Page 16 of Deadly Murder (Angus Brodie and Mikaela Forsythe Murder Mystery #14)

Ten

We had stayed over at the flat that adjoined the office for the night, after taking supper at the Public House across The Strand.

I had then spent the time after adding new questions to the blackboard.

It was late when Brodie had put more coal in the stove, and we had retired for the night.

Now, the telephone in the outer office woke us with that sharp jangling sound. Brodie cursed, then sprang from the bed, clad only in his underdrawers.

As I squinted through the light when he turned on the electric lamp, I was reminded that he was quite a stirring sight, most particularly in his underdrawers.

He cursed again, found his shirt, then quick-stepped barefoot across the cold floor into the adjoining office as I buried my head into the warm covers.

I made out enough words to know that he was speaking with my great aunt.

It seems that she was out and about Sussex Square, performing her morning routine of briskly walking about the gardens—part of her new routine to ward off the infirmities of old age and build her stamina. And before first light! It had to be against some law or rule.

She had spoken of a trip to Switzerland the coming year and was preparing to hike the Alps, something I hoped to persuade her against. All things considered I was not prepared to send her off in that longboat any time soon.

Brodie appeared at the doorway. “Her ladyship has some information.”

Since I had only limited items of clothing at the flat, I wrapped the top blanket around myself and dragged it with me as I went to his desk.

“There you are, dear,” Aunt Antonia greeted me. “Do forgive the early hour of the morning. I hope that I was not interrupting anything.”

“Not at all,” I assured her as Brodie returned and took the chair across. He now wore his trousers and an irresistible frown.

“I spoke with Edward last night, that is Sir Laughton,” she began.

I knew Sir Laughton, her attorney, quite well. He had assisted Brodie and I in past matters. He had a thorough experience with the law and was held in high esteem by his peers, as well as my great aunt.

He had represented her in various legal matters including the appropriate documents for her to purchase the building on The Strand that she had then signed over to Brodie.

She had declared, at the time, that she needed to do it before it slipped her mind or she took that final voyage in that Viking longboat.

However, it was the first time she referred to her attorney as Edward. It did seem as though there might be something there.

“I gave him the details of the situation,” she continued.

“He is quite well acquainted with Lord Salisbery and Sir Huntingdon and suggested that a formal note might be helpful.

Especially regarding a legal aspect to do with obstructing an investigation or something like that, along with a directive that you are to be contacted immediately.

“Not to mention the gossip any reluctance on his part would cause. He thought that might take care of the matter and promised to dash off that formal request first thing this morning and have it delivered to you.”

Her voice grew faint, and I thought we might have lost the connection amid much background noise.

“Lily has asked if she might join you when you make your observations of the body. Now, I must return to my hiking. Do say hello to Brodie.”

And in keeping with her habit of simply leaving the call, I heard the clunk of the earpiece as she walked away.

“Mikaela?”

I recognized Lily’s voice.

“I would like very much to join ye and Mr. Brodie when ye go to inspect the body.” She waited expectantly before continuing.

“I have seen bodies before, and I’m no sissy pants to faint away at a little blood and a few bruises.”

“I know you are not,” I replied. “It’s only that a mortuary is hardly the place for a young lady.”

“Nor an older one?” she retorted.

I tried once more to dissuade her. “It can be quite gruesome.”

“Loss of a limb? Worse? It’s not as if I haven’t seen that sort of thing before.” She argued. “Ye see a lot of that on the streets.”

She had me there.

The call ended with Lily demanding a promise from me that we would let her accompany us to the mortuary where young Huntingdon’s body had been taken.

“Congratulations, most commendable, Miss Forsythe,” Brodie commented. “I expect to find her on our doorstep before mid-morning.”

It was actually much closer to noon when Lily appeared on the landing to the office. She had dressed appropriately for the visit that had been arranged after Sir Laughton’s note was sent to Sir Robert Huntingdon.

“You have today,” the note we received said. “The lying-in period at the Huntingdon residence is to begin tomorrow,” Sir Laughton had informed us less than an hour earlier.

I had immediately contacted Mr. Brimley, the chemist at the shop in the East End who had assisted us previously when it came to inspecting a body. He was to join us at the mortuary.

It was short notice to be certain. It had been two full days since young Huntingdon’s death with his body to be sent to his parents’ residence for the usual lying-in period.

I wasn’t at all certain what Brodie hoped to find, but we were to meet Mr. Brimley at the mortuary St. James’s at Westminster at one o’clock.

We arrived in good time and Mr. Brimley joined us shortly after. He had brought a leather carry bag that usually contained the instruments one might find in a physician’s bag.

He had attended medical school in London. Instead of setting up a medical practice afterward, he chose to open his shop where he provided medicine and care for those in the East End who could not afford medical care.

He had taken care of more than one victim in the course of our inquiry cases, including myself.

