CHAPTER XI
THE DISAPPEARANCE OF DR. SMITH
Zena had been away visiting friends and on the very day of her returnI was obliged to leave London, much to my annoyance. The case cameinto my hands only because the detective who would have done the workin the ordinary way was ill. Had he been well, little might have beenheard of the affair; but through me it came under the notice ofChristopher Quarles, and it was he who suggested that there was amystery. Anyone who cares to turn up the files of the newspapers ofthat date will find that the police methods, and some commercialmethods, too, came in for rather drastic criticism.
Dr. Richmond Smith had a house on the outskirts of Riversmouth, wherehe looked after three or four weak-minded patients. One afternoon inlate September he went out, saying he would not be long. His wife wasable to fix the time at half-past four. By dinner time he had notreturned and she became alarmed. He was a man of methodical, eveneccentric, habits; he seldom went outside his own grounds--the facthad caused people in the neighborhood to consider him peculiar--andhis wife had no reason to suppose he had gone outside the grounds onthis occasion. Dr. Smith's assistant, Patrick Evans, who was a maleattendant, not a medical man, said he searched the house and grounds,expecting to find that the doctor had been taken suddenly ill; butthe doctor was nowhere to be found. Later in the evening Mrs. Smithcommunicated with the police.
This man Evans was an intelligent fellow, and when I took up the caseI found him extremely useful. He wasn't too full of his own ideas, andanswered my questions definitely. So far as he knew, Dr. Smith hadnothing on his mind. He was not the kind of man to commit suicide.
"Having to deal constantly with weak-minded people might have aneffect upon him," I suggested.
"It might, of course," Evans answered; "but it hasn't had any effectupon me, and, in a way, I should say the doctor was a more phlegmaticperson than I am. Nothing moved him very much."
"Had he enemies?"
"I have no reason to think so."
"No money worries?"
"He never said anything to suggest such a thing. Had there been anylack of money, I should have expected to see a certain pinchingprocess in the house."
There was no sign of this. The arrangements for the patients were onthe side of luxury, and there was ample evidence of the kindest andmost considerate treatment. I judged that Mrs. Smith was a capablemanager. When I first saw her she had got over her excitement, and wasable to talk of her husband quite calmly. She admitted that he waseccentric, and she believed an eccentric action had cost him his life.She had some reason for this belief.
Dr. Smith had a small boat of five or six tons, old and shabby, butperfectly seaworthy. This he kept moored in one of the small coves tothe east of Riversmouth. This boat had gone.
I examined these coves carefully. They were protected by a spur ofrock which ran out to sea. Many of them were only caves eaten out ofthe cliffs, the depth of water in them varying considerably. At lowtide some of them were almost dry, while others, even at the greatestebb, still had deep water in them. They were great holes, in fact,which the sea constantly replenished. That a boat had been moored inone of them was evident, and there was some doubt at first whether ithad not been beached for the winter, as had been done in previousyears; but no one knew anything about it, and the boat was not to befound.
Until quite the end of September the weather had been perfect; therewas no reason why the boat should not have been used with safety andpleasure, and on the night of Dr. Smith's disappearance the sea wasperfectly calm. As a matter of fact, however, the doctor was neverknown to use the boat. The Riversmouth people declared that they onlyknew Smith by the occasional glimpse they had of him in his gardenwhen they passed; that they never met him either in the town or on theway to the coves; and, indeed, the only person who had any knowledgeof him at all was Mr. Ferguson, a solicitor. On two occasions he hadseen him at his house on small matters of business, and once he hadmet him in London to introduce him to an insurance company. Whether apolicy had been taken out or not he did not know, as Dr. Smith hadarranged to take the commission himself if he completed the policy.
Evans was not prepared to say that the doctor never used the boat. Itwas true that he seldom went beyond the garden, but this was not tosay that he never did. People might have met him and not recognizedwho he was. Once or twice during the summer Evans had been out in theboat himself, at the doctor's suggestion. It was a good little boat,and quite easy for one person to manage.
Mrs. Smith did not believe that her husband ever used the boat, andhad never understood why he kept it. He had bought it for practicallynothing, and she could only suppose that the fact of making a bargainhad appealed to him.
"Was he careless about money matters?" I asked.
