The Curious Case of Hutton County

Uncategorized | January 8, 2011 | Share

It was a perfect day for a walk. A cloudless sky, gentle sunshine, and a soft breeze. I was passing through Ashby Avenue when it struck me that Harker’s place was a couple of block’s away. It had been ages since I had visited my friend’s house. It was 6 o’ clock in the evening, in other words, a perfect time to have a cup of tea with Harker. I went up to his door and rang the bell. The maid ushered me into the sitting room where I found Rowan Harker sitting in his armchair, smoking his pipe.

“Rowan, my dear fellow, how are you? Busy with a case?”

Rowan Harker was a private investigator by profession. I was fortunate enough to accompany him in a few of his cases. His remarkable power of observation often left me speechless. He was highly regarded by the police and they frequently seeked his help on complicated cases.

Harker rose to his feet, a smile forming on his lips.

“Greetings Robert. No, I am afraid no case has come my way for some time now. My grey cells are gathering rust, my friend. Life is at a standstill. But do tell me, how was your trip?

“My God Harker! How did u guess? I never mentioned it to you!”

“But it is so evident, dear old Robert. The place on your wrist where you wear your watch is a shade lighter than the rest of your skin. Undoubtedly, you have gathered a tan. Now, barring today, there has hardly been any sunshine for the whole of last week. Therefore, you must have got that tan from some place else. So, where did you go?”

“Bless you Harker! You never cease to amaze me. Well, I had gone to Las Vegas on a business trip last week, and it was damn hot there. You couldn’t believe it was the month of October!”

The maid came in at this point with two cups of tea and cookies. While I was gladly munching on the cookies, the phone rang. Harker went to answer it. When he came back, a change had come over him. He seemed really excited about something. With a big grin, he said:

“My dear friend! You are my lucky charm. It was Inspector Greening on the line. We have a case to solve after all!”

Harker told me about the phone conversation on our way to the crime scene. Apparently, a man called Harold Smith had committed suicide. The housekeeper had gone to his room to call him for tea and she had found the door bolted from the inside. When Harold Smith hadn’t answered to her repeated calls, she had fetched Smith’s son Michael. On breaking the door down, they found Mr. Smith seated in his chair, with a gun in his hand and his shirt soaked with blood.

“ I don’t see what more is left to do”, I said. “It is a clear case of suicide. I am sure Inspector Greening is more than capable of handling such a situation.”

“You see Robert, the problem lies with Smith’s daughter, Elsa. She believes her father wasn’t the suicidal type and she thinks foul play was involved.”

“But Harker, surely, when the door was locked from inside, I don’t see how –.”

“Hopefully we will find out soon enough.”

It took us thirty minutes to reach Harold Smith’s place in Hutton County. What stood before us was a huge mansion, built in typical 19th century style. It comprised of two floors and numerous french windows. We were greeted at the entrance by Inspector Greening himself, who seemed preoccupied.

“Good evening Greening”, said Harker. “Everything under control?”

“Hardly, Sir. It is a clear case of suicide, but Elsa Smith refuses to acknowledge the fact. She is absolutely sure that her father was murdered. We could neither find any motive, nor any evidence in that regard.”

“Hmmm. Then it is our duty to put her doubts to rest, Inspector.”

We entered the mansion to find ourselves in a massive living room, with elaborate furniture and all kinds of sculptures and paintings. Clearly, Harold Smith had been a rich man. On our way to the study room, Greening told us that Smith had been a very successful lawyer, had retired one year ago, and had been an avid collector of ancient artifacts.

We stepped inside Harold Smith’s study. It was a comparatively smaller room. On one side was a big bookshelf, packed with books on all kinds of subjects. His table was placed in the center of the room and was littered with several files and loose pages. In the far end were two windows, opening to a small balcony outside. Harold Smith was slumped in his chair, which was placed on he left side of his table. He seemed to be in his late sixties, his hair had turned gray and there were wrinkles below his eyes. He had shot himself through his heart and the gun was placed in his right hand. Harker went up to the table and went through the papers. Most of them were about some 16th century Aztec diamonds. At that moment two more people entered the room, a man and a woman. The man was tall and resembled Harold Smith a great deal. I guessed he was his son, Michael.

