It's lucky
this stuff is so smooth and closely-woven," he added, fingering a
corner of the robe, "or we wouldn't have got even those. It's as hard
and fine as silk."
"How do you suppose those marks came there, Mr. Goldberger?" Godfrey
asked, and there was in his tone a polite scepticism which evidently
annoyed the coroner.
"Why, there's only one way they could come there," Goldberger answered
impatiently. "They were put there by the murderer's fingers as he drew
the cord tight. Do you see anything improbable in that?"
"Only that it seems too good to be true," Godfrey answered, quietly,
and Goldberger, after looking at him a moment, turned away with a
shrug of the shoulders.
"See if you can get the cord loose, Simmonds," he said.
The cord was in the form of a running noose, which had been knotted
to hold it in place after being drawn tight. Although it had not cut
the flesh of the neck, it had sunk deeply into it, and Simmonds worked
at the knot for some moments without result. I suspect his fingers
were not quite as steady as they might have been; but it was evidently
an intricate knot.
"That's a new one on me," he said, at last.
Pages:
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99