"There was always plenty of money," she answered, "but I know verylittle about his financial affairs. I think he was a little fearfulabout the future, and some four years ago he talked about insuring hislife. Whether he did so or not, I cannot say."
A description of the missing man was circulated in the press; but wecould give no portrait; such a thing did not exist. The Riversmouthpeople considered this publication futile. They were convinced thatthe missing boat was proof enough that the doctor had disappeared,and, while I searched for additional facts, I was inclined to agreewith them.
I was not long without a solid fact to deal with. I have said that itwas a calm night when the doctor disappeared, but since then theweather had changed.
A southwesterly gale sent the great breakers foaming all along theshore, until even the waters of the sheltered coves were troubled.Between the east and the west cliffs was a stretch of shingle, andhere, early in the morning of the fourth day, some wreckage was castup by the swirling waters. There was no doubt that it was part of thedoctor's boat. A fisherman and Patrick Evans were able to identify iteven before a fragment bearing the name _Betty_ came ashore.
No body, however, was washed up, nor anything to suggest that thedoctor had been on his boat.
Certain inquiries necessitated my going to town next day, and I tookthe opportunity of going to Chelsea, not really to see Quarles, but tosee Zena. I had no need of his help in the Riversmouth case, and, hadhe not been so anxious to know what I had been doing during the lastfew days, I should not have mentioned it.
As it was, I told him the story.
"It's a strange thing, Wigan, but I have had a presentiment for thelast forty-eight hours that a particularly difficult mystery wascoming to me. Have you any other case in hand or pending?"
"No."
"Then this may be the one."
"I don't think there is much mystery about it," I answered. "I expectthe body to come ashore presently."
"How about the insurance?" asked Quarles.
"The policy is in force with the Meteor Insurance Company for fifteenthousand pounds. He has paid the premiums regularly, less commission."
"The premiums have been paid by check, I suppose?"
"Yes. The doctor had an account at the Capital and Provincial here inLondon. It has never been a large account, but has been open for along while. The doctor did all his business by letter, and does notappear to have been inside the bank for years."
"If he were in the boat, it is strange his body hasn't been washed up,isn't it?" asked Zena.
"I think a body might take longer to come ashore than wreckage," Ianswered. "Or it may have been caught in another current, and will bethrown up farther along the coast."
Quarles nodded.
"Of course, there is the possibility that Dr. Smith is not dead," Iwent on, "that he has disappeared intentionally, hoping to defraud theinsurance company. Were you thinking of that, Zena?"
"No; I was only wondering why the body had not been found."
"And you, professor?"
"Oh, I haven't developed a theory yet! If no body is found, I presumethe company will withhold the payment of the money for a time."
"Naturally, I didn't discuss that question with them,
" I returned. "Iimagine no very thorough search of the doctor's papers has yet beenmade, for Mrs. Smith knew nothing definite about the insurance, and,indeed, very little about her husband's affairs."
"Well, we must wait for the body," said the professor.
"You have the same opinion as I have, and expect it to come ashore."
"I have formed no opinion," he answered, "but, judging from youraccount, I should think the body will be found presently. When it is Ishould like to see it, Wigan. The case doesn't really interest me yet,but my presentiment does. When I feel my particular corner of the webof existence trembling I--but it is too late to get on my hobbyto-night. I'm tired, and I dare say you and Zena want to have a talk.You're a lucky dog, Wigan, a very lucky dog."
He chuckled as he left the room, and Zena and I looked at each otherin astonishment. It was the first intimation he had given that he knewour secret. He declared later that he had known it exactly as long aswe had, which was probably an exaggeration; but at any rate it madethings easier for us.
I returned to Riversmouth next day, and two days later the doctor'sbody was found. As I had suggested to Zena, it had evidently beencaught by another current, and was discovered among the rocks in alittle bay about half a mile east of the coves. A lad saw it from thetop of the cliffs and gave information.
I telegraphed to Quarles at once, and he arrived in Riversmouth thatafternoon.
Mrs. Smith, Patrick Evans, and the solicitor, Ferguson, had alreadyidentified the body when Quarles and I went to see it at the mortuary.
The professor spent a long time examining the dead man and hisclothing. He was particularly interested in the collar of his coat,and in certain rents in the coat and trousers. I must confess heseemed to be looking for a mystery where none existed. A silver watchfound in the dead man's pocket had the initials "R. S." on it, and asignet ring on his finger also bore these initials. There could be nodoubt of the man's identity.
