When they tried to take him back into the warehouse, he collapsed completely, and they had a full confession by the time they got him to the nearest station.
Officially, that ended the case of the ghostly murderer.
Vincent Uppington and his wife decided to put the scene of the murder behind them as soon as they could find an acceptable place to live. Cecil Radcliffe treated them handsomely, generously waiving the penalties he was entitled to and doing everything in his power to speed them on their way.
As a result, when Chief Inspector Mewer insisted on having the crime expounded to him, the site where it occurred was vacant and available. Rick, Charles, and I accompanied Lady Sara to 12 Maxton Place, and both the Chief Inspector and Cecil Radcliffe met us there.
“The crime was made possible by the fact that there is an entrance to the house that even Mr. Radcliffe wasn’t aware of,” Lady Sara said. “No doubt it resulted accidentally when central heating was installed in both houses. Halstead had a key to the entrance that led down to the furnace room from the outside, and sometime during his occupancy as a tenant, he discovered that pushing aside a panel alongside the stairs gave access to the space between the two houses.
“When he discovered this, he immediately deduced where the ghosts that were plaguing him came from. No doubt he went on from there to discover the panels opening into his salon. He had already arranged to give up his lease on the excuse that the ghosts were disrupting his life — he couldn’t afford to keep the house, and this gave him a convenient excuse to leave. For the moment, there seemed to be nothing he could gain from his discovery.
“In the midst of his present financial doldrums, he remembered it and, I suspect, began to frequent Maxton Place in the hope of picking up something of profit. It would not surprise me to learn that Mr. Radcliffe wasn’t the only uninvited guest at Vincent Uppington’s parties. The next piece of the puzzle is not surprising, considering Halstead’s passion for the theatre. He was interested in amateur theatricals himself, belonged to two theatre groups, and — though universally regarded as a very poor actor — always attended casting nights in hope of securing a walk-on part. This is how he became acquainted with an employee of Mr. Radcliffe’s theatrical supplier. That individual may have remarked to Halstead — in complete ignorance of the use Mr. Radcliffe’s custom-built shoes were to be put to — ‘Old Radcliffe is taking up theatricals again.’ Halstead, who knew how the shoes had produced smoke years before when he was a tenant, guessed what that meant. The ghost was going to make another appearance. He began to speculate as to how to make use of it. He would have no difficulty in obtaining the date of Uppington’s next party, what with the provisions ordered and extra servants and musicians engaged.
“Halstead certainly knew he was the only heir of a rich cousin, Sherwin Danson. Probably he thought, as unprincipled heirs so frequently do, that his cousin simply didn’t know what to do with his money. Danson came to London occasionally, and Halstead undertook to show him a good time — probably at Danson’s expense. It was simple for Halstead to write and say, ‘Come to London on such and such a date, and we’ll have a great time playing a prank on a practical joker.’ Remember — Halstead had seen the ghost appear more than once when he was a tenant, and he was able to anticipate Mr. Radcliffe’s plans completely. He knew the ghost would make his appearance and then vanish in a cloud of smoke by ducking inside the secret panel by the fireplace. The prank he proposed to Danson was to lock the panel that Radcliffe thought was unlocked and watch Radcliffe’s antics when he found himself trapped in the middle of his own prank with no way out. Danson was a simpleminded person; that sounded like good fun to him and an appropriate punishment for any landlord unprincipled enough to spoil a tenant’s party. So they waited by the panel — and as soon as Radcliffe began to produce smoke, Halstead stabbed Danson in the back, and bending over low to take advantage of the thick smoke near the floor, he quickly dragged the body into the salon, slipped back through the panel, and locked it. He didn’t worry about locking the other panel, though he certainly knew about it. Perhaps he thought Radcliffe wouldn’t be able to get back through the salon without detection. In any case, he had to get to Shaftesbury Avenue and the meeting of the Two Hundred to establish his alibi. He committed his crime and ran.
“It was almost a perfect crime. The connection of Halstead with this house was ancient and easily overlooked. There was nothing to show that Danson was in London — probably Halstead had told him, dramatically, to burn his letter. And there was nothing to show that Halstead knew he was in London or had been in touch with him. Result: An impossible crime with an unknown victim. And even when the victim finally was identified — which he had to be in order for Halstead to collect his inheritance — there was nothing to connect him to Halstead except their relationship. It all occurred just as Halstead planned because Mr. Radcliffe had decided on one last ghostly fling.”
Mr. Radcliffe’s sigh seemed to express genuine feeling. “I regret the whole thing deeply, but of course that won’t give the young man his life back. But now the ghost definitely is retired, and I’ll leave this house vacant as a memorial to Sherwin Danson. It’s the least I can do.”
The Chief Inspector was scowling at Lady Sara. “You had no evidence at all,” he told her severely. “Merely because Halstead leased the premises years ago doesn’t connect him with them now, and it certainly doesn’t prove he knew how Mr. Radcliffe’s ghost performed or when the performance was to take place. You surmised this, you deduced that, you say Halstead must have known about something or other, but you can’t prove anything. It’s fortunate that Halstead confessed. The Attorney-General would refuse to face a jury without better evidence than that.”
“But he has better evidence,” Lady Sara said. “He has the best possible evidence.”
“What is it?”
“Sherwin Danson’s murdered body and the fortune Halstead had hoped to inherit. The crime and the motive. No jury ever has any difficulty in understanding them.”
Chief Inspector Mewer wanted to examine the secret panels. He did so, marvelling at the skill with which they were concealed, and then we gathered at the far end of the room from the fireplace and were about to leave.
A loud groan suddenly transfixed all of us. We whirled; standing in front of the fireplace, pose exactly matching that of the portrait, was a white-bearded, black-wigged ghost. Before we could grasp what was happening, clouds of smoke began erupting around him.
Suddenly, Chief Inspector Mewer gave a roar of anger and rushed at the cloud of smoke. He was too late; there was nothing there, and the secret panel was locked.
Lady Sara was delighted. “How charming!” she exclaimed. “How wonderfully appropriate that this case should end with a glimpse of a real ghost!”