The lady was dressed impeccably in white satin. She was Elsa Smith, the daughter. Greening made the introductions. They both seemed calm and strangely unperturbed. It struck me as something unusual. I turned to look at Harker and found him looking curiously at something on the ground. He was standing beside the right side wall of the room. I went up to him to see what had caught my friend’s attention. It turned out to be broken pieces of cement, no doubt fallen from the wall. I looked up at the wall to see where they had fallen from, but to my amazement, I could not locate a single fracture or discoloring on the wall! But then, where did the cement come from? I repeated these thoughts to Harker, to which he muttered:

“Hmmm…Interesting…”

Confused I made my way to the other side of the room, where the books were kept. Inspector Greening and the siblings seemed to be having a discussion. I felt a bit of sympathy for Greening. Such a clear case of suicide and yet he had his judgment questioned by Elsa Smith. I turned back to the books. Quite clearly, Harold Smith was a voracious reader and it seemed he didn’t have many friends. His world seemed limited to his books. But then, you don’t expect a lawyer to have many friends! I turned to see Harker staring at a painting on the wall. I could not quite fathom why a painting, of all things, had taken his fancy. Shrugging, I continued the examination of the books. After a few minutes, I heard Harker call my name. He was standing by one of the windows. I went over to him.

“Observe, Robert. This particular window has a broken knob. It may be unnoticeable from a distance but if you look closely, you will see what I mean.”

I peered closer and saw that the hole into which the knob locks was in fact broken from the outside. As a result, even though from the inside it would seem the window was bolted, it would in fact open with only a gentle push.

“You think someone broke that hole on purpose, Harker?”

“I am not yet in a position to make such a statement, my friend. Come, let us explore the balcony. It seems really well maintained, does it not, with all its plantations?”

I was about to tell him that visiting the balcony seemed highly inappropriate at this moment, but he had already opened the window and made his way out. With a sigh, I followed him. If he was hoping to find any clue or footprint there, he was disappointed. There was nothing out of the ordinary in the balcony. After ten minutes we went back into the room. It was vacant now. I was about to leave the room as well, when I heard Harker utter a sharp cry. I rushed back to see what was bothering him. To my amazement, I saw that the pieces of cement that were lying on the floor only ten minutes back, had now disappeared!

“The case grows more and more intriguing”, Harker murmured.

Fifteen minutes later, we were seated in Ms. Elsa Smith’s room. In between, Harker had inquired about the time of death to Inspector Greening. He was told it took place between 5pm to 6pm. The body was discovered by the housekeeper and Michael Smith at around 6pm. Elsa Smith sat before us. She seemed to be in her early thirties. I noticed that she spoke with very little emotion.

“Ms. Smith”, said Harker. “I am sure this has come as a shock and you must be feeling very distur-…”

“To be perfectly honest, Mr. Harker, I do feel sorry for the old man. But, I am not heartbroken over it. You must understand that my father was a difficult man to live with. I never got along with him well. The only person he ever cared about was himself. In fact, I have been contemplating about leaving this house for quite some time now.”

“Ah! But did your brother get along with him well?”

“I am afraid not, Mr. Harker. Michael does not live here. He came three days ago for Halloween. He was supposed to leave tomorrow, but I guess it will have to wait now.”

Harker gazed at her thoughtfully for a moment. Then he said:

“So, Ms. Smith, you believe your father did not commit suicide? In spite of all the evidence pointing towards it?”

“I knew my father, Mr. Harker. I am not prepared to believe that he would take his own life. He was a proud man, you see. He thought very highly of himself, never cared about us. After mother died, when I was eight years old, our housekeeper, Margaret, took care of us. Father was hardly home, and when he was, he used to lock himself up in his study. His clients were more important to him than his own family.”

