The blue scarab
had been ascertained by the police surgeon that it fitted the jaw of
the skull and undoubtedly belonged to the burned body. Consequently if
the plate was not Reed’s plate, the skull was not Reed’s skull, and
the body was not Reed’s body. But the watch-chain was Reed’s, the
pipes were his and the mascot was his. That is to say that the very
identifiable and fireproof property of Reed was associated with the
burned body of some other person; that, in other words, the body of
some unknown person had been deliberately prepared to counterfeit the
body of Reed. This offered a further suggestion and raised a question.
The suggestion was that the unknown person had been
murdered--presumably somewhere near the spot where the dental plate
was found. The question was--What was the object of causing the body
to counterfeit that of Reed?
“Now, I knew, from the assurance company, that Reed had insured his
life for three thousand pounds. Therefore, somebody stood to gain
three thousand pounds by his death. The question was--Who was that
somebody? I proceeded to make certain investigations on the spot;” and
here Thorndyke gave a summary of our discoveries on the marsh and on
the yacht. “It thus appeared,” he continued, “that there were two men
on the marshes that night, going towards the rick. One of them was the
person whose body was found in the ashes; the other, who went back
alone to the yacht, was presumably the person who stood to gain three
thousand pounds by Reed’s death.”
“Have you formed any opinion as to who that person was?” the coroner
asked.
“Yes,” replied Thorndyke. “I have very little doubt that he was
Reginald Reed.”
“But,” exclaimed the coroner, “we have heard in evidence that it was
Mr. Arthur Gerrard who stood to gain the three thousand pounds!”
“Precisely,” said Thorndyke; and for awhile he and the coroner looked
at one another without speaking.
Suddenly the latter cast a searching look around the court. “Where
_is_ Mr. Gerrard?” he demanded.
“He left the court about ten minutes ago,” said Thorndyke; “and the
police inspector left immediately afterwards. I had advised him not to
lose sight of Mr. Gerrard.”
“Then I take it that you suspect Gerrard of being in collusion with
Reed?”
“I suspect that Arthur Gerrard and Reginald Reed are one and the same
person.”
As Thorndyke made this statement, a murmur of astonishment arose from
the jurymen and the spectators. The coroner, after a few moments’
puzzled reflection, remarked: “You are not forgetting that Reed’s
caretaker was present while Gerrard was giving his evidence?” Then,
turning to the caretaker, he asked: “What do you say? Was that Mr.
Reed who gave evidence under the name of Gerrard?”
The caretaker, who had evidently been thinking furiously, was by no
means confident. “I should say not,” he replied, “unless he was made
up a good deal. He was certainly about the same height and build and
colour; but he had a moustache, whereas Mr. Reed was clean-shaved; he
had a mole on his face, which Mr. Reed hadn’t; he had bushy eyebrows,
whereas Mr. Reed had hardly any eyebrows to speak of; and he wore
spectacles, which Mr. Reed didn’t, and he spoke like an Irishman,
whereas Mr. Reed was English. Still it is possible----”
Before he could finish, the door rattled to a heavy concussion. Then
it flew open, and Mr. Gerrard staggered into the room, thrust forward
by the police inspector. His appearance was marvellously changed, for
he had lost his spectacles, and one of his eyebrows had disappeared,
as had also the mole and a portion of the built-up moustache. The
caretaker started up with an exclamation, but at this moment Gerrard,
with a violent effort, wrenched himself free. The inspector sprang
forward to recapture him. But he was too late. The prisoner’s hand
flew upwards; there was a ringing report; and Arthur Gerrard--or
Reginald Reed--fell back across a bench with a trickle of blood on his
temple and a pistol still clutched in his hand.
“And so,” said Stalker, when he called on us the next day for details,
“it was a suicide after all. Very lucky, too, seeing that there was no
provision in the policy for death by judicial hanging.”
THE END
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES
This book was published as _Dr. Thorndyke’s Case-Book_ in the UK.
Minor spelling inconsistencies (_e.g._ footpath/foot-path, finger
prints/finger-prints, etc.) have been preserved.
Alterations to the text:
Abandon the use of drop-caps.
Adjust some quotation mark pairings/nestings.
Capitalize several instances of _doctor_ and _superintendent_ when
used in direct addresses.
[Chapter I]
Change “That may have been lapis _luzuli_, but more probably” to
_lazuli_.
“_As_ any rate, it is an heirloom, and I am loath to lose it” to _At_.
(“Here is the Blowgraves’ place,” said Thorndyke. “nearly in the…”)
change the period to a comma.
[Chapter II]
(“I think so, excepting that I _learn_ from Foxton that…”) to
_learned_.
[Chapter III]
“we reached a rather dark first-_door_ landing where” to _floor_.
“Now what West Central place names end in ‘n.’ It was not a street…”
change the period to a question mark.
[Chapter V]
(“who would successfully _practise_ the scientific detection…”) to
_practice_.
“a small telescopic jemmy, a jointed _augur_, a screwdriver and…” to
_auger_.
(“He must be pretty tough. Shall we be able to see him.”) change the
second period to a question mark.
“He continued to advance at _any_ easy pace, and I noticed that” to
_an_.
[Chapter VI]
“And there’s something queer _agoing_ on aboard of her” to _a-going_.
(“This’ll do your trick, _master_. Here comes a Customs cruiser.”) to
_mister_.
[Chapter VII]
“Who is to contest his family’s claim.” change the period to a
question mark.
[End of text]