Only seven were hanged
base in the center of the spilled wine. It had been placed that way
after it fell, knocked over by Goff's flailing arms when he was shot!
That was easy to deduce."
The inspector turned to his subordinate.
"Guard him while I make another search of his room. I hadn't time to
go through it properly first time."
Five minutes later the inspector returned to the library with the
bundles of banknotes that were missing from the safe.
"They were under a corner of your carpet," he said, quietly. "We
need no more proof."
The prisoner was dumb, struck silent by this incriminating evidence
before his eyes.
"Goff befriended you," went on the inspector, sternly, "when you
needed friends. He treated you well. He did not know that you had a
bad record and had just been released from a period of preventive
detention for being a habitual criminal. I am charging you with
murder, John Williams. I've been keeping my eye on you for some
time. I suppose you will go quietly."
And Williams went without a word. He did not say anything from that
moment until, in his cell, he asked for a solicitor to undertake his
defense.
He was hanged in spite of his fight for his worthless life.
That was certainly an occasion on which I donned the black cap with
every justification....
The waiter flicked an imaginary speck of dust from his coat.
"You will pardon me," he said, crushingly, "if I disagree with your
final observation. The execution of John Williams was indeed the
sentence of a very blind justice, my lord! The real murderer of
Goff, the money-lender, is alive and well today and your penal code
cannot lay a hand on him because (although he makes no secret of his
guilt) your law cannot charge a second man with a murder for which
another has already paid!"
CHAPTER IX
_The Waiter States His Fourth Case_
At the calm words of the waiter the judge showed symptoms of extreme
consternation.
The waiter did not make any attempt, nor give any indication that he
was at all anxious, to allay the other's perturbation. He seemed,
indeed, to be singularly detached, and it was not until the judge's
countenance showed that his disturbance was giving place to
resentment that the waiter made a gesture that caused the judge to
grit his teeth. The waiter yawned.
"You have made a declaration," began the judge, irritably; but the
waiter brought his fist down with a resounding whack on the table.
"I have," he said firmly. "I have made a few declarations since I
entered these premises; and this one is no less true than the others.
I have said that the real murderer of Goff, the money-lender, is
still alive. To go into a minor detail, he is at this moment in
prison."
"I thought at first," remarked the judge, as his lip curled, "that
you would claim the distinction of having yourself murdered Goff.
You have two aliases----"
"Oh, I have more, but they do not affect our present considerations.
I am not the man who murdered Goff. I have not murdered anybody yet.
So far my attention has been directed to smaller matters in the crime
calendar. And I have been studying the law."
"But you have not been observing it in obedience," thrust the judge
at him angrily. "I am waiting, however, for you to prove what you
have just said. I shall require absolute proof--and even then----
But I am prepared to listen to your explanation."
As a matter of fact, this was just what the judge, at that moment,
was least inclined to do. He did not want to believe that the law
for which he stood had been guilty of such a frightful mistake as to
hang the wrong man. On the other hand, he was aware that such
mistakes _were_ made in the past, few in number, of course, but still
mistakes that were very regrettable. He had never come up against
any mistake of that kind in his career and he could not admit that
the law, which he so revered, had overlooked any item, or
over-emphasized any point. Did not the foremost counsel argue in his
court? Did not he himself explain every point of law to every jury
before allowing them to retire to consider the verdict? These
thoughts were running through his brain when he became aware that the
waiter was speaking.
"I am asking you," the waiter was repeating, "to consider the inmates
of Goff's house. There were the usual servants, all of whom we can
rule out. There were the guests and there was the manservant,
Williams. I should like you to use your powers of deduction in this
matter. There were four guests----"
"Hadn't you better prove the innocence of Williams before you attach
guilt to anybody else?"
"Very well. Nothing could be simpler. Williams did not shoot Goff.
Williams went into the library, not to take the wineglass on the desk
and so eliminate evidence that would go against him. He wasn't
thinking of the glass. He was trying to find a document that Goff
had on his desk. That was a letter which had been sent to Goff
informing him of the past convictions which had sent Williams to
prison. When he discovered that his employer was dead, Williams
returned to the library to get that letter and destroy it. Do not
you remember that such a letter was found on the desk?"
"I am not sure."
"Then look up your minutes and see if the letter is mentioned."
The judge obediently turned over the pages of the minute-book, but
his mind was not really on the search. He was fuming inwardly. He
felt that somehow he had been tricked, that this waiter had led him
to commit a blunder.
"Have you found it?" asked the waiter, a little impatiently.
"No."
"Pass the book to me. Perhaps I shall be more successful."
The judge shoved the book along the polished table, frowning and
glowering. He positively hated the waiter at that moment.