“But Ms. Smith, have you thought about the alternative? If he didn’t commit suicide, then someone must have killed him! Do you think anyone would think of doing that?”

“I wouldn’t be surprised if someone did. He was a lawyer, you see. He had no shortage of enemies, and he wasn’t a particularly likeable person either.”

“But do you have someone specific in mind?”

“No, Sir. I have no idea about his clients or his friends. He never told us anything, ever.”

“Hmmm, I see. Please tell me what you were doing when his death was discovered.”

“Well, I was sitting here, in my room, reading a book, when Margaret came in and said that tea was ready. I went down to see Michael already seated at the table. Just then, we heard a scream. Michael ran upstairs. By the time I reached the study, Michael was trying to break the door down. When he managed to break it down, we saw him, lying on his chair, soaked in blood.”

At this point, I had hoped to see her eyes well up and her voice choke, but she maintained her calm, emotionless state. Since there was nothing more to be learnt, we got up, bade her good night, and left the room.

Michael Smith wasn’t in his room when we got there. The butler, Arthur, asked us to wait a couple of minutes. Michael’s room was much bigger than Elsa’s. It was clean and remarkably well maintained, mainly owing to the fact that he stayed here only during the holidays. Meanwhile, Harker had picked up Michael’s hat, which was lying on a chair, and was looking at it intently. It was covered in dust and was torn at the edges.

“Do you remember, Robert, these kinds of hats were a rage about three years back? I used to own one just like this. It is quite expensive I believe.”

“Yes, my brother David used to have one like this as well. He almost had to empty his pockets in buying it”, I said.

At this point Michael Smith entered the room. There were dark circles under his eyes and he seemed tired. He said:

“I am extremely sorry to keep you waiting. I was downstairs talking to Inspector Greening. Please, have a seat.”

We sat on the two armchairs kept by the fireplace. Harker said:

“Well, Mr. Smith, I understand you don’t stay here.”

“No sir. I stay in New York. I work there in a software company. I always come over here in the holidays.”

“Frankly, Sir, we never interacted much. I never talked about my life and he never told me about his. We were totally indifferent towards each other. I come here for the holidays to make sure Elsa is fine. She hated my father. But, Margaret takes good care of her, I must say.”

“Hmmm. Where were you when Margaret raised the alarm today?”

“I had gone out to the market. I came home at around 5:45. Margaret was preparing the table for tea, so I washed up and was seated at the table. After a while, Elsa came down from her room. That’s when I heard Margaret scream my name. I went upstairs as quickly as possible. She said father wasn’t answering her calls. I tried calling him, but to no avail.”

“I see. It must have come as a shock, I understand. Do you believe your father could commit suicide?”

“I am afraid I don’t know, sir. You see, I never really knew him well. I have been living away for seven years now. But, nonetheless, it was a shock to see him kill himself.”

“Right. I understand that you were to depart tomorrow?”

“Yes, Sir. But things have changed now. I have to wait a while longer.”

“Quite so.”

“Thank you Mr. Smith. We express our deepest condolences to you. I will let you know if I need your help again. Good night.”

Talking to the housekeeper, Margaret, and the butler, Arthur, yielded nothing new. On our way out, Greening informed us that the gun found in Harold Smith’s hand was his own, and had only his fingerprints. Since it was getting late and there was nothing more to be done that day, I bade Harker farewell and went home. At night, I thought about the case, but could not find any evidence against suicide. Yes, the broken window and disappearing cement were odd, but they hardly proved anything. Even if he was murdered, it might be any one of the thousand people he interacted with. I failed to see what more Harker hoped to achieve in this case. These thoughts helped me fall asleep, unaware of the adventures that were to follow.

It was a cloudy morning. There was a slight chill in the air. I was gratefully holding on to a cup of steaming coffee, when the phone rang. It was Harker.

“Good morning, Robert.”

“Good morning, Harker. Any developments?”

