“The woman was a fiend, Pons!”
“You are certainly right.”
’’There is still one thing I am not clear about, Pons.”
“And what might that be?”
I studied the misty landscape gliding past the window.
“If Peters and his wife were still in the vault after the murder, who sounded the warning by making that rusty gate give out a screaming noise?”
He gave me a bleak smile.
“I have given that much thought, Parker. It all comes down to Mulvane’s state of mind during his ordeal in the graveyard. I have not gone into this but no doubt it will all come out at the resumed inquest and trial.”
He put down his copy of The Times, assumed a more comfortable posture in his comer of the compartment and regarded me steadily.
“There is only one explanation, which is a subjective one. And that is that he did not go immediately to the vault that night, as he thought, but was held in a paralysis of will induced by fear.”
He leaned forward.
“It is quite simple, really. It is my firm belief that he stood there indecisively for some time before plucking up enough courage to go down into the vault. And it needed a great deal of courage, as I am sure that, as a medical man, you can fully realise. During that time Mrs Peters, after committing that vile crime, called her husband down from the upper entrance, even her iron nerve having failed. They dressed the body between them and she then went up into the graveyard to keep watch while her husband brought the old man’s corpse up. She probably kept low and was unseen by Mulvane due to the mist and darkness. She must have been deeply shocked when she saw him there but being not only murderous but resourceful, she crept to the gate, waited until Mulvane moved forward and then warned her husband by the use of those rusty hinges. That gave Peters time to conceal the body and then strike my client down. The rest you know.”
“Admirable, Pons. That is certainly the explanation.”
I thought back over the sombre events we had just witnessed. “I shall be glad to get back to Praed Street, Pons.”
“You have something there, Parker. This morning I telephoned Mrs Johnson and I am sure she will have a tasty dish for supper. Ah, here we are!”
We gathered our luggage together as the train drew into the terminus and we were once more surrounded by the friendly atmosphere and familiar bustle of London.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Sarob Press (Robert Morgan) would like to thank the following for their kind assistance with this volume:
Basil Copper
Richard Dalby
Les Edwards
Richard Lancelyn Green
Sara Morgan
NOTE and FULL COVER
Richard Lancelyn Green sadly died shortly after sending Sarob Press the final draft of his introduction to this volume. It was an introduction he had promised, as a favour to Basil Copper, for some years.
Richard’s sister, on behalf of his family, has kindly given the publisher permission to include the introduction. Both Sarob Press and Basil Copper agree it should stand as both a thank you and a tribute to the memory of the author’s friend and one of the World’s leading experts on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Sherlock Holmes.
