The Charing Cross Mystery
by J. S. Fletcher

Publication date 2021-06-06
Usage Public Domain Mark 1.0Creative Commons Licensepublicdomain
Topics librivox, audiobooks, coming
LibriVox recording of The Charing Cross Mystery by J. S. Fletcher.
Read in English by Kirsten Wever

Here's another intriguing mystery by J. S. Fletcher, centering on why a former high-level police official was murdered, and on whether - and if so how - the murder was linked to two glamorous and high-profile sisters, one of whose photo was found in the dead man's pocket. As usual, Fletcher creates a number of different detectives -- a lawyer, his assistant, several policemen, a police spy, and even the dead man's granddaughter -- following various lines of inquiry. These lines converge rapidly in the last few chapters, when the author lets the reader weave them together into a coherent whole: the solution to the mystery. Summary by Kirsten Wever

chapter 1 of the charring cross mystery this is a librivox recording all librivox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit librivox.org recording by kirsten weber the charing cross mystery by j.f fletcher the last train east heatherwick had dined that evening with friends who lived in cadigan gardens and had stayed so late in conversation with his host that midnight had come before he left and set out for his bachelor chambers in the temple it was indeed by the fraction of a second that he caught the last eastbound train at sloane square the train was almost destitute of passengers the car which he himself entered a first-class smoking compartment was otherwise empty no one came into it when the train reached victoria but at st james's park two men got in and seated themselves opposite to heatherwick now heatherwick was a young barrister going in for criminal practice in whom the observant faculty was deeply implanted it was natural to him to watch and to speculate on anything he saw because of this and perhaps because he had just then nothing else to think about he sat observing newcomers he found interest amusement and not a little profit in this sort of thing and in trying to decide whether a given man was this that or something else of the two men thus under inspection the elder was a big burly fresh colored man of apparently 60 to 65 years of age his closely cropped silvery hair his smartly trained gray mustache his keen blue eyes and generally alert and vivacious appearance made heatherwick think that he was or had been in some way or other connected with the army this impression was heightened by an erect carriage squares at shoulders and something that suggested a long and close acquaintance with the methods of the drill yard and the parade ground perhaps thought heatherwick he was a retired non-commissioned officer a regimental sergeant major or something of that sort this idea again was strengthened by the fact that the man carried a handsome walking cane the head of which either of gold or of silver guilt was fashioned like a crown there was something military too about the cut of his clothes he was a smartly dressed man from his silk hat new and glossy and worn a little rakishly on the right side of his head to his highly polished boots a well-preserved cheery looking good humored sort of person this decided heatherwick and apparently well satisfied with himself and full of the enjoyment of life and likely from all outward sight to make old bones the other man came into a different category the difference began with his clothes which if not exactly shabby were semi-shabby much worn ill-kept and badly put on he was evidently a careless man who scorned a clothes brush and was also indifferent to the very obvious fact that his linen was frayed and dirty he was a thin meager man of not one half the respectable well-fed bulk of his companion his sallow-complexioned face was worn and his beard thin and irregular altogether he suggested some degree of poor circumstances yet in heatherwick's opinion he was a person of something beyond ordinary mental capacity his eyes were large and intelligent his nose was well shaped his chin square and determined and his ungloved hands were finely molded and delicate of proportion the fingers were long thin and tapering heatherwick noticed two facts about those fingers the first that they were restless the second that they were much stained as if the men had recently been mixing dyes or using chemicals and then he suddenly observed that the big man's hands and fingers were similarly stained blue and red and yellow in patches these men were talking when they entered the compartment they continued to talk as they settled down heatherwick could not avoid hearing what they said queerest experience i've ever had in my time the big man was saying as he dropped into a corner seat tell you i knew her the instant i clapped eyes on the portrait after how many years will it be now ten i think yes ten oh yes knew her well enough when we get to my hotel i'll show you the portrait i cut it out and put it aside and you'll identify it as quick as i did lay you ought you like on it no mistaking that this was said in a broad north country accent in full keeping thought heatherwick with the burly frame of the speaker but the other man replied in tones that suggested the born londoner i think i shall be able to recognize it he said softly i have a very clear recollection of the lady though to be sure i only saw her once or twice i well a fine looking woman and a beauty like that's not soon forgotten declared the other and nowadays the years don't seem to make much difference to a woman's age anyway i knew her that's you my fine madam says i to myself as soon as ever i unfolded that paper but mind you i kept it to myself not a word to my granddaughter though she was sitting opposite to me when i made the discovery nope not to anybody till tonight not the sort of thing to blab about that just so said the smaller man of course you'd remember that i was likely to have some recollection of her and of the circumstances odd very and i suppose the next thing is what are you going to do about it oh well replied the big man of course 10 years have elapsed but as to that it wouldn't matter you know if 20 years had slipped by still at that point he sank his voice to the least of a whisper bending over to his companion and heatherwick heard no more but it seemed to him that the little man although he appeared to be listening intently was in reality doing nothing of the sort his long stained fingers became more restless than ever twice before the train came to westminster he pulled out his watch and glanced at it once after that heatherwick caught the nervous hand again shaking towards the waistcoat pocket and he got an idea that the man was regarding his big garyulis companion with curiously furtive glances as if he were waiting for some vague yet expected thing and wondering when it would materialize there was a covert watchfulness about him and though he nodded his head from time to time as if in ascent to what was being whispered to him heatherwick became convinced that he was either abstracted in thought or taking no interest if eyes and fingers were to be taken as indications the man's thoughts were elsewhere

the train pulled up at westminster lingered its half minute moved onward again the big man still bending down to his companion went on whispering now and then as if he were telling a good story or making a clever point he chuckled but suddenly and without any warning he paused coming to a dead sharp cut stop in an apparently easy flow of language he stared wildly around him heatherwick caught the flash of his eye as it swept the compartment and never forgot the look of frightened amazement that he saw in it it was as if the man had been caught with lightning-like swiftness face-to-face with some awful thing his left hand shut up clutching at his breast and throat the other releasing the gold-headed cane as if to ward off a blow it dropped like lead at his side the other arm relaxed and fell limp and nervous and before heatherwood could move the big burly figure sank back in its corner and the eyes closed heatherwick jumped from his seat shouting to the other man your friend he cried look but the other man was looking he too had got to his feet and he was bending down and stretching out a hand to the big man's wrist he muttered something that heatherwick failed to catch what do you say demanded heatherwick impatiently good heavens we must do something the man's what is it a seizure a seizure answered the other yes that's it a seizure he'd had one slight giddiness just before we got in a the train's stopping though giant cross i i know a doctor close by the train was already pulling up heatherwick flung open the dividing door between his compartment and the next he had seen the conductor down there and he beckoned to him quick he called here there's a man ill dying i think come here the conductor came slowly but when he saw the man in the corner he made for the outer door and beckoned two men on the platform a uniformed official ran up and got in what is it he asked gentleman's benefit who's with him anybody heatherwick looked round for the man with the stained fingers but he was already out of the carriage and on the platform and making for the stairs that led to the exit he flung back a few words pointing upward at the same time doctor close by he shouted back in five minutes get him out but already there was a doctor at hand before the man with stained fingers had fairly vanished other men had come in from the adjoining compartments one pushed his way to the front i'm a medical man he said curtly make way please the other men stood silently watching while the newcomer made a hasty examination of the still figure he turned sharply this man's dead he said in quick matter of fact tones is anyone with him the train officials glanced at