He nodded good naturedly as if we were about to set off to market rather than enter a mortuary.

“Shall we get on with it, then?” Mr. Brimley inquired.

I supposed that all morgues were the same, very much like the one I had visited in a recent case in the East End. However, it was obvious that the “clientele” served here were of a far different class.

The entrance was much like a business office with fine furnishings, a carpet underfoot, and an attendant who greeted us in a very dignified tone.

“We were informed that you would be calling on us this afternoon,” he acknowledged.

We were asked to wait while the attendant announced our arrival to a gentleman by the name of Hiram Bascomb, the mortician. It seemed that the private “grieving” salon was presently occupied.

“Is there a school for morticians?” Lily whispered. “Seems a strange profession.”

I had to agree on that.

What would the course of study be? A course in body arrangement? Reattaching a stray body part on behalf of the bereaved? A hand or foot that had been severed? And then cosmetics applied that simply made the deceased appear barely recognizable.

Aunt Antonia had a far better solution to the whole thing with her Viking longboat.

The attendant promptly returned, and we followed a lady in a plain black gown who escorted us to the holding room.

In contrast to the outer office, waiting area, and the hallway that connected the two areas, the room where young Huntingdon had been taken was very much like the holding area for the Metropolitan Police that I had attended in the past.

It was immaculately clean with a half dozen compartments that lined the far wall, an examination table with a side table that contained the tools of the trade, as it were. Mr. Bascomb greeted us with somber propriety.

“I was informed of your request. Somewhat unusual I must say.”

“We appreciate yer assistance on behalf of Sir Huntingdon and his family,” Brodie replied.

“Of course,” Mr. Bascomb replied with a faint smile that immediately disappeared as he turned and went to that far wall, opened one of the chambers, and then rolled out an examination table with young Huntingdon’s body.

“A cold box?” Lily whispered. “Like Mrs. Ryan taking a partridge out for supper.”

Yes, well, I couldn’t fault her for that comparison.

“I was told to expect two of you,” Mr. Bascomb sniffed with obvious disapproval.

“Mr. Brimley is an expert in such matters,” Brodie explained. “The young lady is an associate of ours.” Then added, “And thank ye for your assistance, sir.”

When he had gone, Mr. Brimley set his bag on the steel cart nearby, then approached the examination table.

“Bruising about the neck,” he began. “That would be consistent with the fall you described.” He had donned rubber gloves, then continued, gently moving the head about.

“Neck broken in the fall as you can see by the odd angle.” He then pulled back the sheet to the young man’s waist and continued with his examination.

I glanced over at Lily. If she was shocked, I didn’t see it.

Instead, she had taken a notepad from her carry bag along with a pen and was making notes of Mr. Brimley’s observations the same as myself.

“There are other bruises and scrapes around the shoulders and arms that are to be expected as well from the fall you described,” Mr. Brimley commented, then asked, “What else might you be looking for, Mr. Brodie?”

“Another wound perhaps.”

Mr. Brimley rounded the table and then adjusted his glasses as he leaned in for a closer inspection.

“There is a mark here on the other shoulder and then lower across the pectoralis major .” He looked up. “That would be the chest muscle, you see here,” he pointed with a metal instrument that he’d taken from his bag.

“It’s faint, but it’s there, the skin has been broken as if the victim might have encountered something sharp. You did say there was a struggle.”

He pointed to a mark on the shoulder that seemed to align perfectly with the mark on the young man’s left chest muscle.

“It would seem that his attacker might have had a knife.”

I had moved closer and added a diagram that I knew Brodie would want, illustrating the faint marks that did seem to faintly resemble a cross mark.

It was quite superficial and had not cut deeply. Yet, that might account for the blood Brodie had seen on the balustrade on the landing at Marlborough House.

Mr. Brimley continued his examination of the body for any other marks or wounds. It was no surprise that there were a good number of bruises.

“Blood will continue to make those marks under the skin for a short while even after death. That accounts for the bruising that you see,” Mr. Brimley continued to explain.

“Unfortunate. So very young, just beginning his life.”

“Is there anything else, you can tell us?” Brodie inquired.

“Everything I see is consistent with the fall you described.”

“And the cut to the skin on the chest and shoulder?”

“Obviously a fresh mark, perhaps made if the young man fell against something in the course of the fall.”

“Aye,” Brodie replied with a thoughtful expression.

We had been there more than an hour by the clock at the wall and Mr. Bascomb had returned.

“Will that be all? May I inform Sir Huntingdon that the matter is concluded?”

“Of course,” Brodie replied, and thanked him.

“The poor man was so young,” Lily commented after we found a driver and parted ways with Mr. Brimley. “Who would want to harm him?”

That was precisely what we needed to learn.

“What was meant by that note?” Lily then asked. “ ‘Now there are two?’ Two dead? Or that there will be two more murders?”