"Here it is," said the waiter, after a few moments. "Your finger was
on the very page, my lord. Fancy not seeing the paragraph! It
mentions that this letter was under the loan forms. It was read at
the trial of Williams, who admitted its truth. You observe how this
letter, which the wretched Williams was trying to hide, actually
became part of the police network to send him to destruction. That
letter was written by one of the guests, I fancy, but it was signed
'A friend.' Those anonymous friends are the very devils, aren't
they?"
The judge did not answer. He was gazing at the table absently, chin
in hand, his massive face wrinkled and creased with thought.
"Come, my lord, cannot you deduce which of the four guests killed
Goff?"
"No."
"Do try!"
"I do not believe that a guest did."
"Tut, tut! Why be so obdurate when I am offering you proof? Now, do
come. It is a good mental exercise. What do you say? Consider the
characteristics of them all. You told the story and you knew these
men quite well enough to describe them."
The judge raised his head and a look came into his eyes that showed
he was taking an interest in the question put to him.
"Was it Brunner?" he asked. "That loud-voice----"
"No, it was not Brunner."
The judge considered for a moment.
"I have it," he said, confidently. "It was Oakland, the man who
sneered----"
"It was not Oakland."
"No? Strange. There are only two left. It could not have been the
doctor, Finn----"
"Why could it not have been the doctor, Finn?"
"Why, he was a professional man--one who, to use his own words, was
discredited--but he was the only man of those four who had command of
himself----"
"That is just why it was Finn who killed Goff."
"What!"
"It is disappointing, perhaps, to you, but it is true. Finn, the man
who had been a prosperous doctor and surgeon at one time, killed
Goff, the money-lender."
"Why did he do so?"
"The reason goes back some years. Finn was a clever enough man, but
he was a very reckless man. He drank and gambled more than was good
for him. He took life much too irreverently, as some practical
scientists are apt to do. He found that practicability rebounded and
struck him. He was in a hole for cash. He came to Goff, who loaned
him a sum. To pay that back at high interest Finn did things which
were very unprofessional. Step by step. Goff sent him women
patients. You understand? But the law, when a woman died, laid its
hand on Finn. He was sent to prison. That ended his career as a
doctor."
The waiter paused, and tapped the table with his forefinger, just as
was the judge's habit when emphasizing a point in law.
"The authorities were so keen to prove the guilt that they did not
lift their eyes to anyone else, and so they missed seeing Finn. Goff
had Finn tied up with loans. He made a slave of him. It became a
matter of Finn doing what Goff said. Finn had come down to ask for
money. Goff refused. It is easy to follow the mental process of
Finn. If Goff was out of the way he might be free to re-establish
himself somehow. Remember, Finn cared little for human life. His
profession had lowered its value. So he shot Goff. And he took the
notes in the safe."
Again the waiter paused, again his forefinger tapped the table.
"Now you are thinking that the notes were found under the carpet in
the manservant's room. Finn had them. But Finn was a man with a
clear brain. He was impressed with the inspector's insistence that
the murderer was sure to leave a clue. If the notes were found on
him, supposing the police searched the house, he was lost. He went
upstairs ostensibly for cigarettes. It was then he laid the
banknotes under the carpet in the manservant's room. Is there any
other item you would like to have explained?"
"How do you know all this?" demanded the judge in a suppressed tone.
"Finn told me. He is in prison now. It was in prison I met him. He
spent the money recklessly. He became a hanger-on. Then he took
again to the business that Goff had taught him. His patients were
women. But his professional ability was impaired and he committed
another disastrous mistake. He was sent to a convict prison, having
been charged with manslaughter and sentenced for that crime."
The waiter leaned forward and whispered the name of a prison.
"You will find Finn there now. He is a desperate man, but he is not
a bad prisoner. The other prisoners know that he claims the murder
of Goff. He was questioned by the governor, who sent a report to the
State Department; and the State Department pigeonholed it, being
unable to lift a hand against Finn. Have not you here a case where
the law defeated itself? You believers in the judgment of death! Is
it not enough to make you grind your teeth in humiliation?"
The judge stroked his chin with deliberation. He felt like grinding
his teeth, but not in humiliation; in a temper that was swiftly
rising against this man who had teased and taunted him all night!
But at the same time the judge was too old a hand to allow his temper
to master him. If he was to overcome this tantalizing, jibing
individual he could do it only by assuming a pose he was far from
feeling. But for the moment he seemed unable to assume any pose.
Through his brain there was surging a frantic idea, a bitterness that
flared out in his tone as he fired a question at the waiter. His
anger overcame his discretion.
"You, of course, knew all this when you suggested the case of Goff to
me?"
"Ah, didn't you say that it was more than possible that you would
have selected the case apart from my suggestion?"
"But you forced the card on me! You made me take the case, knowing
that you had information I had no knowledge of! It was cheating!"
"Steady! Steady! You use a harsh word, my lord. There is nothing
to complain of. You, a lawyer, know it is an old trick. Did you
ever, in your pleadings before you became a judge, let the other side