“There seems to be. Greening just called, and he wants me to come over to Hutton County immediately. Get ready, and come over to my place as soon as you can.”

In about an hour, we were back at Hutton County. Inspector Greening was waiting for us in the living room. Also in the room were Michael Smith, Elsa and Margaret.
“Good morning, Greening. What’s new?”

“Well, we were searching Harold Smith’s room yesterday, after you left, and found a key inside his drawer. It opened a locker that was hidden behind the bookshelf. We opened it and found this.”

He held out in his hand a small case. Harker took it from him and examined it. It was a small, black case, one of those that had a combination lock. I looked at it closely and saw that a correct combination of six digits was required to open the lock. Harker looked at the siblings and said:

“Do any of you have any idea what it contains?”

It was Elsa who spoke up:

“Yes, Mr. Harker, in fact, we do. Father had shown it to us when we were in school. I had no idea he still had it. He had opened it and showed us the most amazing thing we had ever seen. In it were several small, but incredibly shiny diamonds! We had looked on with our mouths open as father explained that they dated back to the Aztec period. He had acquired it from one of his clients. He was a collector of ancient relics, and I think this was his most treasured one.”

“Interesting. Very interesting. Do you know the combination to open it?”

“I am afraid not, Mr. Harker. He didn’t tell us. In fact, he never mentioned them again. I had almost forgotten that they existed.”

“I see.”

“Mr. Harker”, said Greening. “We found one more thing. It was found beside the case in the locker.”

From his pocket, Greening produced a small scrap of paper and handed it to Harker. I looked over his shoulder to see what was written. On it was written, in a beautiful hand:

I have a cent but my friend has two,
Seventeen and five make twenty-two.

I stared at the paper for a few moments. I could not make heads or tails of what was written. Harker was looking at it thoughtfully.

“Well, what do you make of it?” said Greening.

“I am not sure, but I believe it contains the code for the combination of the case”, said Harker.

“But what on earth does it mean?”

“It means that Harold Smith was a very clever man. Can I keep this piece of paper, Inspector?”

“Of course.”

“And may I have a word with you, in private?”

Harker and Greening went off to the other side of the room. I glanced at the siblings. They were still seated, but I could notice a gleam of excitement in their eyes. Harker and Greening talked for about ten minutes. I sat in a chair, trying to think what the words written on the paper meant. I was still making a futile attempt at deciphering the code, when Harker came over and said:

“It is time to go home, Robert. I need time to think, to exercise my grey cells.”

An hour later, we were seated comfortably in Harker’s study, having tea. He said:
“Well, Robert. What do you make of all this? You were with me the whole time. What is your take on the whole thing?”

“To be perfectly honest, I am confused. Before today, I was sure that there were no complications in this case, but now, I am not so sure.”

“And what, according to you, are the complications?”

“To begin with, there is the disappearing cement. Then, the hidden locker, the case, and the mysterious code. It is all very puzzling if you ask me.”

“But there is nothing puzzling at all about the things you told me, Robert.”

“What! You mean you have figured it all out?”

“All in good time, Robert. All in good time.”

I could get nothing more out of him, so I continued to drink tea, as confused as ever. We decided to go out for lunch. After a heavy meal, I was prepared to leave for home, when Harker said:

“But we need to visit Hutton County again. You must come along.”

So we drove to Hutton County once again. I could not help but feel a tingling sense of excitement.

Inspector Greening was no longer there. Arthur answered the door and asked us to wait in the living room. We settled ourselves in two easy chairs kept beside the fireplace. A few minutes later, Michael and Elsa came downstairs. Both of them took their seats and looked at Harker with eager eyes.
Harker smiled and said:

“I have some good news for both of you. I have figured out the code for the combination lock.”

I stared at him in amazement. How did he do that? How did he make sense out of that gibberish? Elsa Smith spoke up:

“I knew you could do it Mr. Harker. What is it?”

“Where is the case now?”

“It is with Inspector Greening. He decided to keep it till you cracked the code.”
“I see. Well, I shall not keep you waiting any longer. The combination for the lock is 147566.”

