The Interpretation Of Murder Read Online Free PDF

real power in the department. But Littlemore, being a fellow
of excellent good nature, conveyed no disrespect to the coroner.
        'What do I know about the Riverford
case?' he answered. 'Why, nothing at all, Mr Hugel, except that the killer is
over fifty, five-foot-nine, unmarried, familiar with the sight of blood, lives
below Canal Street, and visited the harbor within the last two days.'
        Hugel's jaw dropped. 'How do you know
all that?'
        'I'm joking, Mr Hugel. I don't know
Shinola about the murderer. I don't even know why they bothered sending me
over. You didn't happen to lift any prints, did you, sir?'
        'Fingerprints?' asked the coroner.
'Certainly not. The courts will never admit fingerprint evidence.'
        'Well, it was too late by the time I
got there. The whole place was already cleaned out. All the girl's things were
gone.'
        Hugel was incensed. He called it
tampering with evidence. 'But you must have learned something about the
Riverford girl,' he added.
        'She was new,' said Littlemore. 'She
only lived there a month or two.'
        'They opened in June, Littlemore. Everyone has lived there only a month or two.'
        'Oh. Well she was a real quiet type.
Kept to herself.'
        'Is that all? Was anyone seen with
her yesterday?' asked the coroner.
        'She came in around eight o'clock.
Nobody with her. No guests later. Went to her apartment and never came out, as
far as anybody knows.'
        'Did she have any regular visitors?'
        'Nope. Nobody remembers anybody ever
visiting her.'
        'Why was she living alone in New York
City - at her age and in so large an apartment?'
        'That's what I wanted to know,' said
Littlemore. 'But they clammed up on me pretty good at the Balmoral, every one
of them. I was serious about the harbor though, Mr Hugel. I found some clay on the
floor of Miss Riverford's bedroom. Pretty fresh too. I think it came from the
harbor.'
        'Clay? What color clay?' asked Hugel.
        'Red. Cakey, kind of.'
        'That wasn't clay, Littlemore,' said
the coroner, rolling his eyes, 'that was my chalk.'
        The detective frowned. 'I wondered
why there was a whole circle of it.'
        'To keep people away from the body,
you nitwit!'
        'I'm just joking, Mr Hugel. It wasn't
your chalk. I saw your chalk. The clay was by the fireplace. A couple of small
traces. Needed my magnifying glass before I saw it. I took it home to compare
with my samples; I got a whole collection. It's a lot like the red clay all
over the piers at the harbor.'
        Hugel took this in. He was
considering whether to be impressed. 'Is the clay in the harbor unique? Could
it come from somewhere else - the Central Park, for example?'
        'Not the park,' said the detective.
'This is river clay, Mr Hugel. No rivers in the park.'
        'What about the Hudson Valley?'
        'Could be.'
        'Or Fort Tryon, uptown, where
Billings has just turned over so much earth?'
        'You think there's clay up there?'
        'I congratulate you, Littlemore, on
your outstanding detective work.'
        'Thanks, Mr Hugel.'
        'Would you be interested in a
description of the murderer, by any chance?'
        'I sure would.'
        'He is middle-aged, wealthy, and
right-handed. His hair: graying, but formerly dark brown. His height: six foot
to six-foot-one. And I believe he was acquainted with his victim - well
acquainted.'
        Littlemore looked amazed. 'How -?'
        'Here are three hairs I collected
from the girl's person.' The coroner pointed to a small double-paned rectangle
of glass on his desk, next to a microscope: sandwiched between the panes of
glass were three hairs. 'They are dark but striated with gray, indicating a man
of middle age. On the girl's neck were threads of white silk - most probably a
man's tie, evidently used to strangle her. The silk was of the highest quality.
Thus our man has money. Of