POLICE INVESTIGATIONS 101
Further Guidance for Police Officers from G.K. Chesterton’s “Father Brown’s Detective Short Stories” (1910-11)
Gilles Renaud | Ontario Court Of Justice (Retired)
Introduction
The British writer G.K. Chesterton wrote more than fifty detective stories featuring a most improbable investigator, a Roman Catholic priest invariably referred to as Father Brown. This diminutive and apparently unremarkable prelate combined his knowledge of human nature, gained from serving his poor parishioners including a criminal underclass, with a logical and disciplined mind resulting from his rigorous religious studies. Indeed, as he modestly notes from time to time, one learns a lot about crime and those who engage in this conduct in the confessional and when visiting parishioners in custody. Father Brown is rigorous in his incisive analysis of the anti-social events that he encounters seemingly every day of his life, but never rigid in extending compassion to those who have erred in their conduct, always desirous of bringing them back into the embrace of their community. But, first, he must examine the clues the police overlooked or misunderstood, solve the crime, to then return to his quite life of a small parish, calling forth investigative skills still relevant today in this age of DNA, AI and technologically based forensic sleuthing of every kind.
It is this skill as a detective that commands attention in this article, and I seek to review the guidance for investigators found in the sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth of Chesterton’s short stories. They are entitled “The Honour of Israel Gow”, “The Wrong Shape”, “The Sins of Prince Saradine, “The Hammer of God” and “The Eye of Apollo”, all written in 1910 or early 1911. Recall that the first five of Chesterton’s short stories featuring Father Brown, published in 1910 and 1911, nd discussed previously, dealt with the adventures titled “The Blue Cross”, “The Secret Garden”, “The Queer Feet”, “The Flying Stars” and “The Invisible Man”.
I follow below the format I have adopted in my prior similar writings seeking instruction for modern detectives from the fiction featuring Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot, as posted in Blue Line magazine and Mack’s Criminal Law. Of note, the valuable lessons are grouped within thematic discussions involving demeanour evidence, human nature, interviewing skills, judgment and professionalism in investigations. In sum, I suggest that modern-day investigators can gain valuable insights from this great fictional investigator as to what to do and what not to do, as well as enjoying several good stories.
Demeanour
Introduction
Readers of my prior police articles that begin with an overview of “Demeanour evidence” question me as to its relevance to police investigations. The phrase that follows is illustrative of so much demeanour evidence: “’It will be over there on her desk by the door, I think,’ said Kalon, with that massive innocence of manner that seemed to acquit him wholly….” [Emphasis added] [The Eye of Apollo] The underlined passage is no different than the expressions “guilty looks”, “frank appearance” and “sincere eyes” or “evil eyes”. Thus, the detective must be mindful that certain witnesses (one hopes quite few…) will provide incriminating or exculpatory information based on a subjective belief resulting from a judgment of the features or manners of the suspect.
In this context, note that the short story “The Wrong Shape” includes this illustrative phrase: “It was out of this artistic household that Father Brown and his friend stepped on to the doorstep; and to judge from their faces, they stepped out of it with much relief.” [Emphasis added] Of course, there are very pedestrian elements of such non-verbal communication, such as pointing towards a destination or direction. As an example, we read in “The Sins of Prince Saradine”: “… The prosperous man’s smile grew slightly more expansive, and he simply pointed up the river towards the next bend of it…”
In brief, I seek to identify and, at times discuss, a number of elements of non-verbal communication that you must analyze in seeking to determine the value, credit and reliability of the statements you will accumulate at the investigative stage.
