But her daughter had had no such
scar, and had worn her nails short, because of using the typewriter.
Alice Murray was the missing girl's name. Her mother sat beside me,
and cried most of the time.
One thing was brought out at the inquest: the body had been thrown
into the river _after_ death. There was no water in the lungs. The
verdict was "death by the hands of some person or persons unknown."
Mr. Holcombe was not satisfied. In some way or other he had got
permission to attend the autopsy, and had brought away a tracing of
the scar. All the way home in the street-car he stared at the drawing,
holding first one eye shut and then the other. But, like the coroner,
he got nowhere. He folded the paper and put it in his note-book.
"None the less, Mrs. Pitman," he said, "that is the body of Jennie
Brice; her husband killed her, probably by strangling her; he took the
body out in the boat and dropped it into the swollen river above the
Ninth Street bridge."
"Why do you think he strangled her?"
"There was no mark on the body, and no poison was found.
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