“Then,” said Yardley, “do you think she was murdered somewhere else and taken there afterwards?”
“No, not in the least. You can’t carry a dead body into a hotel without it being noticed, nor dare anyone risk carrying a nude dead body along the corridor from one room to another. No, the girl was murdered in the room where her body was found, and only an hour or two before she was found, and her clothes, belongings and hairpins were taken away afterwards.”
“Why?” asked Yardley.
“Ah! now we get to speculation; but I think it was an attempt to hide her identity. There you have your clue, Parkyns. At any rate, it’s the only clue I see at the moment, and it’s one well worth your while to follow up.”
“But in what way is it a clue?”
“It’s a clue, because whoever committed that murder—and mind you it was murder, I’ve not a shadow of a doubt about that—whoever committed that murder took pains that the body should not be identified. Therefore, they feared that identification might throw suspicion in their direction. You must first make certain that the body is that of Miss Stableford. You say there were two teeth stopped with gold in the upper jaw. Advertise for her dentist, and see if you can identify that stopping. If you do that, then trace back the history of Miss Stableford till you find someone likely to have desired her death; someone upon whom the mere proof of identity can throw suspicion.”
The barrister nodded to the two detectives and went his way.
They watched him disappear in the crowd, and as they parted Parkyns said:
“Jove! I wish we’d got him in the force.”
“Yes. He’d be a jewel for you, wouldn’t he? I often wonder how it is he always puts his finger on the spot, and generally a spot nobody else ever thought of.”