- Elements of demeanour
o Air – foreign
“… Mr. Paul, the butler, also had a faintly foreign air, but he was in tongue and training English …” [The Sins of Prince Saradine]
o Brow - bothered
“Brown threw up his bothered brow and rapped on the spade handle with an intolerance quite unusual with him…” [The Honour of Israel Gow]
o Brow – corrugated
“It was the first time Flambeau had ever seen Father Brown vanquished. He still sat looking at the ground, with a painful and corrugated brow, as if in shame”. [The Eye of Apollo]
o Brow – darkening
“… There was a sour smile on her face that seemed unfit for such a scene or occasion, and Flambeau looked at her with a darkening brow.” [The Eye of Apollo]
o Brow -knitted
“As they went back through the study he stopped by the table and picked up a small pair of nail scissors. ‘Ah,’ he said, with a sort of relief, ‘this is what he did it with. But yet—' And he knitted his brows.” [The Wrong Shape]
o Countenance
“Mrs. Anthony sat somewhat sullenly at the foot of the table, while at the head of it was Mr. Paul, the major domo, eating and drinking of the best, his bleared, bluish eyes standing queerly out of his face, his gaunt countenance inscrutable, but by no means devoid of satisfaction.” [The Sins of Prince Saradine] Note as well this relevant passage from “The Hammer of God”: “As he passed the priest, his moon-calf countenance gave no hint of what he had been doing or thinking of…”
o Crying
“Father Brown repressed what appeared to be a momentary disposition to dance on the now sunlit lawn and cried quite piteously, like a child …” [The Honour of Israel Gow]
o Dance – momentary impression that would
A critic of demeanour evidence often cites how often one reads of “a fleeting smile” or “a seeming wish to smile” or some other half-expressed emotion that might have been something entirely different. For example, in “The Honour of Israel Gow”, the author wrote: “Father Brown repressed what appeared to be a momentary disposition to dance on the now sunlit lawn and cried quite piteously, like a child …”
o Eyes – blazing
“The Wrong Shape”: “… And when he said the third time, ‘I want nothing,’ he said it with blazing eyes. And I knew that he meant literally what he said; that nothing was his desire and his home; that he was weary for nothing as for wine; that annihilation, the mere destruction of everything or anything …’ [Emphasis added]”
o Eyes – frightful
“… and stared at him with frightful eyes.” [The Hammer of God]
o Eyes – wild
“... His face was fastidious, but his eye was wild; he had little nervous tricks, like a man shaken by drink or drugs…” [The Sins of Prince Saradine] This example, and so many others, show that demeanour is so highly subjective as “one element may be said to be negative whilst the next is positive.”
o Face – assurance
“Then Father Brown, still keeping the paper in his hand, strode towards the conservatory, only to meet his medical friend coming back with a face of assurance and collapse. “He’s done it …” [The Wrong Shape]
o Face – fastidious
“... His face was fastidious, but his eye was wild; he had little nervous tricks, like a man shaken by drink or drugs…” [The Sins of Prince Saradine]
o Face - grave
“Have you found any candles,” asked Brown smiling, “among your oddities?” Flambeau raised a grave face, and fixed his dark eyes on his friend.” [The Honour of Israel Gow]
o Face – listless
“… Atkinson was leaning against a tree with a listless face …” [The Wrong Shape]
o Face – relief
“The Wrong Shape” includes this illustrative phrase: “It was out of this artistic household that Father Brown and his friend stepped on to the door-step; and to judge from their faces, they stepped out of it with much relief.” [Emphasis added]
o Face – sincere
“... From all this old clothes-shop his olive face stood out strangely young and monstrously sincere.” [The Sins of Prince Saradine] I do not know what this means.
