The Mammoth Book of New Sherlock Holmes Adventures - Mike Ashley [171]
It was I who, eventually, back at the police station, voiced what had been Holmes’s concern all along. “We now most probably know the reason for the killings,” I said, “but how on earth did the killer know of Wetherall’s and Woodward’s marks? They were covered at all times when they were not at home.”
Makinson frowned and considered this.
Holmes, meanwhile, said, “You say we know why the killer committed the acts, Watson. But do we really know?”
“Why, of course we do,” I ventured. “The chap is mortally offended by what are, in his eyes, such abominations and he feels it his rigorous duty to remove them from sight. He came up with the idea of removing hearts simply to mislead us hence, on one occasion, even forgetting to remove the young woman’s.”
Holmes nodded. “I think you are almost correct, old fellow,” he said, in a gentle tone that was anything but patronizing. “However, you have neglected to take into account the fact that the killer first stuns his victims and only then obliterates nature’s handiwork. My point is,” he continued, “the killer needs to stun his victim without interference with the mark.”
“Whatever for, Mr Holmes?” enquired Makinson.
Holmes looked across at the Inspector and gave a thin smile that was devoid of any sense of pleasure. “In order to remove them, Inspector.”
“Remove them?” I said. The suggestion seemed preposterous.
“Indeed, Watson. Let us adapt the facts as we know them to my proposition.
“Wetherall, the landlord, was stunned or killed by a blow to the head. The killer then stripped his victim to the waist and skilfully removed the birthmark from his chest. Then, in order to conceal his action, he proceeded to open up the chest in such a heavy-handed manner that the disappearance of the piece of skin which once bore the mark would not be so noticeable. He concealed the opening of the chest with the removal of the heart.
“The farmer was next. Again, the blow to the head was the all-important immobilizing factor. Once that had been effected, the killer could concentrate on removing the mark from the victim’s neck and back before training a shotgun on the exposed area and destroying all signs. However, the blast failed to cover up all signs of his work, as you noticed, Watson. The removal of Woodward’s heart tied his murder into the first death quite neatly.”
Holmes cleared his throat.
“Then came the teacher. With her it was more complicated. The position of Miss Ridge’s mark – on her arm – was such that a blast to the affected area, once he had removed the skin bearing the mark, could not be the killing factor. Similarly, the removal of the heart would not conceal the removal of the mark. Thus he decided upon the method of removing her limbs, still tying the murder into the first two deaths by peripheral association, only later to discard the three limbs for which he had no use. The final limb, the young woman’s right arm, he discarded far from the scene of the crime and only then when he had removed the affected area. You mentioned earlier that he had forgotten to remove the heart: the fact was that he did not consider it necessary.
“With the banker he returns to the earlier method. A blow to the head, a common element throughout, then the careful removal of the facial skin bearing the mark, and then the shotgun blast to the face, destroying once again the evidence of his real reason for the murder. The removal of the heart ties the crime to the first two and, arguably, to the case of Miss Ridge.”
Holmes stretched towards the fire and warmed his hands. “I read the reports from your forensics people, Inspector,” Holmes continued. “I was interested to discover that, while there were traces of linen and wool fibre in the farmer’s wound, there were no traces of skin except at the very extremities of the blasted area, confirming