Whose Body? - Dorothy L. Sayers (8 ebook reader .txt) š
- Author: Dorothy L. Sayers
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āHereās another interestinā point. Levy walked in the rain on Monday night, as we know, and these dark marks are mud-splashes. You see they lie over Levyās fingerprints in every case. Now see: on this left boot we find the strangerās thumb-mark over the mud on the leather above the heel. Thatās a funny place to find a thumb-mark on a boot, isnāt it? That is, if Levy took off his own boots. But itās the place where youād expect to see it if somebody forcibly removed his boots for him. Again, most of the strangerās fingermarks come over the mud-marks, but here is one splash of mud which comes on top of them again. Which makes me infer that the stranger came back to Park Lane, wearing Levyās boots, in a cab, carriage or car, but that at some point or other he walked a little wayā ājust enough to tread in a puddle and get a splash on the boots. What do you say?ā
āVery pretty,ā said Parker. āA bit intricate, though, and the marks are not all that I could wish a fingerprint to be.ā
āWell, I wonāt lay too much stress on it. But it fits in with our previous ideas. Now letās turn to:
āC. The prints obligingly left by my own particular villain on the further edge of Thippsās bath, where you spotted them, and I ought to be scourged for not having spotted them. The left hand, you notice, the base of the palm and the fingers, but not the tips, looking as though he had steadied himself on the edge of the bath while leaning down to adjust something at the bottom, the pince-nez perhaps. Gloved, you see, but showing no ridge or seam of any kindā āI say rubber, you say rubber. Thatās that. Now see here:
āD and E come off a visiting-card of mine. Thereās this thing at the corner, marked F, but that you can disregard; in the original document itās a sticky mark left by the thumb of the youth who took it from me, after first removing a piece of chewing-gum from his teeth with his finger to tell me that Mr. Milligan might or might not be disengaged. D and E are the thumb-marks of Mr. Milligan and his red-haired secretary. Iām not clear which is which, but I saw the youth with the chewing-gum hand the card to the secretary, and when I got into the inner shrine I saw John P. Milligan standing with it in his hand, so itās one or the other, and for the moment itās immaterial to our purpose which is which. I boned the card from the table when I left.
āWell, now, Parker, hereās whatās been keeping Bunter and me up till the small hours. Iāve measured and measured every way backwards and forwards till my headās spinninā, and Iāve stared till Iām nearly blind, but Iām hanged if I can make my mind up. Question 1. Is C identical with B? Question 2. Is D or E identical with B? Thereās nothing to go on but the size and shape, of course, and the marks are so faintā āwhat do you think?ā
Parker shook his head doubtfully.
āI think E might almost be put out of the question,ā he said; āit seems such an excessively long and narrow thumb. But I think there is a decided resemblance between the span of B on the water-bottle and C on the bath. And I donāt see any reason why D shouldnāt be the same as B, only thereās so little to judge from.ā
āYour untutored judgment and my measurements have brought us both to the same conclusionā āif you can call it a conclusion,ā said Lord Peter, bitterly.
āAnother thing,ā said Parker. āWhy on earth should we try to connect B with C? The fact that you and I happen to be friends doesnāt make it necessary to conclude that the two cases we happen to be interested in have any organic connection with one another. Why should they? The only person who thinks they have is Sugg, and heās nothing to go by. It would be different if there were any truth in the suggestion that the man in the bath was Levy, but we know for a certainty he wasnāt. Itās ridiculous to suppose that the same man was employed in committing two totally distinct crimes on the same night, one in Battersea and the other in Park Lane.ā
āI know,ā said Wimsey, āthough of course we mustnāt forget that Levy was in Battersea at the time, and now we know he didnāt return home at twelve as was supposed, weāve no reason to think he ever left Battersea at all.ā
āTrue. But there are other places in Battersea besides Thippsās bathroom. And he wasnāt in Thippsās bathroom. In fact, come to think of it, thatās the one place in the universe where we know definitely that he wasnāt. So whatās Thippsās bath got to do with it?ā
āI donāt know,ā said Lord Peter. āWell, perhaps we shall get something better to go on today.ā
He leaned back in his chair and smoked thoughtfully for some time over the papers which Bunter had marked for him.
āTheyāve got you out in the limelight,ā he said. āThank Heaven, Sugg hates me too much to give me any publicity. What a dull Agony Column! āDarling Pipseyā āCome back soon to your distracted Popseyāā āand the usual young man in need of financial assistance, and the usual injunction to āRemember thy Creator in the days of thy youth.ā Hullo! thereās the bell. Oh, itās our answer from Scotland Yard.ā
The note from Scotland Yard enclosed an opticianās specification identical with that sent by Mr. Crimplesham, and added that it was an unusual one, owing to the peculiar strength of the lenses and the marked difference between the sight of the two eyes.
āThatās good enough,ā said Parker.
āYes,ā said Wimsey. āThen Possibility No. 3 is knocked on the head. There remain Possibility No. 1: Accident or Misunderstanding, and No. 2:
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