o Face - sneering
“The entrance hall was mostly stripped and empty; but the pale, sneering faces of one or two of the wicked Ogilvies looked down out of black periwigs and blackening canvas.” [The Honour of Israel Gow]
o Face – suspicion
“… Father Brown was mounting the first step to follow him when he felt a hand on his shoulder, and turned to behold the dark, thin figure of the doctor, his face darker yet with suspicion.” [The Hammer of God]
Forehead
“… Joan Stacey stared at him in amazed admiration. Father Brown’s face seemed to express nothing but extreme distress; he looked at the ground with one wrinkle of pain across his forehead. …” [The Eye of Apollo]
- Hands
“Wilfred’s face was turned away, but his bony hands turned blue and white as they tightened on the parapet of stone.” [The Hammer of God]
o Impatience
“… The young man threw himself impatiently on a hall chair…” [The Wrong Shape] Note as well: “Her rigid rapidity and cold impatience had amused Flambeau very much on the first occasion of his entering the flats.” [The Eye of Apollo]
o Jaws – lengthen
“The Sins of Prince Saradine” includes this phrase: “… whose name alone would lengthen the old man’s lantern jaws …”
o Look – dissipation
The quote that follows, from the short story “The Wrong Shape” includes a useful example of what detectives must avoid doing in their investigations: concluding that demeanour evidence at play discloses “x” element, when it is a false conclusion due to “y” fact being present. Thus:
- As the two paused on the door-step, before taking a turn in the garden, the front garden gate was thrown open with violence, and a young man with a billycock hat on the back of his head tumbled up the steps in his eagerness. He was a dissipated-looking youth with a gorgeous red necktie all awry, as if he had slept in it, and he kept fidgeting and lashing about with one of those little jointed canes. [Emphasis added]
Is it possible one thinks his look betrayed some “dissipation” because he tumbled and left a house being investigated? If he had been seen to walk normally away from such a suspicious place, would you think him dissipated looking? Finally, what does this show, if anything? Evidence of drink, of abuse of drugs, lack of sleep, etc.? All that said, Father Brown later gets close to the young man and notes evidence of alcohol consumption and a stumbling incident. This is decidedly more objective evidence.
o Look – grave
“’Yes,’ answered the priest; ‘and his voice sounded jolly enough when we left him.’ Then he looked gravely round the garden …” [The Wrong Shape]
o Look – innocent
“The Sins of Prince Saradine” includes thus phrase: “… The brothers Saradine, I suppose. They both look innocent enough…” Of course, one cannot judge a book by its cover…
o Look - stern
Whatever may be thought of the detective opining that a suspect or witness looked “a little stern”, it is difficult to judge this element of demeanour on objective grounds from a judge’s perspective. It is a fleeting presentation of the face and it may be a reaction to something that is wholly removed from the situation being investigated. See “The Wrong Shape” for this passage: “They found themselves abruptly pulled up and forced to banish their bewilderment by the appearance of Mrs. Quinton, with her heavy golden hair and square pale face, advancing on them out of the twilight. She looked a little stern, but was entirely courteous.”
o Look – tragic
“When he [Father Brown] came out again he looked a little pale and tragic, but what passed between them in that interview was never known, even when all was known.” [The Wrong Shape]
o Manner – affection
“… The butler indeed was naturally uncommunicative. He betrayed a sullen and almost animal affection for his master; who, he said, had been very badly treated. …” [The Sins of Prince Saradine]
o Manner - concern
“While the others stood rigid the priest, for the first time, showed a leap of startled concern. ‘No head!’ he repeated. ‘No head?’ as if he had almost expected some other deficiency.” [The Honour of Israel Gow]
o Manner – cooly
“The Wrong Shape” records what follows: “’See Mr. Quinton?’ said the doctor coolly. ‘No, I’m afraid you can’t. In fact, you mustn’t on any account. Nobody must see him…’”
o Manner – impartially
“’Perhaps,’ remarked Father Brown impartially. ‘If he was, he was a bad fairy.’” [The Sins of Prince Saradine] I have difficulty seeing how a detective could be inspired to assign impartiality points, so to speak, to a potential witness based on their looks or manner. Is it not all a matter of what is said, not the manner of it being expressed?
o Manner - placid
“I don’t think it the true explanation,” replied the priest placidly…” [The Honour of Israel Gow] See also from “The Sins of Prince Saradine”: “… Eventually they saw a very placid and prosperous man in his shirt sleeves …”
o Manner – relief
“As they went back through the study he stopped by the table and picked up a small pair of nail scissors. ‘Ah,’ he said, with a sort of relief, ‘this is what he did it with. But yet—' And he knitted his brows.” [The Wrong Shape]
o Manner – surprised reaction
“Father Brown’s pipe fell out of his mouth and broke into three pieces on the gravel path. He stood rolling his eyes, the exact picture of an idiot. ‘Lord, what a turnip I am!’ he kept saying. ‘Lord, what a turnip!’ Then, in a somewhat groggy kind of way, he began to laugh… [and went on to explain the solution of the crime]” [The Honour of Israel Gow]
o Nose – sneer
“The Sins of Prince Saradine” includes this phrase: “… whose name alone would lengthen the old man’s lantern jaws and pucker his parrot nose into a sneer.”