“Thank you very much, Mr. Harker.”

“It was my pleasure Ms. Smith. That is all I had to say. I will call Greening and ask him to return the case to you.”

“That would be really nice of you, Mr. Harker.”

“Well, goodbye then.”

We left the house with my brain in a tizzy.

We came back to Harker’s place. He told me to wait in the living room and went inside to call Greening. When he came back after five minutes, I asked him:

“What do we do now?”

“Now, my friend, we wait.”

I wanted to ask him so many questions, but I knew he wouldn’t tell me anything. He had this habit of revealing everything at the very end. Hence, I had no choice but to wait. My brain was working overtime. What had he planned? Why did he give the code so easily to Michael and Elsa? What conversation did he have with Greening? What had actually happened to Harold Smith? Very soon, I was having a headache. Harker got up to play his violin. I couldn’t help but feel a little cross at his calmness. After two hours, which seemed like ages for me, the phone rang. Harker went to answer it. This time I followed him into his room. I could only hear his side of the conversation, and this is what I heard:

“Hello…Good work…And the case?…Good…I will be right over.”

He put the receiver down, turned to me, and said:

“Come, my friend, it is time.”

On our way, I tried to guess what had happened. He told me it was Greening on the phone, but didn’t tell me what he had said. I could sense that we were very near the end now. Harker seemed pleased. There was a twinkle in his eye. It was 6:30pm when we reached there. I felt as if my mind would burst with excitement. But, I wasn’t prepared for what I saw next. We entered the living room. Everyone was in there. Elsa was crying. Margaret and Arthur stood with their heads bowed. In the middle of the room sat Inspector Greening, and with him, in handcuffs, sat Michael Smith!

Harker studied the audience before him. We were all assembled in Harold Smith’s study room. They were all, no doubt, waiting for him to explain how he reached his conclusion. Elsa had stopped crying and was looking up at Harker with bloodshot eyes, urging him to begin. Harker took his seat, cleared his throat, and began:
“I will now try and explain to you my methods, and how I proceeded with my investigation. I pray that you hear me out without any interruptions. I will try my best to make things as clear as possible to you all. To begin with, when I came here yesterday, I wasn’t hoping for such an intriguing case. But what aroused my interest were some pieces of cement. I was almost convinced of the suicide theory till I saw them. They were lying right over there, on the left side. But alas! I could not detect their source. The wall below which it laid seemed perfectly all right. But then, where did the cement come from? Suddenly, my eyes fell on a painting hung from the wall, about five feet away from the cement. It caught my attention because it was tilted at an angle, as if somebody had hurriedly put it there. Robert, if you have no objection, will you kindly remove that painting, and see what it is hiding?”

I slowly went over to the painting. With trembling hands, I removed it from the wall, and let out an involuntary gasp. There was a hole in the wall, undoubtedly made by a bullet! But how? And why? Harker continued:

“ Thank you, Robert. As you all can see, two shots, not one, were fired yesterday. You will no doubt agree with me when I say that this puts an end to the suicide theory. Surely, Harold Smith wasn’t cursed with such a bad aim, that he would miss himself! No, I am afraid, Harold Smith was murdered! But then, why was the cement lying a few feet away from the bullet hole? Well, the killer must have moved the cement a few feet away and hung a painting in its place to cover up the tracks. Next, I noticed that one of the window latches was broken, indicating a possible entry point for the culprit. I went into the balcony to find traces of footprints, but couldn’t find any. But, when I returned to the room, the cement lying on the floor had disappeared. That is when I knew that someone from this house was responsible for the murder. He or she must have seen me notice the cement, and cleaned it up when I had gone into the garden. I must say that was a foolish thing to do. So, now, I knew it was someone in this very house. But I couldn’t establish any motive. Both Michael and Elsa Smith said that their father was selfish, and that he had never cared about their well-being. That was hardly a motive for anyone to kill. My next breakthrough came when I was in Michael Smith’s room. While we were waiting for him there, I couldn’t help but notice his hat. It was the same type of hat I owned a few years back. I remember that they were very much in fashion those days, about three years back, and they used to be quite expensive too. But Michael’s hat was dusty and torn at the edges. Why then, did he keep wearing that hat? Clearly, he had enough money three years ago to buy such a costly hat. Why didn’t he buy a new one now? Evidently, he is short of money these days. The simple fact that he persists in wearing a torn, old hat, which to him was affordable a few years back, states that he has run into some money trouble. I kept this deduction to myself, as I still couldn’t establish any motive.

