Lord Peter Wimsey [01] Whose Body? Read Online Free PDF Page A

result.' Cautious brute. 'On the average, however, stiffening will have begun–neck and jaw–5 to 6 hours after death'–m'm–'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!' Helpful, ain't it, Parker? 'Brown-SŽuard states ... 3 1/2 minutes after death.... In certain cases not until lapse of 16 hours after death ... present as long as 21 days thereafter.' Lord! 'Modifying factors–age–muscular state–or febrile diseases–or where temperature of environment is high'–and so on and so on–any bloomin' thing. Never mind. You can run the argument for what it's worth to Sugg. He won't know any better." He tossed the book away. "Come back to facts. What did you make of the body?"
     
    "Well," said the detective, "not very much–I was puzzled–frankly. I should say he had been a rich man, but self-made, and that his good fortune had come to him fairly recently."
     
    "Ah, you noticed the calluses on the hands–I thought you wouldn't miss that."
     
    "Both his feet were badly blistered–he had been wearing tight shoes."
     
    "Walking a long way in them, too," said Lord Peter, "to get such blisters as that. Didn't that strike you as odd, in a person evidently well off?"
     
    "Well, I don't know. The blisters were two or three days old. He might have got stuck in the suburbs one night, perhaps–last train gone and no taxi–and had to walk home."
     
    "Possibly."
     
    "There were some little red marks all over his back and one leg I couldn't quite account for."
     
    "I saw them."
     
    "What did you make of them?"
     
    "I'll tell you afterwards. Go on."
     
    "He was very long-sighted–oddly long-sighted for a man in the prime of life; the glasses were like a very old man's. By the way, they had a very beautiful and remarkable chain of flat links chased with a pattern. It struck me he might be traced through it."
     
    "I've just put an advertisement in the Times about it," said Lord Peter. "Go on."
     
    "He had had the glasses some time–they had been mended twice."
     
    "Beautiful, Parker, beautiful. Did you realize the importance of that?"
     
    "Not specially, I'm afraid–why?"
     
    "Never mind–go on."
     
    "He was probably a sullen, ill-tempered man–his nails were filed down to the quick as though he habitually bit them, and his fingers were bitten as well. He smoked quantities of cigarettes without a holder. He was particular about his personal appearance."
     
    "Did you examine the room at all? I didn't get a chance."
     
    "I couldn't find much in the way of footprints. Sugg & Co. had tramped all over the place, to say nothing of little Thipps and the maid, but I noticed a very indefinite patch just behind the head of the bath, as though something damp might have stood there. You could hardly call it a print."
     
    "It rained hard all last night, of course."
     
    "Yes; did you notice that the soot on the window-sill was vaguely marked?"
     
    "I did," said Wimsey, "and I examined it hard with this little fellow, but I could make nothing of it except that something or other had rested on the sill." He drew out his monocle and handed it to Parker.
     
    "My word, that's a powerful lens."
     
    "It is," said Wimsey, "and jolly useful when you want to take a good squint at somethin' and look like a bally fool all the time. Only it don't do to wear it permanently–if people see you full-face they say, 'Dear me! how weak the sight of that eye must be!' Still, it's useful."
     
    "Sugg and I explored the ground at the back of the building," went on Parker, "but there wasn't a trace."
     
    "That's interestin'. Did you try the roof?"
     
    "No."
     
    "We'll go over it to-morrow. The gutter's only a couple of feet off the top of the window. I measured it with my stick–the gentleman-scout's vade-mecum, I call it–it's marked off in inches. Uncommonly handy companion at times. There's a sword