The Crime Of The Impardonable Sin (Part 2)

PART II

‘Perhaps, but there is more!’

She was about to exit the room when he made her stop with his revelations.

‘What do you mean by that, Mr Whitby?’

‘I have documentation proving your false signature. You attempted to falsify Lady Arrington's signature on several occasions with your withdrawals, Miss Biggins. The question I have is, why?’

‘Mere insinuations, Mr Whitby!’

‘Not the case, Miss Biggins! You fail to acknowledge the participation of your accomplice, Lord Greenfield. I found his silver cigarette case in the room as well’.

Her countenance was for a moment a listless and pallid representation of incredulity, then she uttered, ‘You can't prove it. The cigarette case could belong to anyone, Mr Whitby’.

‘Asprey is known as the nobleman's choice, such as Lord Greenfield’.

‘Rubbish!’

‘I doubt it is a mere coincidence, since there are witnesses who saw Lord Greenfield with that exact brand!’

‘What do you want?’

‘The truth of what happened that night’.

‘I told you already what I saw!’

‘Mr Duvauchelle was not the last person in the room—Lord Greenfield was. He had a heated confrontation with Mr Duvauchelle that night about his affair with Lady Arrington, during which he threatened him. He waited for them to return from the theatre. The door was locked, and only you, the chambermaid, had the key. Lord Greenfield was waiting in the bathroom while Mr Duvauchelle and Lady Arrington were arguing. Most likely, their argument was about Mr Duvauchelle's confrontation with Lord Greenfield. After Mr Duvauchelle finished, he stormed out and went to the Murray's. Lord Greenfield attacked Lady Arrington when she closed the door, not knowing her killer was near. In the struggle, Lord Greenfield dropped his cigarette case. You, in the adjacent room, heard everything. When the door was open, you knew Mr Duvauchelle would pass by in the corridor afterwards. You entered the room and tried to clean up the evidence. It was the perfect crime—except for one thing you forgot’.

‘What was that, Mr Whitby?’

‘You forgot the cigarette case!’

‘What will happen now?’

‘Lord Greenfield will be arrested for the murder of Lady Arrington’.

‘No, it was not him—it was I who killed her! She did not love him as I did! Do not blame him! I am the guilty one. She did not love him! She cavorted in lechery with that lowlife Mr Duvauchelle! He is to blame for all of this!’

This was the last thing she uttered before the police officers, who had been listening in the other room, entered to arrest Miss Biggins. She was taken into custody and transported to the police station. Lord Greenfield was then arrested in Devonshire, and Mr Whitby returned to give Mr Duvauchelle the wondrous tidings of his immediate release and exoneration in the murder of Lady Arrington.

Mr Duvauchelle was exceedingly joyous and thankful to be freed; the first thing he did was shake Mr Whitby's hand and offer him a cigarette as a token of his immense appreciation. Mr Whitby told him that he had done his job, as he had pledged in his duty ere. Miss Schiller shortly arrived and was informed of Mr Duvauchelle's release.

They spent the night at the Murray's celebrating, and Mr Whitby was their bidden guest. Miss Schiller's cabaret act was performing one last night at the Murray's. That night, afterwards, Mr Whitby experienced a queer phantasmagoria that disturbed him, and he awoke instantly. The nightmare involved Mr Duvauchelle, and he saw the face of Miss Biggins pleading her innocence.

The following morning, when he awoke in a deep sweat, he was consumed with the thought of speaking to Miss Biggins. Mr Whitby headed to the police station, where she was detained, and was informed of her tragic suicide. Apparently, she had hanged herself and was found stone dead, but she left behind a letter addressed to Mr Whitby, which he intuited was her confession. However, he knew she was not the murderer.

When he read the contents, they were not the words of a confession, but rather a letter from Mr Duvauchelle to Miss Schiller, describing how they had planned to kill Lady Arrington and frame Lord Greenfield for the murder. There were details that only the criminal mastermind would know. Mr Whitby was stunned by the obfuscation as he tried to understand what this meant, and he doubted the veracity of the letter, but the ink and handwriting were not identical to that of Miss Biggins.

