The Judas Window

'Could it have been fired, I'm asking you?'

‘I suppose it could.'

'You SUPPOSE it could? You know smackin' well it could, don't you? Here, gimme that arrow and I'll show you.'

Sir Walter Storm was on his feet, suavely. 'A demonstration will not be necessary, my lord. We accept my learned friend's statement. We also appreciate that the witness is merely attempting to express an honest opinion under somewhat trying circumstances.'

('This is what I meant,' Evelyn whispered to me. 'You see? They'll bait the old bear until he can't see the ring for blood.')

It was certainly the general impression that H.M. had badly mismanaged things, in addition to proving nothing. His last two questions were asked in an almost plaintive tone.

'Never mind its accuracy at twenty yards. Would it be accurate at a very short distance - a few feet?' 'Probably.'

'In fact, you couldn't miss?' 'Not at two or three feet, no.' "That's all.’

The Attorney-General's brief re-examination disposed of this suggestion and cut it off at the root

'In order to kill the deceased in the way my learned friend has suggested, the person using the cross-bow must have been within two or three feet of the victim?'

'Yes,' returned Fleming, thawing a little.

'In other words, actually in the room?'

'Yes.'

'Exactly. Mr Fleming, when you entered this locked and sealed room -'

'Now, we'll object to that,' said H.M., suddenly rearing up again with a wheeze and a flutter of papers.

For the first time Sir Walter was a trifle at a loss. He turned towards H.M., and we got a look at his face. It was long and strong, dark-browed despite its slight ruddiness: a powerful face. But both he and H.M. addressed the judge as though speaking to each other through an interpreter.

'My lord, what is it to which my learned friend takes exception?'

'"Sealed."

The judge was looking at H.M. with bright and steady eyes of interest; but he spoke dryly. 'The term was perhaps a little fanciful, Sir Walter.'

'I readily withdraw it, my lord. Mr Fleming: when you entered this unsealed room to which every possible entrance or exit was barred on the inside -'

'Object again,' said H.M.

'Ahem. When you entered,' said the other, his voice beginning to sound with "far-off thunder in spite of himself, 'this room whose door was firmly bolted on the inside, and its windows closed with locked shutters, did you find any such singular apparatus as that?'

He pointed to the cross-bow.

'No, I did not'

'It is not a thing that could be readily overlooked, is it?'

'It certainly is not,' replied the witness, with jocularity.

'Thank you.'

'Call Dr Spencer Hume.'

VII

'Standing Near the Ceiling -

FIVE minutes later they were still looking for Dr Spencer Hume, and we knew that something was wrong. I saw H.M.'s big hands close, though he gave no other sign. Huntley Lawton rose.

'My lord, the witness appears to be - er - missing. We -ah-'

'So I observe, Mr Lawton. What is the position? Do I understand that you move an adjournment until the witness shall be found?'

A conference ensued, in which several glances were directed towards H.M. Then Sir Walter Storm got up.

'My lord, the nature of the Crown's case is such that we believe we can save the time of the court by dispensing with his testimony and continuing with our evidence in the ordinary course.'

'The decision must rest with you, Sir Walter. At the same time, if the witness is under subpoena, he should be here. I think the matter should be investigated, and I will have steps taken in that direction.'

'Of course, my lord ..."

'Call Frederick John Hardcastle.'

Frederick John Hardcastle, a police-constable, testified as to the discovery of the body. While he was on duty in Grosvenor Square at six-forty-five, a man whom he now knew to be Dyer approached him and said: 'Officer, come in; something terrible has happened.'

As he went into the house, a car drove up; the car contained Dr Hume and a woman (Miss Jordan) who seemed to have fainted. In the study he found the prisoner and a man who introduced himself as Mr Fleming. P.C. Hardcastle said to the prisoner: 'How did this happen?' The prisoner replied: 'I know nothing at all about it and would say nothing more. The witness then telephoned to his divisional police-station, and remained on guard until the arrival of the inspector.

There was no cross-examination. The prosecution then; called Dr Philip McLane Stocking.

Dr Stocking was a lean and bushy-haired man with a hard, narrow mouth but a curiously sentimental look about him. He got hold of the dock-rail and never let go of it. He had an untidy string-tie done into a bow, and a black suit which did not fit too well; but his hands were so clean that they looked polished.

'Your name is Philip McLane Stocking, and you are Professor of Forensic Medicine at the University of Highgate, and advising surgeon to C Division of the Metropolitan Police?'

'I am.'

'On January 4th last, were you called into 12 Grosvenor Street, and did you arrive there at about seven-forty-five?'

'I did.'

"When you arrived, what did you find in the study?'

'I found the dead body of a man lying between the window and the desk, face upwards, and very close to the desk.' The witness had a rather thick voice, which he had difficulty in keeping clear. 'Dr Hume was present, and Mr Fleming, and the prisoner. I said: "Has he been moved?" The prisoner answered: "I turned him over on his back. He was lying on his left side with his face almost against the desk." The hands were growing cold; the upper arms and the body were quite warm. Rigor mortis was setting in in the lower part of the left arm and in the neck. I judged he had been dead well over an hour.'

'It is impossible to be more definite than that?'

'I should say death occurred between six and six-thirty. I cannot say closer than that.'

'You performed a post-mortem examination of this-body?'

'Yes. Death was caused by the iron point of an arrow penetrating eight inches through the wall of the chest and piercing the heart.'

'Was death instantaneous?'

'Yes, it must have been absolutely instantaneous. Like that,' added the witness, suddenly snapping his fingers with the effect of a conjuring trick.

'Could he have moved or taken a step backwards? What I wish to put to you,' insisted Sir Walter, extending his arm, 'is whether he would have had strength enough to bolt a door or a window after being struck?'

'It is definitely impossible. He fell almost literally in his tracks.'

'What conclusion did you form from the nature of the wound?'

‘I formed the conclusion that the arrow had been used as a dagger, and that a powerful blow had been struck by a powerful man.'

'Such as the prisoner?'

'Yes,' agreed Dr Stocking, giving a brief and sharp look at Answell.

'What were your reasons for this conclusion?'

'The direction of the wound. It entered high - here,' he illustrated, 'and sloped down in an oblique direction to penetrate the heart.'

'At a sharp angle, you mean? A downward stroke?'

'Yes.'

'What do you think of any suggestion that the arrow might have been fired at him?'

'If you ask me for an expression of a personal opinion, I should call it so unlikely as to be almost impossible/

'Why?'

'If the arrow had been fired at him, I should have expected it to have penetrated in more or less a straight line; but certainly not at any such angle as the arrow stood.'

Sir Walter lifted two fingers. 'In other words, doctor, if the arrow had been fired at him, the person who fired it must have been standing somewhere up near the ceiling - aiming downwards?'