4 The Scene of the Crime

Chapter 4 The Scene of the Crime We gathered in the old hall of Ridling Thorpe to listen to the two women tell their story. Holmes's eyes gleamed with a cold determination. I knew he would dedicate all his energies to seeking justice for the client he had failed to save. The women had been woken by the sound of a gunshot, followed a minute later by a second one. Mrs. King had rushed into Miss Saunders's room and together they had descended the stairs. The study door was open with a candle burning on the table. Their master lay face down in the

middle of the room. They could tell at once he was dead. Mrs. Cubitt was crouching by the window. She had a head wound and the side of her face was red with blood. She was breathing but couldn't speak. The room was full of smoke and smelled of gunpowder. The window was shut and bolted from the inside. Both women were sure about that. They had immediately sent for the doctor and the constable. Then, with the aid of the groom and the stable boy, they had carried the mistress to her room. Neither woman had ever witnessed a quarrel between Mr. and Mrs. Cubitt. They had always

regarded them as a very devoted couple. In answer to a question from Inspector Martin, they said that every door was locked from the inside and no one could have escaped from the house. Holmes asked them when they first smelled the gunpowder and they said they smelled it from the moment they ran out of their rooms on the top floor. "Take note of that fact," Holmes said to the inspector. Once the servants had given their evidence, we went to examine the study. It was a small room, lined on three sides with books, with a window on the fourth side looking onto the garden. The large figure of Mr. Cubitt lay sprawled across the floor. He was wearing his night clothes. The bullet had entered his heart from the front and would have killed him instantly.

"Have you recovered the bullet that wounded the lady?" Holmes asked the doctor. He shook his head. "That will require a serious operation." "In that case, a third bullet was fired in this room," said Holmes. We all stared at him in surprise. "Why do you say that?" asked Inspector Martin. "The women said they heard two gunshots. One bullet hit Mr. Cubitt, the other wounded Mrs. Cubitt, and there are just two empty chambers in the revolver." With his long, thin finger, Holmes pointed to a small hole in the lower edge of the window frame.

"By George!" cried the inspector. "How did you spot that?" "Because I looked for it." "You are right, sir," the constable said, bending to examine the hole. "A third shot was fired, which means a third person was present. But who? And how did he get away?" "That is the problem we must solve," said Holmes. "You remember, Inspector, the servants said they smelled gunpowder on leaving their rooms. That told me that at the time of firing, both the door and window of the study must have been open, creating a current of air. It was

the only way the smell could have spread so rapidly through the house. However, both door and window were only open for a very short time." "How do you know that?" "Because the candle was still alight when the women came in." "Brilliant!" exclaimed Inspector Martin. "Once I knew the window had been open, I concluded that a third person was involved who stood outside and fired through it," Holmes explained. "I looked for a shot fired at this person and found the bullet hole in the..." He stopped as something else caught his eye: a lady's handbag on the study table. Holmes opened it and emptied out the contents—a wad of fifty-pound notes. "This will be important evidence in any trial," he said, handing the bag and money to the constable.