o Pallor
“… In the mirrors before him he could see the silent door standing open, and the silent Mr. Paul, standing in it, with his usual pallid impassiveness.” [The Sins of Prince Saradine]
o Smile - apologetic
“’That’s all right,’ he said, with an apologetic smile. …” [The Wrong Shape]
o Sneer
“... He had very long yellow moustaches; on each side of them a fold or furrow from nostril to jaw, so that a sneer seemed cut into his face.” [The Hammer of God]
o Tone
“The atheist spoke in a tone that, coming from him, was quite startlingly respectful, and even, as it were, huskily sympathetic.” [The Hammer of God]
o Voice – hissing
“’There isn’t a good one,’ she hissed. ‘There was badness enough in the captain taking all that money, but I don’t think there was much goodness in the prince giving it. The captain’s not the only one with something against him.” [The Sins of Prince Saradine] The hissing is certainly suggestive of a dislike.
o Voice - lowering, displaying emotion
“They are letters and symbols in a language I don’t know; but I know they stand for evil words,” went on the priest, his voice growing lower and lower…” [The Wrong Shape]
o Voice – plotter
“… or whether she fancied he knew more than he did, she said to him in a low voice as to a fellow plotter …” [The Sins of Prince Saradine]
o Voice - rarely resorted to infantile
“’Father,’ said Flambeau in that infantile and heavy voice he used very seldom, ‘what are we to do?’” This element of demeanour is often referenced within the rubric “Stranger not able to judge” in the sense that the detective cannot possibly know that the voice captured on the recording they are given by a witness or uniform officer is not the typical voice resorted to each day. [The Honour of Israel Gow]
o Voice – steel
“… had the voice of steel of a soldier in command.” [The Wrong Shape]
o Voice – yawn
“… From the other end of the study came the clear voice of Quinton, in something between a yawn and a yell of weary laughter…” [The Wrong Shape]
Human nature
- Accept challenges as a matter of will
There are persons who identify closely with what follows: “’As I understand it, it is a theory of theirs,’ answered Flambeau, ‘that a man [or woman] can endure anything if his mind is quite steady.’” [The Eye of Apollo] Certainly, police officers and military persons must endure a great deal in the discharge of their great and important duties.
- Curiosity
“Flambeau had seen quite enough of these daily salutations of Phoebus, and plunged into the porch of the tall building without even looking for his clerical friend to follow. But Father Brown, whether from a professional interest in ritual or a strong individual interest in tomfoolery, stopped and stared up at the balcony of the sun-worshipper …” [Emphasis added] [The Eye of Apollo]
- Drinking alcohol as a way of life
Note this passage from “The Hammer of God”:
Colonel the Hon. Norman Bohun … was by no means devout, and was sitting in evening dress on the bench outside “The Blue Boar [Bar],” drinking what the philosophic observer was free to regard either as his last glass on Tuesday or his first on Wednesday. The colonel was not particular.
This type of person is often a very troublesome witness, and investigators must be careful when relying upon such testimony as they might be able to provide.
- Eccentricities
One of the difficulties faced by investigators arises when an offence involves one who is thought to be a member of a group of eccentrics, whether as victim or perpetrator. In either case, if a person is seen as odd, perhaps the detectives will receive less than reliable reports as prejudice or gossip will distort the reliability of the accounts from third parties. Indeed, in “The Honour of Israel Gow”, we read of tissues of lies and other expressions of mendacity about a certain population, then we read of their eccentricities. In the result, the more their servant Mr. Gow stated his master was absent, the more it was concluded that he was at home: “If society needed any further proof that he was there, the servant persistently asserted that he was not at home…”
- Evolution of friendship over the years – impact on “cold cases”
In the situation involving long delayed investigations, detectives must always be alert to the possibility that the accounts you receive from witnesses may betray a form of distortion, resulting from the evolution of the relationship between the persons involved, over the years since the events described. Of course, this concern arises only in the case of persons not only acquainted but sharing friendship if not a stronger bond. (In all cases, one must be wary of the ravages of time on memory) In this context, consider what follows from “The Wrong Shape” adventure featuring Father Brown:
Flambeau had known Quinton in wild student days in Paris, and they had renewed the acquaintance for a weekend; but apart from Flambeau’s more responsible developments of late [he left the criminal milieu], he did not get on well with the poet now. Choking oneself with opium and writing little erotic verses on vellum was not his notion of how a gentleman should go to the devil.
