I inspected the door. There were no scrape marks or other indication that the murderer had forced his way in from that direction.
Was the murderer known to the chief inspector and he had let him in? Or had he entered the residence by some other means?
According to Mr. Dooley, the housekeeper heard no sounds to indicate what she found in the front parlor afterward.
I went in search of some other means the murderer might have gained entrance.
It was a modest residence on a street with other similar residences of people of modest means, yet neatly kept, no doubt due to the efforts of the housekeeper who found the chief inspector’s body.
I turned on the electric, then slowly walked through the small dining area attached to the kitchen, a room that would have been for the housekeeper, and a second access just beyond at the back of the residence.
Once again, there was no sign that someone had forced their way inside, along with the fact that the housekeeper had seen no one.
I returned to the foyer and the small hall that led to the stairs to the second floor, as well as the front parlor where the body was found.
According to Mr. Dooley, it didn’t appear that anything had been taken. However, a more thorough search with the aid of the housekeeper was to be made.
If nothing was taken, then that would eliminate robbery as the motive for the murder.
Unless, of course, the chief inspector had come upon the murderer unexpectedly before he could take anything.
I was careful not to touch anything as I entered the modestly furnished room and once again turned on the electric in order to make my own observations.
It was simply furnished with a rug over the wood floor, an overstuffed chair that sat before the hearth with a small table beside, and a humidor and pipe in a tray.
My attention was immediately drawn to the floor before the hearth and the dark stain on the carpet, where the chief inspector’s body had been found.
The rug was scuffed up at the edge as if the toe of a boot might have caught it. The murderer perhaps, or his victim as he struggled while he was attacked?
I crossed to the narrow windows adjacent to the hearth. There was a faint scrape in the wood of the window casement.
Was it possible that was the means the murderer had made his way inside, and then attacked the chief inspector?
I glanced back at the entrance to the parlor and the small dining room and kitchen beyond. It was quite possible the housekeeper wouldn’t have heard the window being opened.
A copy of the police report might tell us more.
I continued my search as I approached the desk that sat across from the hearth.
According to Burke at the Times, the chief inspector had contacted him for information regarding an old case that Burke had written about several years before.
“Perhaps writing a book about his time with the MET,” Burke had suggested, amused by the thought.
I went to the desk, disappointed that I had not discovered anything out of the ordinary that might provide a clue to the reason Chief Inspector Dawes was so brutally murdered.
There were the usual things I would expect to find, familiar from my own writing endeavors. Pen, writing paper, envelopes, perhaps for correspondence, and a folder that clearly held other papers. Not unusual either for a man who had worked for over twenty years as inspector for the MET, then several more as Chief Inspector.
According to Brodie and Mr. Dooley, the man was highly respected and undoubtedly would have received many accolades and commendations, and perhaps certificates of recognition.
Was that what was inside that folder? Or was the chief inspector conducting an investigation of his own with those inquiries he’d made of Burke?
Brodie has often said that, for a woman, I have an unusual curiosity for things that have led to some interesting, even dangerous situations.
My great-aunt prefers to call it a keen intellect, along with a somewhat stubborn nature.
I should undoubtedly leave the folder undisturbed as the man with the MET at the entrance had reminded me.
I should simply make a note of it. Those in charge of the case for the MET might be able to investigate further, and perhaps had already and discovered there was nothing there of importance…
