Bat-Wing (30 page)

"And then?" I said, eagerly.

"Then," he replied, "I began to think hard. However, since I practise
what I preach, or endeavour to do so, I must not permit myself to
speculate upon this aspect of the matter until I have tested my theory
of Camber's innocence."

"In other words," I said, bitterly, "although you encouraged me to
unfold my ideas regarding Mrs. Camber, you were merely laughing at me
all the time!"

"My dear Knox!" exclaimed Harley, jumping up impulsively, "please don't
be unjust. Is it like me? On the contrary, Knox"—he looked me squarely
in the eyes—"you have given me a platform on which already I have
begun to erect one corner of a theory of the crime. Without new facts I
can go no further. But this much at least you have done."

"Thanks, Harley," I murmured, and indeed I was gratified; "but where do
your other corners rest?"

"They rest," he said, slowly, "they rest, respectively, upon a bat
wing, a yew tree, and a Lee-Enfield charger-loader."

Detective-Inspector Wessex arrived at about five o'clock; a quiet,
resourceful man, highly competent, and having the appearance of an ex-
soldier. His respect for the attainments of Paul Harley alone marked
him a student of character. I knew Wessex well, and was delighted when
Pedro showed him into the library.

"Thank God you are here, Wessex," said Harley, when we had exchanged
greetings. "At last I can move. Have you seen the local officer in
charge?"

"No," replied the Inspector, "but I gather that I have been
requisitioned over his head."

"You have," said Harley, grimly, "and over the head of the Chief
Constable, too. But I suppose it is unfair to condemn a man for the
shortcoming with which nature endowed him, therefore we must endeavour
to let Inspector Aylesbury down as lightly as possible. I have an idea
that I heard him return a while ago."

He walked out into the hall to make enquiries, and a few moments later
I heard Inspector Aylesbury's voice.

"Ah, there you are, Inspector Aylesbury," said Harley, cheerily. "Will
you please step into the library for a moment?"

The Inspector entered, frowning heavily, followed by my friend.

"There is no earthly reason why we should get at loggerheads over this
business," Harley continued; "but the fact of the matter is, Inspector
Aylesbury, that there are depths in this case to which neither you nor
I have yet succeeded in penetrating. You have a reputation to consider,
and so have I. Therefore I am sure you will welcome the cooperation of
Detective-Inspector Wessex of Scotland Yard, as I do."

"What's this, what's this?" said Aylesbury. "I have made no application
to London."

"Nevertheless, Inspector, it is quite in order," declared Wessex. "I
have my instructions here, and I have reported to Market Hilton
already. You see, the man you have detained is an American citizen."

"What of that?"

"Well, he seems to have communicated with his Embassy." Wessex glanced
significantly at Paul Harley. "And the Embassy communicated with the
Home Office. You mustn't regard my arrival as any reflection on your
ability, Inspector Aylesbury. I am sure we can work together quite
agreeably."

"Oh," muttered the other, in evident bewilderment, "I see. Well, if
that's the way of it, I suppose we must make the best of things."

"Good," cried Wessex, heartily. "Now perhaps you would like to state
your case against the detained man?"

"A sound idea, Wessex," said Paul Harley. "But perhaps, Inspector
Aylesbury, before you begin, you would be good enough to speak to the
constable on duty at the entrance to the Tudor garden. I am anxious to
take another look at the spot where the body was found."

Inspector Aylesbury took out his handkerchief and blew his nose loudly,
continuing throughout the operation to glare at Paul Harley, and
finally:

"You are wasting your time, Mr. Harley," he declared, "as Detective-
Inspector Wessex will be the first to admit when I have given him the
facts of my case. Nevertheless, if you want to examine the garden, do
so by all means."

He turned without another word and stamped out of the library across
the hall and into the courtyard.

"I will join you again in a few minutes, Wessex," said Paul Harley,
following.

"Very good, Mr. Harley," Wessex answered. "I know you wouldn't have had
me down if the case had been as simple as he seems to think it is."

I joined Harley, and we walked together up the gravelled path, meeting
Inspector Aylesbury and the constable returning.

