Person or Persons Unknown Read Online Free PDF

action. “But…”
    We had turned down New Broad Court at its narrowest part, exactly where I had earlier spoken with Mariah. In spite of my intentions I found myself looking for her. She was nowhere to be seen.
    “But what, Mr. Perkins? What was it you would say?”
    “It was this, young Jeremy, if you was to come by, I could teach you a thing or two. Whether or not you continue with this notion of joining the Runners — which I do heartily advise against — it would do good for you to know how to handle yourself better. You’re sometimes called upon to go out of a night, and you ought — ”
    ‘^Murder! Foul murder!”’
    The cry came from so close it seemed to have been shouted into our ears.
    ”Murder!”
    Mr. Perkins and I whirled about as one, searching out the source of the alarum, but what we saw, rather, was a great swarm of people behind us pressing to get through a narrow passage. A few steps brought us to them. He led the way, throwing them right and left, pushing with his club, though not wielding it in a harmful way. While all the while he chanted: “One side, one side. I’m a constable. Make way for the law!” And for the most part, that was what they did, flattening against the rough brick of the passage, bowing to the authority of Mr. Perkins’s crested club. As we came to the end of the dark way, we found that it opened up into a small space, or perhaps an alley, where doors were visible, and stairs led up to floors above. From beneath the stairs two legs projected out of petticoats and a skirt. Could it be Mariah? No, the body was too corpulent, the skirt was of another color. A small man tugged and heaved at the ankles to pull the corpus out from the stairs while his female companion grabbed at the purse tied round the waist.
    ”Let go that purse,” snarled Mr. Perkins, “lest you take a clout from this club. And you” — to her partner — “drop her feet, or take one yourself. Both of you, stand over there, and don’t think to sneak away.”
    They did as told, though most reluctant, as the crowd behind us murmured against them; “Vultures,” they were called, “Corpus robbers,” and so on.
    “We was only thinkin’ to put a name on her,” said the woman who had been tugging at the purse. “We thought they might be a letter inside or such.”
    “So you say,” said Mr. Perkins, “but we’ll let Sir John be the judge of that.”
    “She could be alive,” said the man, a queer-looking rat-faced fellow. “She’s warm to the touch.”
    “Then we must disturb the body thus much. Jeremy, pull her full out from the stairs.”
    I leaped to the task, not in the least repelled by it so long as Constable Perkins was there watching me. I pulled hard.
    “Now, which of you put out the cry of murder?” he asked.
    One in the crowd, not by any means in the first rank, raised his hand. ” ‘Twas me,” he said, “I did it.”
    “You come over here and stand by me.”
    By then I had worked the body out from its resting place. It was true there was still warmth in her limbs, but there was death on her face. Her lips were pulled back in a grimace, and her eyes, open wide, stared up and saw nothing. Young she was and might, in a different circumstance, have been judged pretty. Her sallow cheeks were brightened with two large spots of rouge.
    “What think you, Jeremy, alive or dead?”
    “Dead, to all appearances, but I see no wound.”
    “Marks on the throat from strangulation?”
    “None.”
    “Best take her wrist and feel for a heartbeat.”
    That confused me quite proper. “A heartbeat in her wrist, Mr. Perkins?”
    “Never mind.” He pointed his club at the ghoulish couple in a manner most threatening. “You’ll stay where you are, or suffer for it.”
    He came over to the body, knelt and put down his club, then took the wrist in hand. “You see, Jeremy? Just here. Touch this spot with your thumb, and you can feel the blood flowing — //it’s flowing. It