THE MYSTREY OF THE LOCKED ROOM AND THE GREAT DETECTIVE

“Tell me precisely what happened,” said the Great Detective to the three servants who he’d summoned before him. “And don’t leave anything out,” he added.

The Metropolitan Police Commissioner had dispatched the most talented and tenacious detective of Her Majesty’s Constabulary to investigate the dastardly murder of Lord Burlington-Smythe, who had been found dead in his study, earlier that morning. 

The Great Detective had already carried out a thorough inspection of the study, as well as the interior and exterior of the building, and, as was his usual practice, he had gathered all of the witnesses together, in the place where the foul deed had been perpetrated.

The scene of the dastardly crime had been left untouched and Lord Burlington-Smythe’s body lay on the floor next to the fire place, with a most grievous wound on the back of his head, from which blood had flowed profusely, staining the carpet around him dark red. There was no sign of a struggle having taken place, but it was obvious that he’d been bludgeoned to death with the bloody poker lying in the hearth.

“First of all,” inquired the detective, “tell me who found the body?”

“We all did, sir,” replied the butler. “His Lordship hadn’t come down for breakfast, so I went to see if he was alright. He’s always most punctilious and breakfasts at precisely seven o’clock each morning.  

“When he’d not arrived at his usual time, I went to check his bedroom and found that his bed hadn’t been slept in, so I went to check the study, but, when I knocked, there was no reply and I tried to open the door, but I found that it was locked, so we had to break in.”

 “But, surely, as the head butler, you would have keys to all of the doors in the house.”

“I do, indeed, sir, but, when I tried to unlock the door, I found that it was bolted from the inside, so I instructed the footman and the hall porter to break it down.”

“And did you leave the study door unattended, while you summoned help?”

“No, sir, the footman and the hall porter were already in the corridor outside the study.”

“That’s right, sir” confirmed the footman. “There was no answer when we knocked on the door, so we broke it down.”

 “Yes and blooming hard work it was too, sir,” added the hall porter. “We had to charge into the door several times, before it finally gave way.”

“Yes, I’ve already observed that the door frame has been splintered,” stated the detective. “Go on.”

“Well, the door suddenly gave way and we fell into the room.”

“I followed them in immediately,” advised the butler, “and we were horrified to find Lord Burlington-Smythe lying on the floor, in a pool of blood, but there was no-one else in the room.”

“With his head all bashed in and a bloody poker lying next to him,” exclaimed the footman.

“I see. What happened next?”

“I sent the hall porter to fetch the local constabulary,” stated the butler, “and they called Scotland Yard straight away.” 

“And you say that, apart from Lord Burlington-Smythe’s body, there was no-one else in the room, when you broke in?” asked the detective.

“That’s right, sir,” he confirmed.

“And that the window was closed and locked?”

“Yes, sir,” replied the butler.

“Have you checked to see if anything is missing?”

“Yes, sir. The door to the safe was wide-open and the family jewels are missing. His Lordship has kept them in the safe since the untimely passing of his wife, Lady Burlington-Smythe.”

“And who has access to the safe.”

“Only His Lordship, sir. He keeps the key on his watch chain. I haven’t checked to see to see if it’s still there, as I didn’t want to disturb His Lordship’s body, before the police arrived.”

The detective pulled the watch chain from Lord Burlington-Smythe’s waistcoat pocket and removed the key, which he inserted into the lock on the safe door. It was a perfect fit. 

“A most intriguing case, indeed,” mused the Great Detective. “This is obviously the weapon with which Lord Burlington-Smythe was killed,” he continued, as he picked up the bloodstained poker from the hearth. “It’s equally obvious that His Lordship died from foul play, as the nature of his injury rules out suicide or accidental death, but both the door and the window were locked from the inside?”

“Yes, sir,” the three servants replied, in unison.

“I’ve also determined there are no discrepancies in the internal and external dimensions of the room. Nor are there any hidden doors in the walls, and the floor and the ceiling are solid, so there are no secret rooms, or passageways, by which the perpetrator could have escaped, and the flue for the chimney is much too small for anyone to climb up,” he continued, ignoring them.

 “But the room was empty when we broke in, sir,” exclaimed the butler. “How could His Lordship’s killer have escaped?”

“The answer is quite simple really,” replied the Great Detective. “You are all under arrest for the murder of Lord Burlington-Smythe.”

“B… but… how on earth did you know that it was us?” stuttered the panic-stricken hall porter.

“The only logical answer to the mystery of the locked room is that you were all in it together,” explained the Great Detective. “His Lordship was hit on the back of his head, but it would have been impossible for a stranger to enter the study, pick up the poker and sneak up on him, whilst his back was turned. Therefore, he must have been killed by somebody he knew and trusted. 

“One of you entered the study; I suspect it was you,” he declared, pointing the poker directly at the hall porter, “and, after picking the poker up, on the pretext of tending to the fire, you killed him with it. 

“Then one of you stayed in the study; I suspect that was you,” stated the detective, turning to the butler, “whilst the other two waited outside, and, after you’d bolted the door from the inside, they broke it down.

“Meanwhile, you used His Lordship’s key to open the safe and remove the jewellery, which I have already found hidden inside the butler’s pantry.”

A most perplexing case, indeed, but not one which was too perplexing for the Great Detective.