“How?”
“It was broken once and Mr. Winkler mended it himself. I lent him my pliers and he bent the two links together with them. It didn’t look very nice after that, but it was strong again. You could see the mark of the pliers easily.”
“Why didn’t he take the chain to the jeweler’s to be fixed?” asked the commissioner.
The woman smiled. “It wouldn’t have been worth the money, sir; the chain wasn’t real gold.”
“But the watch was real, wasn’t it?”
“Oh, yes, sir; that was real gold. I pawned it once for Mr. Winkler and they gave me 24 gulden for it.”
“One question more, did he have a purse? And did he have it with him on the day of the murder?”
“Yes, sir; he had a purse, and he must have taken it with him because he didn’t leave it in his room.”
“What sort of a purse was it?”
“A brown leather purse, sir.”