"What are you looking for?" I asked.
"Nothing----"
"That presentiment is misleading you."
"Maybe," said Quarles.
"There is no doubt that he was drowned, and there is not the slightestindication that he was the victim of foul play before he was in thewater."
"I am inclined to agree with you."
"The only question is whether his death was the result of an accidentor whether he committed suicide."
"I shouldn't like to express an opinion," Quarles returned shortly."By the way, Wigan, who found the body?"
"A boy belonging to the town."
"I suppose we can get hold of him?"
"He is ready to talk to anyone about it."
"We'll go and find him," said Quarles. "I'm staying in Riversmouthto-night; no, not with you. I don't want to be identified with thecase in any way. When is the inquest?"
"The day after to-morrow."
"Then to-morrow afternoon you might show me these coves."
"Certainly."
"Now for this boy."
The wind was blowing half a gale as we went through the town.
"It has been blowing like this ever since the night the doctordisappeared, hasn't it?" asked Quarles.
"Worse than this part of the time. What's the theory, professor?"
"I'm wondering whether there is not some way of clearing up theaccident or suicide question."
We found the lad at his home, and Quarles listened attentively to hisgraphic description of seeing the water playing with the corpse as itlay caught on the rocks.
"Had you gone that way on purpose to see if it had come ashore?" askedQuarles.
"I had and I hadn't. You don't know old Clay, I suppose. He's afisherman who thinks he knows everything, and he said it wasimpossible for a body to be washed up on that side of the east cliff."
"And you knew better?"
"It wasn't that. There were several people standing round at thetime, and they laughed at old Clay for being so positive. He waswrong, you see."
"Evidently. Do you remember who was there at the time?"
"I didn't notice. I was listening to what Clay was saying. I don'tsuppose he'll talk so much after this."
Quarles made no comment on what the lad had said as we walked to theend of the street together, and we parted after arranging our visit tothe coves on the following afternoon.
Next day about noon I walked up to see Mrs. Smith. The assistant,Evans, came to me, bringing me her apologies. Unless it were anythingof the gravest importance, would I mind coming again?
"The fact is, she has been upset this morning," Evans went on. "Agentleman unexpectedly turned up to see the doctor about a new patientcoming here. He had not heard of the doctor's tragic death, and Mrs.Smith had to explain."
"Very trying for her," I said.
"And, to make it worse, the man was rather stupid," said Evans. "Hedidn't seem to understand the position, nor why the doctor's deathshould prevent arrangements being made. He appeared to have got itinto his head that we were unwilling to let him see how the house wasconducted. I was called in to the rescue, and I took him over thehouse. If the weak-minded patient is a relative, I should think thedisease is hereditary."
"Why?"
"He could not understand any explanation," said Evans. "He evenselected a bedroom which happened to be mine, and would go intodetails why it was exactly the room he desired. Of course, the houseis to be given up. I believe the relations of the three patients wehave already have been written to."
"I wanted to ask Mrs. Smith if the doctor's papers throw any lightupon his death."
"They do not. Mr. Ferguson was here nearly the whole of yesterday, andhe told me there was nothing to suggest that the doctor was indifficulties, or that he contemplated taking his own life. His willwas found. He leaves everything to his wife, but Mr. Ferguson saidthere was not much to leave beyond his life policy."
"That represents a large sum," I said.
"Does it? I'm glad for Mrs. Smith's sake. Mr. Ferguson didn't mentionthe amount. I wish it had been large enough for the doctor to think ofleaving me a bit. At my age a man doesn't easily get another job."
In the afternoon I met Quarles, and we went to look at the coves. Evenat high water it was possible to walk round them by means of a fairlywide ledge of rock. I showed him where the boat had been kept, pointedout an oar and a boathook lying on the ledge, but he took only aperfunctory interest, and spent much more time examining the adjoiningcoves and the projecting spur of rock which ran out to sea. Hescrambled out to the end of this spur and seemed interested in thewaves breaking upon it; then he turned and surveyed the land, taking apair of glasses from his pocket to examine the general contour of thecoast more clearly.
"It would be under that point yonder where the body was found," hesaid.
