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those.ā€

ā€œSo youā€™d thinkā ā€”or the suicide would have happened the first time he started to cross the road. However, I didnā€™t overlook the possibility. Iā€™ve got particulars of all todayā€™s street accidents, and I can lay my hand on my heart and say that none of them is Sir Reuben. Besides, he took his latchkey with him, which looks as though heā€™d meant to come back.ā€

ā€œHave you seen the men he dined with?ā€

ā€œI found two of them at the club. They said that he seemed in the best of health and spirits, spoke of looking forward to joining Lady Levy later onā ā€”perhaps at Christmasā ā€”and referred with great satisfaction to this morningā€™s business transaction, in which one of themā ā€”a man called Anderson of Wyndhamā€™sā ā€”was himself concerned.ā€

ā€œThen up till about nine oā€™clock, anyhow, he had no apparent intention or expectation of disappearing.ā€

ā€œNoneā ā€”unless he was a most consummate actor. Whatever happened to change his mind must have happened either at the mysterious appointment which he kept after dinner, or while he was in bed between midnight and 5:30 a.m.ā€

ā€œWell, Bunter,ā€ said Lord Peter, ā€œwhat do you make of it?ā€

ā€œNot in my department, my lord. Except that it is odd that a gentleman who was too flurried or unwell to fold his clothes as usual should remember to clean his teeth and put his boots out. Those are two things that quite frequently get overlooked, my lord.ā€

ā€œIf you mean anything personal, Bunter,ā€ said Lord Peter, ā€œI can only say that I think the speech an unworthy one. Itā€™s a sweet little problem, Parker mine. Look here, I donā€™t want to butt in, but I should dearly love to see that bedroom tomorrow. ā€™Tis not that I mistrust thee, dear, but I should uncommonly like to see it. Say me not nayā ā€”take another drop of brandy and a Villar Villar, but say not, say not nay!ā€

ā€œOf course you can come and see itā ā€”youā€™ll probably find lots of things Iā€™ve overlooked,ā€ said the other, equably, accepting the proffered hospitality.

ā€œParker, acushla, youā€™re an honour to Scotland Yard. I look at you, and Sugg appears a myth, a fable, an idiot-boy, spawned in a moonlight hour by some fantastic poetā€™s brain. Sugg is too perfect to be possible. What does he make of the body, by the way?ā€

ā€œSugg says,ā€ replied Parker, with precision, ā€œthat the body died from a blow on the back of the neck. The doctor told him that. He says itā€™s been dead a day or two. The doctor told him that, too. He says itā€™s the body of a well-to-do Hebrew of about fifty. Anybody could have told him that. He says itā€™s ridiculous to suppose it came in through the window without anybody knowing anything about it. He says it probably walked in through the front door and was murdered by the household. Heā€™s arrested the girl because sheā€™s short and frail-looking and quite unequal to downing a tall and sturdy Semite with a poker. Heā€™d arrest Thipps, only Thipps was away in Manchester all yesterday and the day before and didnā€™t come back till late last nightā ā€”in fact, he wanted to arrest him till I reminded him that if the body had been a day or two dead, little Thipps couldnā€™t have done him in at 10:30 last night. But heā€™ll arrest him tomorrow as an accessoryā ā€”and the old lady with the knitting, too, I shouldnā€™t wonder.ā€

ā€œWell, Iā€™m glad the little man has so much of an alibi,ā€ said Lord Peter, ā€œthough if youā€™re only glueing your faith to cadaveric lividity, rigidity, and all the other quiddities, you must be prepared to have some sceptical beast of a prosecuting counsel walk slap-bang through the medical evidence. Remember Impey Biggs defending in that Chelsea teashop affair? Six bloominā€™ medicos contradictinā€™ each other in the box, anā€™ old Impey elocutinā€™ abnormal cases from Glaister and Dixon Mann till the eyes of the jury reeled in their heads! ā€˜Are you prepared to swear, Dr. Thingumtight, that the onset of rigor mortis indicates the hour of death without the possibility of error?ā€™ ā€˜So far as my experience goes, in the majority of cases,ā€™ says the doctor, all stiff. ā€˜Ah!ā€™ says Biggs, ā€˜but this is a Court of Justice, Doctor, not a Parliamentary election. We canā€™t get on without a minority report. The law, Dr. Thingumtight, respects the rights of the minority, alive or dead.ā€™ Some ass laughs, and old Biggs sticks his chest out and gets impressive. ā€˜Gentlemen, this is no laughing matter. My clientā ā€”an upright and honourable gentlemanā ā€”is being tried for his lifeā ā€”for his life, gentlemenā ā€”and it is the business of the prosecution to show his guiltā ā€”if they canā ā€”without a shadow of doubt. Now, Dr. Thingumtight, I ask you again, can you solemnly swear, without the least shadow of doubtā ā€”probable, possible shadow of doubtā ā€”that this unhappy woman met her death neither sooner nor later than Thursday evening? A probable opinion? Gentlemen, we are not Jesuits, we are straightforward Englishmen. You cannot ask a British-born jury to convict any man on the authority of a probable opinion.ā€™ Hum of applause.ā€

ā€œBiggsā€™s man was guilty all the same,ā€ said Parker.

ā€œOf course he was. But he was acquitted all the same, anā€™ what youā€™ve just said is libel.ā€ Wimsey walked over to the bookshelf and took down a volume of Medical Jurisprudence. ā€œā€Šā€˜Rigor mortisā ā€”can only be stated in a very general wayā ā€”many factors determine the result.ā€™ Cautious brute. ā€˜On the average, however, stiffening will have begunā ā€”neck and jawā ā€”5 to 6 hours after deathā€™ā ā€”mā€™mā ā€”ā€˜in all likelihood have passed off in the bulk of cases by the end of 36 hours. Under certain circumstances, however, it may appear unusually early, or be retarded unusually long!ā€™ Helpful, ainā€™t it, Parker? ā€˜Brown-SĆ©quard statesā ā€Šā ā€¦ 3Ā½ minutes after death.ā ā€Šā ā€¦ In certain cases not until lapse of 16 hours after deathā ā€Šā ā€¦ present as long as 21 days thereafter.ā€™ Lord! ā€˜Modifying factorsā ā€”ageā ā€”muscular stateā ā€”or febrile diseasesā ā€”or where temperature of environment is highā€™ā ā€”and so on and so onā ā€”any bloominā€™ thing. Never mind. You can run the argument for what itā€™s worth to Sugg. He

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