Meanwhile Pokomy and Mrs. Klingmayer had reached the police station and were going upstairs to the rooms of the commissioner on service for the day. Like all people of her class, Mrs. Klingmayer stood in great awe and terror of anything connected with the police or the law generally. She crept slowly and tremblingly up the stairs behind the head bookkeeper and was very glad when she was left alone for a few minutes while Pokorny went in to see the commissioner.
But as soon as his errand was known, both the bookkeeper and his companion were led into the office of Head Commissioner Dr. von Riedau, who had charge of the Hietzing murder case.
When Dr. von Riedau heard the reason of their coming, his interest was immediately aroused, and he pulled a chair to his side for the little thin man with whom he had been talking when the two strangers were ushered in.
"Then you believe you could identify the murdered man?" asked the commissioner.
"From the general description and the initials on his linen, Ibelieve it must be Leopold Winkler," answered Pokorny. "Mrs.
Klingmayer has not seen him since Monday morning, nor has she had any message from him. He left the office Monday afternoon at 6o'clock and that was the last time that we saw him. The only thing that makes me doubt his identity is that the paper reports that three hundred gulden were found in his pocket. Winkler never seemed to have money, and I do not understand how he should have been in possession of such a sum.""The money was found in the dead man's pockets," said the commissioner. "And yet it may be Winkler, the man you know.
Muller, will you order a cab, please?"
I have a cab waiting for me. But it only holds two," volunteered Pokorny.
"That doesn't matter, I'll sit on the box," answered the man addressed as Muller.
"You are going with us?" asked Pokorny.
"Yes, he will accompany you," replied the commissioner. "This is detective Muller, sir. By a mere chance, he happened to be on hand to take charge of this case and he will remain in charge, although it may be wasting his talents which we need for more difficult problems. If you or any one else have anything to tell us, it must be told only to me or to Muller. And before you leave to look at the body, I would like to know whether the dead man owned a watch, or rather whether he had it with him on the day of the murder.""Yes, sir; he did have a watch, a gold watch," answered Mrs.
Klingmayer.
Riedau looked at the bookkeeper, who nodded and said: "Yes, sir;Winkler had a watch, a gold watch with a double case. It was a large watch, very thick. I happen to have noticed it by chance and also I happen to know that he had not had the watch for very long.""Can you tell us anything more about the watch?" asked the commissioner of the landlady.
"Yes, sir; there was engraving on the outside cover, initials, and a crown on the other side.""What were the initials?"
"I don't know that, sir; at least I'm not sure about it. There were so many twists and curves to them that I couldn't make them out. I think one of them was a W though, sir.""The other was probably an L then."
"That might be, sir."
"The younger clerks in the office may be able to tell something more about the watch," said Pokorny, "for they were quite interested in it for a while. It was a handsome watch and they were envious of Winkler's possession of it. But he was so tactless in his boasting about it that they paid no further attention to him after the first excitement.""You say he didn't have the watch long?"
"Since spring I think, sir."
"He brought it home on the 19th of March," interrupted Mrs.
Klingmayer. "I remember the day because it was my birthday. Ipretended that he had brought it home to me for a present.""Was he in the habit of making you presents?""Oh, no, sir; he was very close with his money, sir.
"Well, perhaps he didn't have much money to be generous with. Now tell me about his watch chain. I suppose he had a watch chain?"Both the bookkeeper and the landlady nodded and the latter exclaimed:
"Oh, yes, sir; I could recognise it in a minute.""How?"
"It was broken once and Mr. Winkler mended it himself. I lent him my pliers and he bent the two links together with them. It didn't look very nice after that, but it was strong again. You could see the mark of the pliers easily.""Why didn't he take the chain to the jeweler's to be fixed?" asked the commissioner.
The woman smiled. "It wouldn't have been worth the money, sir; the chain wasn't real gold.""But the watch was real, wasn't it?"
"Oh, yes, sir; that was real gold. I pawned it once for Mr. Winkler and they gave me 24 gulden for it.""One question more, did he have a purse? And did he have it with him on the day of the murder?""Yes, sir; he had a purse, and he must have taken it with him because he didn't leave it in his room.""What sort of a purse was it?"
"A brown leather purse, sir."
"Was it a new one?"
"Oh, no, sir; it was well worn."
"How big was it? About like mine?" Riedau took out his own pocketbook.
"No, sir; it was a little smaller. It had three pockets in it.
I mended it for him once, so I know it well. I didn't have any brown thread so I mended it with yellow."Dr. von Riedau nodded to Muller. The latter had been sitting at a little side-table writing down the questions and answers. When Riedau saw this he did not send for a clerk to do the work, for Muller preferred to attend to such matters himself as much as possible. The facts gained in the examination were impressed upon his mind while he was writing them, and he did not have to wade through pages of manuscript to get at what he needed. Now he handed his superior officer the paper.
"Thank you," said Riedau, "I'll send it out to the other police stations. I will attend to this myself. You go on with these people to see. whether they can identify the corpse."Fifteen minutes later the three stood before the body in the morgue and both the bookkeeper and his companion identified the dead man positively as Leopold Winkler.
