The Missing Dumbbell

Chapter four

Holmes called the butler in.

'Can you remember, Ames, what Mr Barker was wearing on his feet when you joined him in the study?' 'Yes, Mr Holmes. He had a pair of bedroom slippers on. I brought him his boots when he went for the police.' 'Where are the slippers now?' 'They are still under a chair in the hall.' 'Good. It's important to know which footprints belong to Mr Barker and which come from outside.' 'Yes, sir. I noticed that the slippers were marked with blood, sir. So were mine.' 'Thank you, Ames.' We returned to the study. Holmes brought the slippers with him from the hall. The slippers were dark with blood.

'Strange!' said Holmes. He was examining the slippers by the light of the window. 'Very strange indeed!' He placed the slipper on the blood stain under the window. It matched exactly. Holmes looked at the others.

MacDonald looked excited. 'Barker made the mark under the window himself! What's going on Holmes? What does it mean?' 'That's the question,' said Holmes. 'What does it mean?' The three detectives had many small details to investigate. I decided to return to the village on my own. I walked through the garden of the house. At the far end was a hedge of yew trees. Behind these was a stone seat, hidden from view. As I approached, I heard some voices coming from the area of the stone seat. I came around the trees and saw Mrs Douglas and Mr Barker. They did not see me straight away. I was shocked by Mrs Douglas's appearance. Before, she had been very quiet. Now her eyes were shining and she was laughing at something Barker had just said. Barker was also smiling. Just too late they both saw me and assumed more serious expressions. They spoke briefly to each other, then Barker got up and walked towards me.

'Excuse me sir, but are you Doctor Watson? Mrs Douglas wants to ask you something.' I did not really want to talk to her. I saw clearly in my mind the body of the dead man lying on the floor. Here, only a few hours after the tragedy, was his wife laughing with another man. But I went over to them.

'You're a good friend of Mr Holmes. Tell me,' she asked, 'if I told him something, does he have to tell the detectives? Is he working on his own or is he with them?' 'Mr Holmes is independent,' I replied, 'but he won't hide anything from the detectives. You must ask Holmes himself.' I left them and continued walking.

When I told Holmes what had happened, he said that he did not want to hear anything from them.

'It can get complicated if we have to make an arrest for murder,' he said. 'Why, have you solved it, Holmes?' 'Oh, not yet, but when we find the missing dumbbell-' 'The dumbbell?' 'Watson, you must realize how important that missing dumbbell is! What use is one dumbbell?' He continued talking.

'A lie, Watson - that's what we have here. A great big lie. Barker's story is a lie and Mrs Douglas is helping him. They are both lying. So why are they lying and what is the truth that they are trying to hide?' 'How can you be so sure they're lying?' I asked.

'Because it simply can't be true! According to their story, the murderer had less than a minute after the murder to take the wedding ring, which was under another ring, then to replace the other ring and put the card by the victim. This is impossible. I don't think that the ring was taken before the victim was killed. The candle was lit for only a short time. I think the murderer was alone with the dead man for some time with the lamp lit. But the gunshot was the cause of death: therefore the gun was fired much earlier than we have been told. So the two people who heard the gunshot, Mr Barker and Mrs Douglas, are obviously both lying for some reason. And now we can also show that Barker put the footprint under the window. It doesn't look good for Barker.' 'So what time did the murder actually occur? The housekeeper said she heard a noise at about quarter to eleven, about half an hour before Barker called them. I think that this was the gunshot and the real time of the murder. If I'm correct, what were Mr Barker and Mrs Douglas doing, if they aren't the actual murderers, from a quarter to eleven when they heard the shot, to a quarter past eleven when they rang the bell for the servants?' 'I'm sure there is something going on between those two,' I agreed. 'Do you think that they are guilty of the murder?' I asked.

'I think that Mr Barker and Mrs Douglas know the truth about this murder. I'm not sure that they are the murderers themselves. I think that an evening alone in the study will help a lot. Can I borrow your umbrella please, Watson?' I was confused, but I gave him my umbrella anyway.

Later that evening, Inspector MacDonald and Mr Mason returned. They had found out more about the owner of the bicycle: he was an American who was staying at a hotel in the nearby town of Tunbridge Wells. According to the people at the hotel he was a tall, handsome man of about fifty. He was dressed in a grey suit and a short yellow coat and cap.

'He sounds very similar to Mr Douglas,' remarked Holmes. Holmes told the detectives about his theories and what he intended to do that evening. The detectives asked if they could help.

'No, no,' said Holmes. 'All I need is darkness and Watson's umbrella.'