Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective, Volume 3 - Part 1

                 Solution by Phil Reynolds

THE SOLICITOUS SOLICITOR

This case involves the sudden death of Melvin Tuttle a solicitor,
who apparently died of a heart attack, you are visited by
Inspector Lestrade who believes that Tuttle was murdered, poisoned
to be exact.

There is only one fact of interest during the introductory
sequence with Lestrade and that is that Swathmore was at Bells
Baths on the morning of the murder, this will provide an important
clue later. Go and visit Lestrade at his office to be shown the
contents of Melvin Tuttle's desk, amongst the contents you will
notice a locket with the initials VM, a key for a locker at Bells
Baths and some details of properties with Disraeli O'Brian's name
on it. Next go and see HR Murry at the Crime Labs and he will tell
you that he found traces of an exotic poison China Berry on the
rim of Tuttle's teacup and the stem of his pipe, this poison it
seems is not common and comes from the Far East. It is therefore
safe to assume that whoever poisoned Tuttle either travelled in
the Far East or knew someone who did. A visit to Disraeli O'Brien
provides us with the information that Tuttle was interested in
some land deals and that he was doing his investigations during
his lunch breaks so obviously it was not to do with his work. It
might be a good idea to interview the secretaries who worked with
Tuttle at this point so go and see Margaret Porter. From her you
will learn that Tuttle was having an affair with Mrs Cartwright
the wife of one of the partners and was also seeing one of the
other secretaries Alice Spring. Two points that might easily be
missed during this conversation are that Margaret Porter posted
two letters of interest that morning, one to Mrs Cartwright from
Tuttle and one to August Heathcliff, a name that will crop up
again.

A visit to Alice Spring will gain you no useful information other
than that Tuttle had broken off his relationship with her because
he had fallen in love with another woman. However, a visit to
Brenda Walker reveals that she, Mr Tuttle and Mr Swathmore were
working late the previous evening on some contracts and that
unusually Mr Swathmore typed the envelopes himself and gave them
to Tuttle. It now seems probable that Tuttle was murdered by one
of his associates at work although Swathmore does not seem to have
any motive at this point, Cartwright might have murdered Tuttle
because of his affair with Cartwright's wife.  A visit to
Swathmore at this point might clear up some of the mystery,
Swathmore proves to be very unenlightening, however he tells you
the he had been helping Tuttle complete the contracts the previous
evening at Sidney Sloans' request. A quick visit to Sidney Sloan
however reveals that Swathmore was lying and that he had
volunteered to help with the contracts, it also reveals that the
contracts they were working on were those for August Heathcliff.
Now why would Swathmore be lying?  Obviously Swathmore is more
deeply involved in this case than at first it seemed.

As August Heathcliff keeps cropping up in the investigation, it
might be a good idea to go and visit him at this point. The
conversation with him reveals nothing new but one important clue
is revealed. The envelope that the contracts arrived in is scented
and we can assume that this is the same scent as that given off by
the poison used on Tuttle, so we now know how the poison was
administered to Tuttle, it is now obvious that the poison was on
the flap of the envelope that was sealed by Tuttle and we know
that Swathmore typed the envelope and gave it to Tuttle so we can
safely assume that Swathmore poisoned Tuttle, but we have yet to
find a motive and where Swathmore obtained the poison from.

We Know that Swathmore was at Bells Baths on the morning of the
murder and that Tuttle also had a key for the Baths so a visit
there would not go amiss. Although the Secretary is most unhelpful
the Janitor, Jenson, provides you with two important pieces of
information. One is that Swathmore and Cecil Livingstone the
builder were friends and that they had gone through Tuttle's
locker contents on the morning of the murder but had not found
what they were looking for. He also tells you that Livingstone
travelled extensively in the China Sea. This now clears up where
Swathmore got his poison from and that Livingstone was somehow
connected with the case other than just being the supplier of the
poison, as he assisted Swathmore with his search of Tuttle's
belongings.

It would probably be a good idea to visit Tuttle's rooms at this
point to see what we can learn there. Tuttle's room has been
obviously been searched by someone, probably Swathmore, but what
was he looking for? A further search reveals a letter from Mrs
Cartwright, and some letters from the mysterious V.M. of the
locket. The letters are signed Giny, the shortened form of
Virginia and a look through the M's in the directory reveals that
there is only one Virginia listed; Virginia Munro, so it might be
a good idea to visit her now. Virginia Munro provides you finally
with the probable motive for the motive, she gives you a list of
property deals obviously given to her by Tuttle. This list shows
that Livingstone was making a tidy profit from deals set up by
Swathmore as all the other clients are Swathmore's. So obviously
Tuttle was blackmailing Swathmore and Swathmore killed him, and
the list was what Swathmore and Livingstone were searching for at
Tuttle's Rooms and the baths.

You now have all the evidence that you need so take it to the
judge.

Q: Who killed Matthew Tuttle?
A: Swathmore.
Q: How was the poison administered?
A: On the flap of the envelopes that Tuttle Sealed.
Q: Why was Tuttle murdered?
A: He had found out that Swathmore was misusing funds and was
blackmailing him.
Q: Who was Swathmore's accomplice?
A: Cecil Livingstone.
Q: What part did he play in the murder?
A: He was Swathmore's partner in the fraud and supplied the
poison.

@~The next part will be in Issue 47


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