"Yes."
"It is possible to walk round the rocks to that point, I suppose?"
"Yes, but----"
"Oh, I am not going to do it," he answered. "I was only wondering whyold Clay was so certain that a body could not be washed ashore there.Has anything further happened since we parted yesterday?"
I told him about Mrs. Smith's visitor.
"You didn't catch sight of him, Wigan?"
"He had gone before I arrived."
"I wonder if he knew anything about the doctor."
"Are you not yet satisfied that this is not the difficult case aboutwhich you had a presentiment?" I asked.
"No," was the sharp answer as he replaced the glasses in his pocket."I'm going back to Chelsea to think about it. Found drowned; that willbe the verdict of the inquest to-morrow, but that won't proveanything. Mrs. Smith is going to leave Riversmouth, you say?"
"So Evans told me."
"The moment she moves have her watched," said Quarles. "Put the bestman you have on to the job. It is likely to be a long business, and inthe meanwhile a hint might be given to the insurance company not to bein too great a hurry to pay over the money."
"Would you have Patrick Evans watched, to
o?" I asked, a little sarcasmin my tone, perhaps, for any suspicion of Mrs. Smith seemed to meridiculous.
"No. You can let him go where he likes; he is all right," and helooked at me steadily for a moment.
I knew what was passing through his mind. Quite recently he had becomeinterested in a case which was in my hands. He had opposed my solutionof the difficulty with another which contradicted me at every point,and we had almost quarreled about it, when a new fact came to light,proving that he was altogether wrong. Even Christopher Quarles was notinfallible. Evidently he had noticed the sarcasm in my voice, andwould have me remember how often he had been right.
In the Riversmouth case, I argued, the professor was hampered bycircumstances. He had got it into his brain that he was called upon todeal with a difficult problem, and very naturally he saw difficultieswhere there were none. I knew from my own experience that for adetective a preconceived idea is deadly. He can only see things fromone point of view. I was convinced this was Quarles's position, andthe straightforward evidence given at the inquest next day onlyconfirmed this conviction.
If doubt remained in anyone's mind as to the identity of the body, itwas settled beyond all question. A large sum of money being involved,the insurance company sent down an official who had seen Dr. Smithwhen he called about taking out a policy. He recognized the dead manat once. Quarles was not even right as regards the verdict. Thedoctor's evidence suggested that there were certain signs of astruggle which one would not expect to find in a deliberate suicide,but which were natural if a man tried to save himself from drowning.This, and there being no reason why Dr. Smith should have taken hisown life, and the conviction of his wife and his assistant that he wasnot the kind of man to do such a thing, so impressed the jury thatthey returned a verdict of accidental death by drowning.
Here would have been an end of the case had not the insurance companyraised difficulties and made all sorts of excuses to delay the paymentof the money. Criticism was aroused; letters appeared in the papers.The company stated that they were acting on the advice of theirsolicitors, and then someone suggested that solicitors of suchstanding as the firm mentioned would hardly persevere in such adviceunless the police authorities were behind them. So police methods werecriticized by all kinds of people anxious to rush into print, andsince I was the immediate cause of the trouble, acting on ChristopherQuarles's advice, I grew a little anxious.
Mrs. Smith had come to London and was staying at a boarding house inBloomsbury, a most injured woman by common consent. From the momentshe had left Riversmouth I had had her watched, and nothing hadhappened. Why had I set a spy upon her movements? Because I hadlistened to Quarles in that empty room at Chelsea.
Two days after the inquest I went to see the professor. He had readthe account in the papers.
"You see it was not 'Found drowned,'" I said.
"I thought it would be," he returned. "A momentary ray of lightillumined those twelve good men, and they agreed that it could not besuicide."
"Of course it might have been an accident," I said, "but I don't thinkthe evidence justified the verdict."
"A strange case, Wigan, and very difficult because it seems so easy.There are one or two curious points to begin with. Practically no onein Riversmouth knew Dr. Smith. He seldom went outside his own grounds.It is reasonable to assume, therefore, that he was a peculiar man. Hebought a boat because it happened to be a bargain, his wife thinks,suggesting that spending his money in this way to no purpose was ahobby with him; yet we hear nothing of any other bargains to supportthe idea. Until we have evidence to the contrary, then, we may assumethat some idea was in his mind when he bought the boat. He didn'tforget all about its existence, remember, because twice during thesummer he sent his assistant out in it, and the assistant pronouncesit a very good boat and easy to manage. Now, what possessed Dr. Smithto go for a sail on that particular day and at that time of the day?He was certainly not an ardent yachtsman."