Things were made much more clearer the next day, when I came to know about the discovery of the black case. There was the motive! But I still had to be sure. I spoke to Inspector Greening alone, and told him about my suspicions. We developed a plan of action. I came here after lunch, and told Michael and Elsa the combination code. Little did they know, that I had given them the wrong code! When I got back home, I called Greening and told him to keep men posted outside Hutton County. Surely, the killer would try to escape with the case, since he now knew the code. As if on cue, the unsuspecting Michael Smith ran out with the case, straight into the hands of Inspector Greening.”

Nobody had moved. I noticed that everyone sat with their eyes wide and their mouths open. Harker went on:

“Now, ladies and gentlemen, let me recount what actually happened yesterday. After my suspicion regarding Michael Smith’s hat, I had asked Greening to do a background check on him. He later confirmed that Michael had lost almost all his savings in gambling and was in huge debt. He was in trouble and in desperate need of money. He came here, not to celebrate Halloween, but to coax his father into giving him the diamonds. Needless to say, Harold Smith refused to give up his prized possession. Finally, in his desperation, Michael Smith entered his father’s room yesterday evening around 5pm. He shut the door from inside and threatened his father of dire consequences if he didn’t hand over the diamonds. When Harold Smith refused again, in a fit of rage, Michael took out the gun from the drawer, and shot at his father. Let me make it clear that Michael has confessed that he knew where the gun was kept, as he had seen his father keep it there a couple of days back. Coming back to yesterday evening, Michael shot at his father, and missed. The bullet hit the wall and broken pieces of cement fell to the floor. He shot again, and this time found his target.

Harold Smith was dead. It was then that the enormity of the crime dawned on Michael. He was suddenly scared. In a state of panic, he decided to disguise the murder as suicide. He put his father on the chair, wiped his fingerprints off the gun and placed the gun in Harold Smith’s hand. To cover the bullet hole, he hung a painting over it. Fearing that he had no time, and that tea was about to be served, he could only move the cement crumbs a few feet away. Then, he opened the broken window, went out into the balcony, and closed it behind him. He went around to the front door and rang the bell. Margaret answered it. Michael washed up and quietly sat at the table. When I came to investigate, and noticed the cement crumbs, Michael panicked. As soon as I went out into the balcony, he seized his opportunity. He came into the room and quickly cleaned up his mess. Little did he know that in doing that, he committed the biggest mistake of his life. Am I right, Mr. Smith?”

Michael Smith slowly nodded his head.

Harker continued:

“Now, you all must be wondering about what the correct combination code for the case is. Well, I had given the Smiths the wrong code, but I had already figured out what the message meant. The most complicated thing about the message was that it was ridiculously simple. If you remember correctly, the first line read – I have a cent but my friend has two. This means that his friend has double the number of cents that he has. It simply implied that we had to double all the numbers mentioned in the second line. The real code was therefore 341044.”

Greening tried the numbers and the case clicked open. Inside were diamonds so shiny that I was almost blinded by the light. From the corner of my eye, I saw Michael Smith gaze longingly at the diamonds.

Two hours later, we were seated at Inspector Greening’s office. Greening seemed in a really good mood.

“Well, Harker, you never cease to amaze me”, he said. “Who would have thought that this would turn out like it did!”

Harker smiled, and said:
“Neither did I, my friend, neither did I.”

Abhilash Sanyal