"Go ahead, Mr. Harley!" cried the Inspector. "If you can find any
stronger evidence than the rifle, I shall be glad to take a look at
it."

Harley nodded good-humouredly, and together we descended the steps to
the sunken garden. I was intensely curious respecting the investigation
which Harley had been so anxious to make here, for I recognized that it
was associated with something which he had seen from the window of
Camber's hut.

He walked along the moss-grown path to the sun-dial, and stood for a
moment looking down at the spot where Menendez had lain. Then he stared
up the hill toward the Guest House; and finally, directing his
attention to the yews which lined the sloping bank:

"One, two, three, four," he counted, checking them with his fingers—
"five, six, seven."

He mounted the bank and began to examine the trunk of one of the trees,
whilst I watched him in growing astonishment.

Presently he turned and looked down at me.

"Not a trace, Knox," he murmured; "not a trace. Let us try again."

He moved along to the yew adjoining that which he had already
inspected, but presently shook his head and passed to the next. Then:

"Ah!" he cried. "Come here, Knox!"

I joined him where he was kneeling, staring at what I took to be a
large nail, or bolt, protruding from the bark of the tree.

"You see!" he exclaimed, "you see!"

I stooped, in order to examine the thing more closely, and as I did so,
I realized what it was. It was the bullet which had killed Colonel
Menendez!

Harley stood upright, his face slightly flushed and his eyes very
bright.

"We shall not attempt to remove it, Knox," he said. "The depth of
penetration may have a tale to tell. The wood of the yew tree is one of
the toughest British varieties."

"But, Harley," I said, blankly, as we descended to the path, "this is
merely another point for the prosecution of Camber. Unless"—I turned
to him in sudden excitement, "the bullet was of different—"

"No, no," he murmured, "nothing so easy as that, Knox. The bullet was
fired from a Lee-Enfield beyond doubt."

I stared at him uncomprehendingly.

"Then I am utterly out of my depth, Harley. It, appears to me that the
case against Camber is finally and fatally complete. Only the motive
remains to be discovered, and I flatter myself that I have already
detected this."

"I am certainly inclined to think," admitted Harley, "that there is a
good deal in your theory."

"Then, Harley," I said in bewilderment, "you do believe that Camber
committed the murder?"

"On the contrary," he replied, "I am certain that he did not."

I stood quite still.

"You are certain?" I began.

"I told you that the test of my theory, Knox, was to be looked for in
the seventh yew from the northeast corner of the Tudor garden, did I
not?"

"You did. And it is there. A bullet fired from a Lee-Enfield rifle;
beyond any possible shadow of doubt the bullet which killed Colonel
Menendez."

"Beyond any possible shadow of doubt, as you say, Knox, the bullet
which killed Colonel Menendez."

"Therefore Camber is guilty?"

"On the contrary, therefore Camber is innocent!"

"What!"

"You are persistently overlooking one little point, Knox," said Harley,
mounting the steps on to the gravel path. "I spoke of the seventh yew
tree from the northeast corner of the garden."

"Well?"

"Well, my dear fellow, surely you observed that the bullet was embedded
in the ninth?"

I was still groping for the significance of this point when, re-
crossing the hall, we entered the library again, to find Inspector
Aylesbury posed squarely before the mantelpiece stating his case to
Wessex.

"You see," he was saying, in his most oratorical manner, as we entered,
"every little detail fits perfectly into place. For instance, I find
that a woman, called Mrs. Powis, who for the past two years had acted
as housekeeper at the Guest House and never taken a holiday, was sent
away recently to her married daughter in London. See what that means?
Her room is at the back of the house, and her evidence would have been
fatal. Ah Tsong, of course, is a liar. I made up my mind about that the
moment I clapped eyes on him. Mrs. Camber is the only innocent party.
She was asleep in the front of the house when the shot was fired, and I
believe her when she says that she cannot swear to the matter of
distance."

"A very interesting case, Inspector," said Wessex, glancing at Harley.
"I have not examined the body yet, but I understand that it was a clean
wound through the head."

