6 Father and Son

Chapter 6 Father and Son We all took turns to examine again the little scrap of paper with its seven words, and I was filled with awe at the thought of how much Sherlock Holmes had managed to discover from it. "Having got this far with the note," Holmes continued, "the next step was to visit the scene of the crime to see if there was anything there that might help us. I went up to the house with Inspector Forrester and checked everything thoroughly. From my examination of the corpse, I was able to determine with absolute confidence

that the bullet was fired from a revolver from a distance of around four yards. This proved that Alec Cunningham had been lying when he said the two men were struggling when the shot was fired. "Father and son both agreed on the place where the burglar escaped through the hedge into the road. Just beyond the hedge is a broad ditch, which is muddy at the bottom. Yet there was no sign of boot marks in the ditch. This made me sure that the Cunninghams had lied and there never had been a burglar at their house that night. "Inspector Forrester was with me at the time and he saw all that I did, yet so convinced was he

that the Cunninghams were innocent, he failed to draw the obvious conclusion. I say this not as a criticism, but merely to demonstrate how our prejudices can sometimes blind us to the truth. "By now, the time had come for me to start thinking about a possible motive for the crime. Why had the Cunninghams killed William Keegan? Why did they fake a burglary at their house? And were they also responsible for the real burglary at Mr. Acton's a few nights earlier? "At this point in my thinking, I remembered something you told us, Colonel. You said there

had been a lawsuit going on between Mr. Acton and the Cunninghams. It occurred to me that they had broken into Acton's house in order to steal some document that might be important to their case." "Precisely so," said Mr. Acton. "I have a legal claim on half their estate, and I have a document that proves it. If they'd got hold of that document and destroyed it, our whole case would have been wrecked. Fortunately, the paper is safely stored in a strongbox at my solicitors."

"There you have it," said Holmes, smiling. "We now have a motive for the original burglary. It was a dangerous, reckless plan—most probably young Alec's idea. Having found nothing, they tried to make it look like an ordinary burglary by carrying off whatever items they could lay their hands on. "That much was clear enough. What I still didn't understand was the involvement of William Keegan, and why they ended up killing him. To answer that, I needed to get hold of the missing part of the note. I was certain Alec had torn it out of Keegan's hand and thrust it in the

pocket of his dressing gown, but was it still there? To find out, I decided to return to the house. "The Cunninghams joined us, you'll remember, while we were standing outside the side door. It was vital that they shouldn't know about the scrap of torn paper, otherwise they'd immediately destroy the rest of the note. Inspector Forrester was on the point of telling them about it when, by a lucky chance, I collapsed and fainted, thereby changing the conversation." "Are you telling me all our concern was for nothing and you faked your fainting fit?" cried the colonel, laughing.