"Since he was peculiar, it is naturally difficult to account for hisactions," I said.
"A possible explanation," Quarles returned.
"He may always have had the idea of suicide at the back of his brain,"said Zena. "It may have been in his mind when he bought the boat. Ifone lives near the sea and contemplates suicide, it would be naturalto choose drowning."
"There is much in that argument," said the professor.
"It was in my mind when I said it was curious no body was washed upwith the wreckage," said Zena.
"That remark of yours set me thinking," Quarles went on. "I wondered,Wigan, whether the doctor was on board the boat when she capsized, orwhatever it was that happened to her. Now my wonder is increased. Thewaves had battered the boat to pieces, but when the body is found,caught on the rocks, it is comparatively uninjured."
"Doubtless it had been carried farther out to sea," I said.
"But it had to come ashore, and the weather was stormy the whole time.It could hardly have escaped altogether. There was something else toraise doubt. There were rents in the coat, rents which were all muchalike, and a curious bulge in the collar of the coat. These thingsgave me a definite theory. The doctor was not in the boat, nor had hecommitted suicide."
"Are you suggesting murder?"
"I am."
"At the inquest the doctor distinctly said that there were no marks onthe body to suggest he had been the victim of foul play. He wasdrowned; he was not killed first and put in the water afterward."
"I quite agree with the doctor's evidence," said Quarles, "but he isnot a detective. Let me reconstruct what happened. Dr. Smith came tothe cove either with a companion or to meet someone. Possibly thedoctor had a drink, let us say from a bottle in the boat's locker. Ido not press this point, but it would make the work easier. Thecompanion pushed the doctor into the water, and with a boathook--therewas one lying on the rocky ledge--he held him under until he drowned.Once the hook was fixed into the collar of the coat it would becomparatively easy. Afterward a piece of rock tied to the body wouldkeep it under water. I suggest this could be done with least danger inthe cove next to the one where the boat was kept. It is deeper,darker, and would not be likely to receive so much attention when itbecame known that the doctor was missing. So the body would besecurely hidden.
"Then the boat, as soon as it was dark enough, was towed out to theend of the spur and scuttled. The water is shallow there, and as soonas the wind got up it was battered to pieces and presently thewreckage came ashore. Why shouldn't the body have been left to comeashore too? you may ask. Old Clay is learned in the currents of thispart of the coast, and he will tell you there is no certainty whatwill happen to wreckage. During a southwesterly gale it may be thrownup on the shingle; at any other time it may be carried out to sea.
"At the time of the murder it was quite calm, and it was necessarythat the body should be found. The murderer was in no hurry, and atfirst too many people went round to look at the coves for it to besafe for him to take any steps. But he got his opportunity probably onthe night you spent in London when you first mentioned the case to me,you remember. He got up the body from its hiding-place, and with theboathook pulled it partly through the water and partly over the rocks,and fixed it in the place where it was found, the one place where Clayis certain wreckage never comes ashore."
"I think the theory is fanciful, professor."
"I grant that only the brain of a master criminal could conceive sucha crime. There was my difficulty. Where was this master criminal to befound?"
"And what was his motive?" I said. "There is the insurance money, butthat comes to the wife. She could not have carried out such afantastic crime, nor do I believe for a moment that she instigatedit."
"On both points I am with you," said Quarles. "Now let us consideranother question--the identity of the dead man."
"Surely there is no question about that? The official from theinsurance office----"
"Exactly, Wigan; you hit the weak spot in my theory. You will not denythat under certain conditi
ons--criminal conditions--the wife, theassistant, and even the solicitor, Ferguson, might agree to a wrongidentification; the insurance official is outside any such suspicion.He declares the dead man to be Dr. Smith. Now, Wigan, look at thatnotice," and he handed me a cutting from a six months old newspaper."You see it is the obituary notice of a Dr. London, who was one of thedoctors of the Meteor Insurance Company, and I have ascertained thatit was he who medically examined Dr. Smith in connection with the lifepolicy. He passed him as a first-class life. I do not fancy any doctorwould have passed as a first-class life such a man as was washed up bythe sea. Dr. London's death, therefore, removed a valuable witness."