"The bullet entered at the juncture of the nasal and frontal bones,"
explained Harley, rapidly, "and it came out between the base of the
occipital and first cervical. Without going into unpleasant surgical
details, the wound was a perfectly
straight
one. There was no
ricochet."

"I understand that a regulation rifle was used?"

"Yes," said Inspector Aylesbury; "we have it."

"And at what range did you say, Inspector?"

"Roughly, a hundred yards."

"Possibly less," murmured Harley.

"Hundred yards or less," said Wessex, musingly; "and the obstruction
met with in the case of a man shot in that way would be—" He looked
towards Paul Harley.

"Less than if the bullet had struck the skull higher up," was the
reply. "It passed clean through."

"Therefore," continued Wessex, "I am waiting to hear, Inspector, where
you found the bullet lodged?"

"Eh?" said the Inspector, and he slowly turned his prominent eyes in
Harley's direction. "Oh, I see. That's why you wanted to examine the
Tudor garden, is it?"

"Exactly," replied Harley.

The face of Inspector Aylesbury grew very red.

"I had deferred looking for the bullet," he explained, "as the case was
already as clear as daylight. Probably Mr. Harley has discovered it."

"I have," said Harley, shortly.

"Is it the regulation bullet?" asked Wessex.

"It is. I found it embedded in one of the yew trees."

"There you are!" exclaimed Aylesbury. "There isn't the ghost of a
doubt."

Wessex looked at Harley in undisguised perplexity.

"I must say, Mr. Harley," he admitted, "that I have never met with a
clearer case."

"Neither have I," agreed Harley, cheerfully. "I am going to ask
Inspector Aylesbury to return here after nightfall. There is a little
experiment which I should like to make, and which would definitely
establish my case."

"
Your
case?" said Aylesbury.

"My case, yes."

"You are not going to tell me that you still persist in believing
Camber to be innocent?"

"Not at all. I am merely going to ask you to return at nightfall to
assist me in this minor investigation."

"If you ask my opinion," said the Inspector, "no further evidence is
needed."

"I don't agree with you," replied Harley, quietly. "Whatever your own
ideas upon the subject may be, I, personally, have not yet discovered
one single piece of convincing evidence for the prosecution of Camber."

"What!" exclaimed Aylesbury, and even Detective-Inspector Wessex stared
at the speaker incredulously.

"My dear Inspector Aylesbury," concluded Harley, "when you have
witnessed the experiment which I propose to make this evening you will
realize, as I have already realized that we are faced by a tremendous
task."

"What tremendous task?"

"The task of discovering who shot Colonel Menendez."

Paul Harley, with Wessex and Inspector Aylesbury, presently set out for
Market Hilton, where Colin Camber and Ah Tsong were detained and where
the body of Colonel Menendez had been conveyed for the purpose of the
post-mortem. I had volunteered to remain at Cray's Folly, my motive
being not wholly an unselfish one.

"Refer reporters to me, Mr. Knox," said Inspector Wessex. "Don't let
them trouble the ladies. And tell them as little as possible,
yourself."

The drone of the engine having died away down the avenue, I presently
found myself alone, but as I crossed the hall in the direction of the
library, intending to walk out upon the southern lawns, I saw Val
Beverley coming toward me from Madame de Stämer's room.

She remained rather pale, but smiled at me courageously.

"Have they all gone, Mr. Knox?" she asked. "I have really been hiding.
I suppose you knew?"

"I suspected it," I said, smiling. "Yes, they are all gone. How is
Madame de Stämer, now?"

"She is quite calm. Curiously, almost uncannily calm. She is writing.
Tell me, please, what does Mr. Harley think of Inspector Aylesbury's
preposterous ideas?"

"He thinks he is a fool," I replied, hotly, "as I do."

"But whatever will happen if he persists in dragging me into this
horrible case?"

"He will not drag you into it," I said, quietly. "He has been
superseded by a cleverer man, and the case is practically under
Harley's direction now."

"Thank Heaven for that," she murmured. "I wonder—" She looked at me
hesitatingly.

"Yes?" I prompted.

"I have been thinking about poor Mrs. Camber all alone in that gloomy
house, and wondering—"