HOLMES' SUDDEN SOLUTION
A Locked Room Mystery
As Mr. Holmes and Dr. Watson walked back to Baker Street, Dr. Watson reviewed the details of the case.
"I understand, Holmes, that it is unlikely that a left-handed man would shoot himself using his right hand, but such is not an impossibility."
"True, old friend," Mr. Sherlock Holmes confirmed. "But what other explanation could there be for Lord Bennington's death. No one could have gotten out of that room. The uncommonly strong key bolt had been thrown and the latch chain was in place. I am completely baffled, old man."
"My dear Watson, there are several ways in which a key operated lock can be activated from the outside in such a way as to make it appear that the door was locked from the inside. For example, there is the old trick of inserting a thin piece of metal, a small nail for example, into the handle of the key and tying that to a long piece of string. The key is placed in the lock, the nail properly angled, and the string stretched underneath the door. A sharp tug on the string can take advantage of the leverage of the inserted nail and turn the key. At the same motion, if luck is with the perpetrator, the nail will fall loose and can be retrieved underneath the door - but, if all goes well, the key, itself, will remain in the keyhole. Then string and nail are simply stuffed into the perpetrator's pocket as he, or she, strolls casually away. It is a matter of elementary physics, my dear Watson. However, in this case the murderer didn't have to be nearly so clever or so dexterous. This one simply locked the door from the outside and slid the key back into the room underneath the door. The murderer knew that the door would have to be broken in in order to gain access to the room, and the presence of the key on the floor, instead of in the keyhole, would be accounted for in just the erroneous fashion suggested by Lestrade."
"But the latch chain? How could that possibly be connected from the outside, Holmes?"
"Now, that was a stroke of genius. Think for a moment, Watson, the key operated bolt is a strong piece of steel which slides, firmly and rigidly, between the door and the door frame. It was this firmness and rigidity that caused the door facing to be ripped completely off the doorframe. That ripping of the wooden facing must have occurred when the bolt exerted force against the door facing. Now, consider the latch chain. Before the chain would experience any tension, the door would have to be separated an inch or two from the facing; before such separation, the chain would be slack. But, as you noticed, the chain on Lord Bennington's door was ripped completely out of its moorings. There should have been either no, or negligible, damage to that fixture because the door facing would have ripped loose before the separation between the door and its facing became so large as to rip the chain off its moorings. The facing and the door would have moved together once the facing had been ripped off.
Here is what happened. The perpetrator killed poor Lord Bennington, placed the gun in his hand - the wrong hand - this was a careless mistake, if he had not done this, Lestrade would not have called us and the perpetrator would, in all probability, have gotten completely away with murder. Then, in order to enhance the locked room illusion, the murderer very cleverly went to the closed door, fastened the chain, and tugged sharply on the door from the inside hard enough to tear the screws holding the chain from the wood. He then went out of the room, locked the door, and slid the key underneath the door so that it would be found on the inside. The murderer knew that it would be assumed that the chain had been ripped loose in the violent breaking of the door and that the key had been also dislodged from the keyhole by that same force. The perpetrator couldn't have known that the door facing would tear completely off the wall and, therefore, the chain and facing should have been still attached, or, at most, slightly damaged. That chain was ripped loose before the constables smashed the door to gain entrance."
"But how could the murderer be sure that there wasn't a duplicate key which would obviate smashing the door?" Watson asked.
"That, old man, would suggest the direction of Scotland Yard's further investigation. They must most diligently search for a singular person among Lord Bennington's servants, friends, or associates who knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that Lord Bennington's door had only one key."
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