Page 62 of The Hollow of Fear
“That is possible,” said Holmes. “At the very least, we should see that the lavender house’s lock has been tampered with.”
And the padlock that had once secured the lavender house was indeed absent. Sergeant Ellerby exclaimed and went down on all fours. “I see bits of metal filings near the threshold—still new and shiny. The servant Mr. Walsh sent to accompany the men with the crate would have locked the door after the crate was put in. So when these men came back for the crate again, they must have used a bolt cutter on the lock.”
He opened the door excitedly.
Alas, the lavender house contained no open, empty crate.
Sergeant Ellerby glanced uncertainly at Holmes. But it was Lord Ingram, his heart thumping, who said, “There are only two new crates here—these two.”
He set his gloved hand atop a stack of crates placed against the far wall, between sturdy metal shelves that held a number of boxes and other crates markedfragileandthis side up. “Everything else was already here earlier. If Mr. Walsh is right and a third crate came the day before Lady Ingram was discovered—well, that crate is gone.”
“But... wouldn’t it have been easier to open it here and carry only the body to the icehouse?” puzzled Sergeant Ellerby.
“Look at the floor,” said Holmes, pointing down. “Ash, would your servants have been so untidy?”
Elsewhere a few pieces of straw and wood splinters would not have been considered untidy in a rarely visited outbuilding. But this was Stern Hollow, where meticulousness was not an aspiration but a minimum standard. Lord Ingram’s heart thumped harder. “They wouldn’t. All the senior servants believe that cleanliness is next to godliness, and they have trained those under them accordingly.”
Holmes nodded. “So the men who came later did uncrate in here.”
“Then what did they do with the crate?” asked Sergeant Ellerby. “The gatehouse keeper might not mind a crate coming in. But wouldn’t he think it strange to see menleavingwith one?”
Holmes turned to Lord Ingram. “When I first visited here, I was given a map at the gatehouse. I remember more than one entrance marked on the map.”
“So they could have left a different way and not been seen,” marveled Sergeant Ellerby.
“Normally I would say no,” said Lord Ingram, doing his best to keep his voice even, “because the only other entrance that would let a cart through doesn’t have a manned gatehouse and is almost always locked. But if those men had a bolt cutter and a willingness to use it...”
“Get us some horses, Ash. Let’s ride out that way,” said Holmes.
The unused entrance,from a distance, appeared properly shut. But when the company drew near, they saw that the two halves of the gate had been fastened together with nothing more than a length of rope, the chain and heavy padlock that usually secured them nowhere to be seen.
Rain was coming down hard again. They had borrowed some mackintoshes from the coach house, but Lord Ingram’s trousers were soaking wet. And he could barely feel the tips of his fingers.
“I’m no expert,” Sergeant Ellerby shouted to be heard above the rain. “But I didn’t see any signs that would indicate our quarries veered off the driving lane to get rid of the crate. Why do you think they took it with them?”
“They might simply be cautious,” replied Holmes.
“Or perhaps they needed it for some other reason,” said Lord Ingram, still searching the ground, his boots squelching in the mud.
“Maybe,” said Holmes. “It’s getting dark and the rain isn’t helping. Let’s go back to the house!”
As much as he would have preferred to pursue the men with the crate—or at least find some hints as to where they had been headed, she was right. It was too late in the day to see anything, and with cold, wet trousers plastered to his person, he might come across pneumonia first.
He helped her up her horse. “Good work,” he said, in a volume meant for only her ears.
“Thank you, my lord.” She leaned down and murmured, “And do you know what I want in return for all my good work?”
His heart skipped several beats. “What?”
“Three hundred quid in compensation.” She squeezed his hand through their sodden gloves. “Mrs. Watson will send an invoice.”
Chief Inspector Fowlerspoke again to Finney, the young servant who first stumbled upon Lady Ingram’s body. The boy was confused to hear talk of a different lock and insisted that he, in his short time at Stern Hollow at least, had ever seen only one lock on the icehouse, the one he opened every time he went there, including the day he found Lady Ingram.
The discrepancy made Treadles’ palms perspire.
After Fowler dismissed the boy, he informed the house steward that he wished to tour Lord and Lady Ingram’s private chambers. Mr. Walsh, not exactly in a position to deny him the request, reminded him that Sergeant Ellerby and his men had already looked through the rooms’ contents.
“Nevertheless, we wish to examine them again.”
