“I am afraid that it means murder,” said Godfrey, very quietly. “My poor little Italian friend has been brutally murdered, by whom we have yet to discover. But why these hands of hers should have been sent to me, I can not for the life of me understand.”
“Are you sure they are her hands?”
“Quite sure. There can be no doubt about it. Both Fensden and I recognised them at once.”
“One thing is certain: the man who committed this dreadful deed must have been jealous of you, and have heard of your kindness to the girl. Is there any one you suspect?”
“I have it,” said Fensden, suddenly, before Godfrey could answer. “The man in Naples, the lover who tried to assassinate you. He is the man, or I am much mistaken. We have the best of reasons for knowing that he was in love with her, and that he would not be likely to stop at murder. If he would have killed you, why should he not have killed her? You told me upstairs, when we were speaking of her distress, that the street was occupied by foreigners; what is more likely, therefore, than that he should have lived there too? Possibly, and very probably, he was her husband.”
“But she told me her husband was dead,” Godfrey asserted.
“She may have had some reason for saying so,” Fensden replied. “There are a hundred theories to account for her words. It is as likely as not that she did not want you to see him. He is a Neapolitan. For all we know to the contrary he may be an Anarchist, and in hiding. She might have been afraid that if you saw him it would lead to his arrest.”
“There certainly seems a good deal of probability in Mr. Fensden’s theory,” said Sir Vivian; “but the best course for you to adopt appears clear to me. You must at once communicate with the police and cause inquiries to be made. I have seen no mention in the papers of a woman’s body having been found under such circumstances. The discovery of a body so mutilated would have been certain to have attracted a considerable amount of public attention.”
“I think you are right,” said Godfrey, after a moment’s hesitation. “In the meantime what are we to do with these poor relics?”