He departed the police station in complete uncertainty about what was transpiring. As he got into a cab to head to Piccadilly, a gentleman handed him the correspondence that had been sent by the private investigator he had engaged to investigate the participants in the case.

When he perused the contents of the correspondence, he was in utter shock and remained motionless. According to the investigation, Lady Arrington had included Mr Duvauchelle in her will. Upon her death, he would inherit her entire wealth. Yet there were even more ghastly revelations about Mr Duvauchelle, referring to his anonymous past in France and during the Great War. Mr Duvauchelle had been discharged from the army due to a mental disorder diagnosed as acute madness.

There was a thorough report attached to the letter, written in French, which Mr Whitby understood. Mr Duvauchelle had been interned in Paris until he escaped the asylum where he was being treated for hallucinatory episodes. Mr Duvauchelle had killed both his father and mother. Mr Whitby discovered in the report that his identical twin brother, who also suffered the same mental illness, had not died, as Mr Duvauchelle had previously claimed. Duvauchelle was his maiden name; Bouvier was his real surname. Mr Whitby's heart beat fast, and his breath shortened as he finished reading.

There was another shocking revelation that would dramatically alter his perception of the murder’s facts. Mr Cantrelle was found shot dead in Paris, in a solitary cul-de-sac, with a bullet to the head. Once Mr Whitby comprehended the magnitude of these revelations, he came to the inevitable conclusion that he had committed a grievous mistake and injustice. He began to recall the duplicitous gestures Mr Duvauchelle had occasionally shown.

Verily, he had freed the actual killer of Lady Arrington, who had been present with him the night before at the Murray's. He headed forthwith to the nightclub to enquire about Miss Schiller's immediate whereabouts. She was not there. When he went to her residence, a neighbour told him she had left the city.

He asked whither she had gone, but the neighbour did not know, as Miss Schiller had not mentioned her destination. He thought of Mr Duvauchelle's address. When he arrived, he was told that no Jean Pierre Duvauchelle lived there, nor had anyone by that name ever lived there. He began to ponder where they could be, as neither Mr Duvauchelle nor Miss Schiller had spoken to him about their future plans.

Then he thought of the train station, took the first cab there, and checked every possible departure from London to other cities. He checked the passenger lists and inside the prepared compartments, but to no avail—they were not aboard.

He remembered France, where Mr Duvauchelle was originally from, and headed on a train to the port of Dover, but he did not locate them. They had simply vanished from metropolitan London. Mr Whitby could not admit his horrible mistake until he spoke to Lord Greenfield, who was being detained at the police station.

When he arrived, he was informed by the police officer that Lord Greenfield had committed suicide as well. He had taken a cyanide tablet that was secretly brought to him the day before. Two people, guilty of crimes of passion but innocent of murder, were dead.

For years, Mr Whitby was haunted by the deaths of Miss Biggins and Lord Greenfield and refrained from taking on any more cases as a solicitor, barrister, or attorney. The redoubtable horror of this horrendous error had resulted in irreversible consequences.

Five years would pass before he found Miss Schiller once more. He was in Paris, inside a nightclub that shall not be named. There, as he sat near the edge of the stage, he saw the image of Miss Schiller. His eyes lit up with excitement as he waited impatiently for her to finish her performance.

Afterwards, he approached her as she walked past him. Her expression upon seeing him was one of obvious disbelief. They sat down at a lone table, where they could speak privately. Naturally, they spoke about the murders. She feared that Mr Whitby had come for her arrest.

He told her that all depended on what she truly confessed had occurred that night of the horrific murder of Lady Arrington. She agreed to confess and disclose everything that had transpired in the mysterious sequence of events leading to the murder.

‘It all began the previous night at the Murray's, when Jean Pierre entered with his twin brother Philippe, whom I had met before. Jean Pierre started to explain his detailed and preconceived plan to us’.

‘When you say us, what do you mean?’

‘I mean me, Jean Pierre, Philippe, and Charles’.

