A LOCKED ROOM MYSTERY
"What do you think, Watson?" Sherlock Holmes asked.
Dr. Watson arose from his examination of the body lying on the stretcher. "Well, Holmes, there is little doubt that Lord Bennington died from a gunshot wound to the head. It doesn't take a doctor to see that. There are powder burns around the wound. He was certainly shot at close range. All seems to be consistent with a self-inflicted wound."
"Is that your conclusion, too?" Holmes directed this question to Inspector Lestrade.
"There has been no official pronouncement from The Yard as yet, Mr. Holmes, but most of the evidence seems to point to a simple case of suicide." Lestrade answered.
"Then why did you call on us?" Mr. Holmes wanted to know. "Wait . . . you said, 'most of the evidence'?"
"Well, yes. The windows were all locked from the inside and no one else was found in the room. This is the only door and we had to break it down to gain access to the room. There is no other way in or out of the room. . . Yet . . ." the Inspector hesitated.
"Yet? Yet what?"
"One thing has been disturbing me, Mr. Holmes. If you will look at the arrangement of items on his desk you can see that they indicate that Lord Bennington was left-handed. Would you agree, Mr. Holmes?
"Yes, the teacup is on the left side of the desk with the handle pointed to the left and his writing tablet has its top slanted toward the right. Left handedness would seem to be indicated. We can confirm that issue by asking the servants," Mr. Holmes suggested.
"Certainly, and one of our constables is interrogating them now. I doubt that our observations will be contradicted. And therein lies the problem, Mr. Holmes, you see, the revolver was found in Lord Bennington's right hand," the Inspector said almost in a whisper. "Humm, " Sherlock Holmes mused, "Let us examine this matter further. You had to break down the door to enter the room, is that correct?"
"Yes, sir, and it took four of our lads to do it, too. That was a solid one, it was."
"Yes, I see that the whole wooden door facing was ripped off the wall and the door is barely dangling on its hinges. How was the door locked?"
"Well, the bolt controlled by the key was thrown into the receiver on the frame and that connection was so sturdy that the whole door facing came completely loose before the lock gave way."
"Was the key in the lock on the inside of the door?" Holmes asked.
"No, it was lying on the floor on the inside of the room, but it could well have been dislodged from the keyhole by our the vigor of our lads' force. I can see no way in which any second person could have gotten in or out of that room without unlocking the door," Lestrade puzzled. Not only that, Mr. Holmes, but the latch chain was fastened, too. You know how those security latches function, Mr. Holmes. The chain is attached to the door facing and it has a little knob on it which fits into a receiver screwed to the door, itself. When the chain is in place, the door can only be opened an inch, or two, before the chain stops it. Such a chain can only reach the receiver if the door is closed. It has to be latched from the inside and, once latched, nothing larger than a small kitten could have gotten out of that door."
"Yes, I see that the screws holding the chain plate have been torn completely out of the door facing, too"
"Quite, Mr. Holmes, our lads smashed that door in with considerable vigor. I'm not surprised that the chain torn completely off its wooden mount," Lestrade said with a hint of both humor and satisfaction.
"And therein might well lie a solution to a problem which seems to have no solution. Let me suggest, Lestrade, that you ask your fine constabulary associates to press their interrogations further. I suspect that the matter at hand is not suicide at all, but more likely, murder!"
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