The Bishop murder case

by S. S. Van Dine

“Bring him here right away,” ordered Markham. Then to us: “It’s Arnesson. He’ll probably have those specimens of typing.” A shadow had settled on his face; and he glanced again at the note Heath had brought him. “Vance,” he said in a low voice, “I’m beginning to believe that this case may turn out to be as terrible as you think. I wonder if the typing will correspond. . . .”

But when the note was compared with the specimens Arnesson brought, no similarity whatever could be discerned. Not only were the typing and the ink different from those of either Pardee’s or Drukker’s machine, but the paper did not match any one of the samples that Arnesson had secured.

CHAPTER VIII.
Act Two

(Monday, April 11; 11.30 a. m.)

There is no need to recall here the nation-wide sensation caused by Robin’s murder. Every one remembers how that startling tragedy was featured in the country’s press. It was referred to by various designations. Some newspapers called it the Cock Robin murder. Others, more alliterative but less accurate,[¹⁴] termed it the Mother Goose murder. But the signature of the typewritten notes appealed strongly to the journalistic sense of mystery; and in time the killing of Robin came to be known as the Bishop murder case. Its strange and fearful combination of horror and nursery jargon inflamed the public’s imagination; and the sinister and insane implications of its details affected the entire country like some grotesque nightmare whose atmosphere could not be shaken off.

During the week following the discovery of Robin’s body, the detectives of the Homicide Bureau, as well as the detectives connected with the District Attorney’s office, were busy night and day pushing their inquiries. The receipt of the duplicate Bishop notes by the leading New York morning papers had dissipated whatever ideas Heath may have held as to Sperling’s guilt; and though he refused to put his official imprimatur on the young man’s innocence he threw himself, with his usual gusto and pertinacity, into the task of finding another and more plausible culprit. The investigation which he organized and superintended was as complete as had been that of the Greene murder case. No avenue which held the meagrest hope of results was overlooked; and the report he drew up would have given joy even to those meticulous criminologists of the University of Lausanne.

On the afternoon of the day of the murder he and his men had searched for the cloth that had been used to wipe up the blood in the archery-room; but no trace of it was found. Also, a thorough examination of the Dillard basement was made in the hope of finding other clews; but although Heath had put the task in the hands of experts, the result was negative. The only point brought to light was that the fibre rug near the door had recently been moved so as to cover the cleansed spot on the cement floor. This fact, however, merely substantiated the Sergeant’s earlier observation.

The post-mortem report of Doctor Doremus lent color to the now officially accepted theory that Robin had been killed in the archery-room and then placed on the range. The autopsy showed that the blow on the back of his skull had been a particularly violent one and had been made with a heavy rounded instrument, resulting in a depressed fracture quite different from the fissured fracture caused by striking a flat surface. A search was instituted for the weapon with which the blow had been dealt; but no likely instrument was turned up.

Though Beedle and Pyne were questioned by Heath several times, nothing new was learned from them. Pyne insisted that he had been up-stairs the entire morning in Arnesson’s room, except for a few brief absences to the linen-closet and the front door, and clung tenaciously to his denial that he had touched either the body or the bow when sent by Professor Dillard to find Sperling. The Sergeant, however, was not entirely satisfied with the man’s testimony.

“That bleary-eyed old cormorant has got something up his sleeve,” he told Markham disgustedly. “But it would take the rubber hose and the water cure to make him spill it.”