Chapter IV

The Coroners Court was next to the St. Pancras Hospital, where the autopsies are performed. Being only two-and-a-half miles south of Muswell, Lestrade and I barely had time to eat the box lunches we purchased at the station. Holmes, sustaining himself with tobacco, was silent during the short ride.

Upon arrival, we were led to the laboratory of the Coroner, Dr. Donald Drake.

He welcomed us with open arms when I introduced myself.

“I’ve heard good things regarding your work with the police courts, Dr.

Watson. I should be happy to assist you in any way I can.”

It was obvious that my rapport with him as a fellow physician suggested I take the lead, so I asked to see the body of Judge Mason and the evidence pertaining to the case.

While he showed me the body, Holmes and Lestrade busied themselves with an examination of the clothes and the knife. The Judge’s shirt was marred by a large pool of blood, the shade of red varying from light to dark as the stain ran downward from the hole. The knife was as young Mason had described, a multiplex knife with the largest blade being less than four inches in length.

On discussing the body with Drake, I discovered he had determined a very significant fact. “As you can see, Doctor,” he prompted, handing me a lens to examine the wound, “the blade which made this wound was double-edged. The knife sent down with the body could not be the murder weapon.”

I explored the wound and agreed. Then I noted something else. “This wound is remarkably thin and straight,” I pondered. “There is also a bulge in the center.”

Holmes head snapped up at that and he crossed the room to the autopsy table in a flash. Snatching the lens from my hand, he bent down and examined the laceration minutely.

“Did you find anything inside the wound?” he demanded.

Drake replied, “I was just about to probe the wound when you gentleman arrived.”

Holmes handed the lens back to me, “If my surmises are correct, Doctor.

There will be nothing to find. Had you done so earlier, there may have been trace elements of the weapon.”

The Coroner stiffened at this admonishment. “Look around, Mr. Holmes.

I’ve two other cases demanding my time as well. Sergeant Mossgarden’s report stated that he had already made an arrest. That put this case as lowest on my priorities.”

“That is unfortunate, Doctor. I do sympathize. However, Mossgarden has the wrong suspect, and it would be a shame to have an innocent man spend Christmas in gaol and possibly miss his New Year’s Eve wedding.”

Holmes went on to ask if Drake had certain chemicals, and the Coroner pointed to a cabinet. Holmes then took up the bloody knife and went to a table where he performed some delicate tests.

In the meantime, the Coroner probed the wound in the Judge’s chest. As Holmes suspected, he found nothing. My friend, though, made an interesting discovery.

“The blood on the knife,” he stated with certainty, “is bird’s blood, not human.”

Lestrade spoke up, “Then Edgar Mason is not the killer.”

Holmes waved his statement away. “I knew that the minute the sergeant proposed his theory of the crime. The evidence we have gathered now, however, tells us the weapon used and narrows our suspect list considerably.”

“What weapon could leave a wound like that?” I asked.

“A most diabolical one, I assure you, Watson.”

On the ride back to Fortis Keep, Lestrade insisted Holmes reveal why he was sure Edgar Mason wasn’t the killer.

“Inspector, it is simplicity itself,” exhorted Holmes. “If the son stabbed his father in the chest after he turned the body over, the blood would only be on the father’s shirt. In actuality there was blood on the carpet corresponding to where the body lay face down before it was turned over.

“Furthermore, young Edgar is not athletic enough to have climbed that tree. However, I am convinced that our perpetrator did climb the pear tree in order to see if he could make a shot from there. He determined that such an act would likely have roused the house and he would have had to flee for his life. Instead, it was while in the tree he realized another method he could apply. One which would be silent, and which he could use to manipulate evidence against the son, thus ruining both the Judge and his heir.”

“So who is it, Holmes?” I asked. “And how did he do it?”

Holmes pondered a moment, “That is yet to be determined precisely,” he finally replied. “However, I am certain it is a member of the staff, and that the weapon is in the armory.”