The Clocks

‘The man had been stabbed with a thin, sharp knife. Something in the nature, perhaps, of a French cooking-knife with a tapering blade. The point of the knife entered…’ Here the doctor became technical as he explained the exact position where the knife had entered the heart.

‘Would death have been instantaneous?’

‘It would have occurred within a very few minutes.’

‘The man would not have cried out or struggled?’

‘Not under the circumstances in which he was stabbed.’

‘Will you explain to us, Doctor, what you mean by that phrase?’

‘I made an examination of certain organs and made certain tests. I would say that when he was killed he was in a state of coma due to the administration of a drug.’

‘Can you tell us what this drug was, Doctor?’

‘Yes. It was chloral hydrate.’

‘Can you tell how this was adminstered?’

‘I should say presumably in alcohol of some kind. The effect of chloral hydrate is very rapid.’

‘Known in certain quarters as a Mickey Finn, I believe,’ murmured the coroner.

‘That is quite correct,’ said Doctor Rigg. ‘He would drink the liquid unsuspectingly, and a few moments later he would reel over and fall unconscious.’

‘And he was stabbed, in your opinion, while unconscious?’

‘That is my belief. It would account for there being no sign of a struggle and for his peaceful appearance.’

‘How long after becoming unconscious was he killed?’

‘That I cannot say with any accuracy. There again it depends on the personal idiosyncrasy of the victim. He would certainly not come round under half an hour and it might be a good deal more than that.’

‘Thank you, Doctor Rigg. Have you any evidence as to when this man last had a meal?’

‘He had not lunched if that is what you mean. He had eaten no solid food for at least four hours.’

‘Thank you, Doctor Rigg. I think that is all.’

The coroner then looked round and said:

‘The inquest will be adjourned for a fortnight, until September 28th.’

The inquest concluded, people began to move out of the court. Edna Brent who, with most of the other girls at the Cavendish Bureau, had been present, hesitated as she got outside the door. The Cavendish Secretarial Bureau had been closed for the morning. Maureen West, one of the other girls, spoke to her.

‘What about it, Edna? Shall we go to the Bluebird for lunch? We’ve got heaps of time. At any rate,you have.’

‘I haven’t got any more time than you have,’ said Edna in an injured voice. ‘Sandy Cat told me I’d better take the first interval for lunch. Mean of her. I thought I’d get a good extra hour for shopping and things.’

‘Just like Sandy Cat,’ said Maureen. ‘Mean as hell, isn’t she? We open up again at two and we’ve all got to be there. Are you looking for anyone?’

‘Only Sheila. I didn’t see her come out.’

‘She went away earlier,’ said Maureen, ‘after she’d finished giving her evidence. She went off with a young man-but I didn’t see who he was. Are you coming?’

Edna still hovered uncertainly, and said, ‘You go on-I’ve got shopping to do anyway.’

Maureen and another girl went off together. Edna lingered. Finally she nerved herself to speak to the fair-haired young policeman who stood at the entrance.

‘Could I go in again?’ she murmured timidly, ‘and speak to-to the one who came to the office-Inspector something.’

‘Inspector Hardcastle?’

‘That’s right. The one who was giving evidence this morning.’

‘Well-’ the young policeman looked into the court and observed the inspector in deep consultation with the coroner and with the chief constable of the county. 

‘He looks busy at the moment, miss,’ he said. ‘If you called round at the station later, or if you’d like to give me a message…Is it anything important?’

‘Oh, it doesn’t matter really,’ said Edna. ‘It’s-well-just that I don’t see how what she said could have been true because I mean…’ She turned away, still frowning perplexedly.

She wandered away from the Cornmarket and along the High Street. She was still frowning perplexedly and trying to think. Thinking had never been Edna’s strong point. The more she tried to get things clear in her mind, the more muddled her mind became.

Once she said aloud:

‘But it couldn’t have been like that…It couldn’t have been like she said…’

Suddenly, with an air of one making a resolution, she turned off from the High Street and along Albany Road in the direction of Wilbraham Crescent.