"Persons Unknown". Virginia Tracy
of Contents
MRS. WILLING TELLS WHAT SHE KNOWS
The morning of the inquest was cloudy, with a wet wind. Herrick was nervous, and he could not be sure whether this nervousness sprang from the ardor of championship or accusation. But one thing was clear. Christina Hope had slain Evadne and closed his mouth to Sal; but, at last, he was to see her, face to face.
She was there when he arrived, sitting in a corner with her mother. Herrick recognized her at once, but with a horrid pang of disappointment. Was this his Diana of the Winds? Or yet his Destroying Angel? This was only a tall quiet girl in a gray gown. To be more exact it was a gray ratine suit, with a broad white collar, and her small gray hat seemed to fold itself close in to the shape of her little head; the low coil of her hair was very smooth. Herrick observed with something oddly akin to satisfaction that he had been right about her coloring—there were the fair skin, the brown hair, the eyes cool as gray water. Under these to-day there were dark shadows and her face was shockingly pale.
The first witness called was a Doctor Andrews. After the preliminary questions as to name, age, and so forth, he was asked, "You reside in the Van Dam Apartments?"
"I do."
"On what floor?"
"The ninth."
"On the night of August fifth did you hear any unusual sounds?"
"Not until I heard the pistol-shot—that is, except Mr. Ingham, playing his piano—if you could call that unusual."
"He often played late at night?"
"He had been away during the summer; but, before that, there was a great deal of complaint. He gave a great many supper-parties; at the same time, he was such a charming fellow that people forgave him whenever he wished. Besides, he was a magnificent musician."
"Were there ladies at these supper-parties?"
"Not to my personal knowledge."
"What did you do, Dr. Andrews, when you heard the shot?"
"I looked out of the window, and saw nothing. I thought I might have been mistaken; it might have been a tire bursting. But I noticed that the piano had stopped."
After the shot the witness had remained restless.
"Presently I thought I heard some one hammering. I got up again and opened the door and then I heard it distinctly. I know now that it was the efforts of Mr. Herrick to break Ingham's lock with a revolver. I could hear a mixture of sounds—movements. I went back and began to get my clothes on and when I was nearly dressed my 'phone rang."
"Tell us what it said."
"It was the voice of the superintendent saying, 'Please come down to 4-B in a hurry, Dr. Andrews. Mr. Ingham's shot himself.'"
"And you went?"
"Immediately."
"He was dead on your arrival?"
"Quite."
"How long should you, as a physician, say it was since death occurred?"
"Not more than fifteen or twenty minutes."
"Had the death been instantaneous?"
"Certainly. He was shot through the heart."
"Then, in your opinion, if the deceased had taken his own life, he could not have sprung off the electric lights, nor in any fashion done away with the weapon, after the shot."
"He certainly could not."
"In your professional opinion, then, he did not commit suicide?"
"There is no question of an opinion. I know he did not."
"You are very positive, Dr. Andrews?"
"Absolutely positive. Death was instantaneous. Also, there was no powder about the wound, showing that the shot had been fired from a distance of four feet or more. Also, the body did not lie where it had fallen."
"How do you know that?"
"There was a little puddle of blood in the sitting-room, where Ingham fell. Your physician and myself called the attention of the police to marks on the rugs following a trail of drops of blood into the bedroom where the body was found."
"You do not think that the deceased could have crawled or staggered there, after the shooting?"
"I do not."
"You believe that the body was dragged there, after death?"
"Yes."
"You remained with the body until the arrival of myself and Doctor Shippe?"
"I did."
"Dr. Andrews, the apartment in which the shooting occurred had no access to the windows of any other apartment, no fire-escape, and no means of egress except through a door which was found bolted on the inside. Suppose that a murder was committed. Have you any theory accounting for the murderer's escape?"
"None whatever."
"And does not the absence of all apparent means of escape shake your theory of the impossibility of suicide?"
"Not in the least. It is unshakable."
"Thank you. That will do."
The coroner's physician confirmed Dr. Andrews in every particular. The coroner settled back and seemed to pause. And the listeners drew a long breath. Something at least had been decided. It was not suicide. It was murder.
This had been established so completely and so early in the examination that Herrick found himself impressed with the idea of the coroner's knowing pretty distinctly what he was about. It seemed that he might very well have some theory to establish, for which, in the first place, he had now cleared the ground. Herrick stole a glance at Deutch. His face was wet and colorless, and his eyes fixed on vacancy. And then, curious to note the effect of hearing her lover proclaimed foully murdered, he permitted himself the cruelty of looking at Miss Hope. Apparently it had no effect on her at all. Her mother, a slight, handsome woman, very fashionably turned out, followed eagerly every suggestion of the evidence. But the girl still sat with lowered eyes.
The next evidence, that of the police, threw no further light; and then came the tremulous Theodore of Herrick's acquaintance whose surname transpired as Bird.
Bird, too, had been awake and had heard the shot; he had been fully aware from the first that it was a pistol-shot. He and Mrs. Bird had risen and put up the chain on their door, and then he had telephoned to the superintendent.
"Did the hall-boy connect you at once?"
"It isn't the hall-boy. It's the night-elevator-boy."
"Well, did the night-elevator-boy connect you at once?"
"No, I was a long time getting him."
"The boy?"
"Yes."
"Ah! He, at least, was able to sleep. But, after you got him, was your connection with the superintendent immediate?"
"Almost immediate, I guess."
"It didn't strike you that he was purposely delaying?"
The listeners leaned forward. And Herrick, as at a touch home, dropped his eyes.
"Why, I couldn't say that it did. No, hardly. Besides, he might have been asleep, too."
"Ah! So he might. And what was the first thing he said to you?"
"Through the 'phone?"
"Certainly. Through the 'phone."
"He