"I cannot see that there is any question about the identity," I said.
"For a moment let us consider facts," said Quarles. "Mrs. Smithdeclares that she knows nothing about her husband's affairs, but shedoes mention a life policy, adding that she does not know whether itis in force or not. Nothing very significant in that; but, curiouslyenough, the solicitor, Ferguson, volunteers the statement that heintroduced Smith to an office, but does not know whether the policywas taken out, because Dr. Smith insisted he should have the benefitof the commission himself. Ferguson is in a small way of business; itis evident that he did not do much work for Dr. Smith, and one wonderswhy he met him in town and took all this trouble when he was to getnothing out of it. The assistant, Evans, knows nothing about a lifepolicy; in fact, intelligent as he is, he gives little informationwhatever. Yet there is no doubt that he was a person of someconsequence in the household. When the man came to see Dr. Smith, andMrs. Smith had to explain that her husband was dead, Evans was sentfor, and he told you that he had had a trying time with the oldgentleman."
"He did."
"I was the old fool," said Quarles.
"You?"
"I wanted to see the house and its inhabitants. Mrs. Smith was upset;she was, in fact, a little afraid of me, Wigan. I was an unexpectedelement in the affair. Patrick Evans is intelligent--very much so; buthe did not give you quite a correct version of what happened. He wasnot sent for; he came into the room with Mrs. Smith and he did most ofthe talking."
"Did you make any discovery in the house?"
"Only that Patrick Evans was an important member in it. Now the factthat only these three people had identified the body fitted my theoryexactly; but when the insurance official did so, I was puzzled. Still,my belief is this, that the person taken to the insurance company byFerguson was not the same person who afterward went to Dr. London tobe examined."
"The difficulties your theory gets over, professor, are enormous."
"Look at it this way," said Quarles. "Dr. Smith, who was a man of noimportance, and had done little in his profession, took a weak-mindedpatient into his house. Where he lived at the time we do not know.This patient may have had friends who died; possibly he was left onthe doctor's hands without adequate payment. We will suppose, further,that this patient had peculiarities--a love of being important, ofbeing somebody, of being flattered, and above all of loving a secretto an abnormal degree. Except to those who knew him well, he appeareda normal individual under ordinary circumstances. We get to facts whenwe say that Smith had schemes in his head. He contemplated insuringhis life for a large sum, and we will assume that he meant to reapthe benefit himself. How did he go to work? He took a house atRiversmouth, where he was unknown, and in due course arrived therewith his wife, who was privy to his scheme, and his one patient."
"It was not until he had settled in Riversmouth that he had patients,"I said. "That fact is established."
"Let me get to my point, Wigan. It was necessary that the doctorshould have an assistant, so we get Evans at Riversmouth. The doctor,by flattery, by pandering to his love of secrecy, suggested to hispatient that he should call himself Dr. Smith. So the scheme wasfloated. It must necessarily be a work of time, during which thedoctor must live. He took three other patients, who were well caredfor and looked after, chiefly by Evans. Through Ferguson, who Isuggest became a partner in the scheme, the insurance was effected.When the time was ripe, Dr. London being dead, this patient, who hadcome to be known as Dr. Smith by the few people who had caught sightof him, was murdered, drowned, in the way I have suggested, by thedoctor. The wife remained to claim the money. So we watch her, andthrough her we shall presently catch her husband."
"And the assistant?" I asked.
"I grant, Wigan, that the facts supporting my theory are not so strongas I could wish; that is why we cannot act, why we must wait. We havea master criminal to deal with in Mr. Smith, who remains in hiding fora time. What he calls himself now I cannot say, but we know him asPatrick Evans."
We had to wait a long time. Mrs. Smith even had the temerity tocommence legal proceedings against the insurance company, and then,probably for the purpose of getting coached upon some difficultpoint, she had a secret meeting with Evans in a restaurant in Soho.Husband and wife and the solicitor Ferguson were arrested. Mrs. Smithand Ferguson were brought to trial and sentenced as accessories beforethe fact, but the doctor succeeded in committing suicide in his cell.