"One case, or, rather, three cases in one." And I told him about the cyclists and the chauffeur.
"Only wounds in the head? What kind of wounds?" he asked.
"I did not see the cyclists. I can only speak of the chauffeur from direct knowledge. The forehead, just by the margin of the hair, was bruised and the skin slightly abraded. At the base of the head behind, under the hair, there was another bruise—round, the size of half a crown. There was no swelling, no blood. I am told that the cyclists were also bruised about the temples."
"What had the doctor to say?"
"Very little in the chauffeur's case. Some severe blow had been delivered, but he could not say how. He was puzzled. When I suggested the man might have been run down by a car—quoting Baines's idea—he said it was a possible explanation. He said so, I fancy, merely because he had no other suggestion to offer."
"And the man's face, Wigan?"
"If a man could see death in some horrible shape, and his features become suddenly fixed with terror, he might look like the chauffeur did," I answered.
"He has not been identified either?"
"Not yet, but I'm hoping to trace him."
"Have you thought of one point, Wigan?" said Quarles, with some eagerness. "He may not have been a chauffeur, nor the others cyclists. They may only have worn the clothes."