for. Your explanations are glib, but a little thin. I don't see how you got out of the room, or Miss Clyde either; but that consideration would apply equally to any other intruder. And we have no other direction in which to look for the person who robbed Mrs. Pell."
"Leave Miss Clyde's name out," said Bannard, shortly. "If you want to suspect me, go ahead, but it's too absurd to fasten it on a woman."
"Perhaps you both know more than you've told – "
"I don't!" declared Iris, her eyes snapping at the implication. "I was angry at my aunt. I've told you the truth about that, but I didn't kill her. Nor did her nephew. Because we are her probable heirs does not mean that we're her murderers!"
"Your protestation doesn't carry much weight," said Timken, coldly. "We're after proofs, and we'll get them yet. Mr. Bowen, will you take the stand?"
The rector somewhat ponderously acquiesced, and the coroner put some questions to him, which like the preceding queries brought little new light on the mystery.
But one statement roused a slight wave of suspicion toward Iris Clyde. This was the assertion that Mrs. Pell had said she would call her lawyer to her the next day, to change her will.
"With what intent?" asked Timken.
"She promised that she would have all her jewels set into a chalice, and present it to me for my church."
"Oh, she didn't mean that, Mr. Bowen," Iris exclaimed.
"Why didn't she? She said it, and I have no reason to think she was not sincere."
"She may have meant it when she said it," put in Lawyer Chapin, "but she was likely to change her mind before she changed her will."
"That's mere supposition on your part," objected Mr. Bowen.
"But I know my late client better than you do. She changed her will frequently, but her fortune was always left to her relatives, not to any institution or charity."
"She said that she had never thought of it before," Mr. Bowen related, "but that she considered it a fine idea."
"Oh, then you proposed it?" said Timken.
"Yes, I did," replied the clergyman, "I suggested it half jestingly, but when Mrs. Pell acquiesced with evident gladness, I certainly hoped she would put at least part of her fortune into such a good cause."
"You heard this discussion, Miss Clyde?" asked the coroner.
"Of course I did; it occurred at the dinner table."
"And were you not afraid your aunt would make good her promise?"
"She didn't really promise – "
"Afraid then that she would carry out the minister's suggestion."
"I didn't really think much about it. If you mean, did I kill her to prevent such a possibility, I answer I certainly did not!"
And so the futile inquiry went on. Nobody could offer any evidence that pointed toward a solution of the mysterious murder. Nobody could fasten the crime on anyone, or even hint a suggestion of which way to look for the criminal.
Sam Torrey, a brother of Agnes, the maid, testified that he had seen a strange man prowling round the Pell house Sunday morning, but as the lad was reputed to be of a defective mind, and as the tragedy occurred on Sunday afternoon,