«Of course he was. But he was acquitted all the same, an' what you've just said is libel.» Wimsey walked over to the bookshelf and took down a volume of Medical Jurisprudence. «“Rigor mortis — can only be stated in a very general way — many factors determine the result”. Cautious brute. “On the average, however, stiffening will have begun — neck and jaw — 5 to 6 hours after death” — m'm — “in all likelihood have passed off in the bulk of cases by the end of 36 hours. Under certain circumstances, however, it may appear unusually early, or be retarded unusually long!” Helpful, ain't it, Parker? “Brown-Sequard states… 3½ minutes after death… In certain cases not until lapse of 16 hours after death… present as long as 21 days thereafter.” Lord! “Modifying factors — age — muscular state — or febrile diseases — or where temperature of environment is high” — and so on and so on — any bloomin' thing. Never mind. You can run the argument for what it's worth to Sugg. He won't know any better.» He tossed the book away. «Come back to facts. What did you make of the body?»
«Well,» said the detective, «not very much — I was puzzled — frankly. I should say he had been a rich man, but self-made, and that his good fortune had come to him fairly recently.»
«Ah, you noticed the calluses on the hands — I thought you wouldn't miss that.»
«Both his feet were badly blistered — he had been wearing tight shoes.»
«Walking a long way in them, too,» said Lord Peter, «to get such blisters as that. Didn't that strike you as odd, in a person evidently well off?»
«Well, I don't know. The blisters were two or three days old. He might have got stuck in the suburbs one night, perhaps — last train gone and no taxi — and had to walk home.»
«Possibly.»
«There were some little red marks all over his back and one leg I couldn't quite account for.»
«I saw them.»
«What did you make of them?»