‘Then what?’

'Jean Pierre had convinced us that if we killed Lady Arrington, he would inherit her wealth and distribute it amongst us'.

'Explain to me the sequence of the murder'.

'Jean Pierre had ordered his brother to remain in the nightclub, so that people would believe he was at the nightclub, not in Lady Arrington's room, when the murder was committed'.

'How many people knew about Philippe?'

'No one except Charles and me. The musicians and cabaret dancers come and go, Mr Whitby. They don’t exactly remember people’s faces'.

'Then what?'

'Jean Pierre had been with Lady Arrington at the Ritz Hotel. They had planned to go to the St James’s Theatre without much incident, but Lord Greenfield had been informed by Miss Biggins about their plan. He arrived and confronted Jean Pierre, and they argued'.

'About what, Miss Schiller?'

'About Jean Pierre's love affair with Lady Arrington'.

'Then?'

'Jean Pierre and Lady Arrington returned to the hotel from the theatre. They were arguing about their situation'.

'What do you mean?'

'She wanted to end the relationship because she had discovered our affair'.

'By that you mean Mr Duvauchelle and you?'

'Yes'.

'Go on'.

'He begged her to reconsider, because she was a sentimental person, but she rejected him, and that was when he killed her. Although he had planned on killing her, it had not been planned for that night'.

'How did he kill her— with what?'

'He waited until she turned her back and choked her to death with his hands'.

'Then what happened next?'

'He scurried out of the room, but not before he dropped his cigarette case'.

'A silver cigarette case?'

'Yes'.

'Miss Biggins, who had been in the other room listening, entered and found Lady Arrington’s body. Unknown to her at the time, she tore her dress, and a piece became entangled in the bedstead. Mr Duvauchelle was unaware that Miss Biggins was there in that room and of her auditory sense. He used this deceptive ruse to effectuate his calculated plan. It was the archetype of a perfect crime, Mr Whitby, when the facts can be easily manipulated within the arbitrary notion of the truth'.

'There are several things I have not yet deciphered'.

'What is that?'

'Who killed Mr Cantrelle?'

'It was Jean Pierre'.

'Where can I find him and his twin brother presently? Are they in Paris?'

She stared into his eyes and professed, 'They are dead.'

Mr Whitby was shocked to hear her revelation but was not certain she was telling the truth. 'How did they die? How do I know you are not lying, Miss Schiller?'

'I killed Jean Pierre with the same gun he used to kill the others'.

'And Philippe?'

'He murdered him too, out of his irrepressible greed. The typical lucrative agenda of profitable enterprise. However, their financial situation changed. Jean Pierre could not claim Lady Arrington’s inheritance. There were appeals made by the family, who contested the will. Jean Pierre betrayed me, Mr Whitby, and I had had enough. He was an evil man, but I suppose that makes me an evil woman for killing him— does it not, Mr Whitby?'

'I would call it a justifiable revenge of accountability'.

'I prefer justice. You see, Mr Whitby, Jean Pierre raped and murdered my sister after the war. I had planned this from the beginning'.

'Then it is justice— the moral edification of society'.

Mr Whitby looked into her eyes and saw this cogent plea for compassion.

'What will happen to me next, Mr Whitby? Have you come to arrest me for my involvement in the murder?'

'No, the case is over. I have not seen you; moreover, I am only a barrister now'.

She sighed with great relief and smiled. She thanked him as they shook hands. 'I thank you'.

'Thank you for ridding the earth of this devious madman'.

She rose to her feet and excused herself. It was time for her artistic act. The last image Mr Whitby had of Miss Schiller was her performance with the cabaret dancers, who were aligned side by side with her. He departed the nightclub and Paris and returned to London, satisfied in knowing that the duplicitous, craven Mr Duvauchelle had met the same fate as his inconsiderate victims. At times, the truth is apposite to the a posteriori investigation, when it is a prerequisite for the paragon of a murder. The worst connivance ever committed by Mr Duvauchelle was the disparate crime of the impardonable sin attained.

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