- Excuses
“Like a true philosopher, Flambeau had no aim in his holiday; but, like a true philosopher, he had an excuse. …” [The Sins of Prince Saradine] For detectives, the lesson is to exercise care in analyzing information from suspects to give proper weight to any such deeply held “philosophically grounded” excuses. They may appear as a genuine and recently thought of and expressed explanation when, in fact, nothing could be farther from the truth, and this requires care…
- Gossip
“Father Brown, though commonly a silent, was an oddly sympathetic little man, and in those few but endless hours he unconsciously sank deeper into the secrets of Reed House than his professional friend. He had that knack of friendly silence which is so essential to gossip; and saying scarcely a word, he probably obtained from his new acquaintances all that in any case they would have told…” [The Sins of Prince Saradine]
- Needs, subjective nature of our
As we read in the short story, “The Sins of Prince Saradine”, our needs are often judged from a purely subjective perspective, and the successful investigator will ensure that an objective analysis not be applied in analyzing the why and wherefore of the crime. Thus: “… The vessel was just comfortable for two people; there was room only for necessities, and Flambeau had stocked it with such things as his special philosophy considered necessary. They reduced themselves, apparently, to four essentials: tins of salmon … revolvers … brandy … and [Father Brown].”
- Objections to everything
Detectives must not suffer from “paralysis by analysis”, as exemplified by the phrase that follows: “… and then the doctor said rather sulkily: ‘Well, I may be wrong; there are objections to everything …’” [The Hammer of God]
- Prejudicial view of widespread jealousy
“The Honour of Israel Gow” includes this interesting passage: “Even the man’s start and suspicious stare as the priest went by were consonant enough with the vigilance and jealousy of such a type.” In other words, would-be witnesses might well be envious of persons from a certain group, and their statements might reflect this by way of a distorted account. Beware a jealousy-inspired inflation of suspicion or ignorance of certain favourable elements, often made worse as the declarant is not fully conscious of the bias.
- Right person at wrong place
“’We have taken a wrong turning, and come to a wrong place,’ said Father Brown, looking out of the window at the grey-green sedges and the silver flood. ‘Never mind; one can sometimes do good by being the right person in the wrong place.’” [The Sins of Prince Saradine]
- Sign of the cross
“Father Brown sat bolt upright in the boat and crossed himself. His movement was so abrupt that his friend asked him, with a mild stare, what was the matter…” [The Sins of Prince Saradine] Although rarer these days, it was once a far more typical manifestation of some emotion, bringing about a desire for a blessing from God.
- Thieves act like thieves and must be investigated as such
The story “The Honour of Israel Gow” is of interest in that it illustrates that detectives must rely on the human nature of thieves as well as that of honest persons. Logic may often direct the actions of many persons in many situations, and thus Father Brown reasoned that the multiple findings of expensive articles without some golden adornment, such as an expensive walking stick without a gold knob, was inconsistent with what thieves do. They would take everything of value! As we read, the missing articles stated Father Brown “Were taken away … were taken away--but not stolen. Thieves would never have left this mystery. Thieves would have taken the gold snuff-boxes, snuff and all; the gold pencil-cases, lead and all. We have to deal with a man with a peculiar conscience, but certainly a conscience. I found that mad moralist this morning in the kitchen garden yonder, and I heard the whole story.”
- White lie
Investigators must weigh why witnesses might lie to them, not only from the perspective of whether to charge them with offences, but more importantly on how best to obtain an insight into reversing this “protective” course of conduct. Was it a “white lie” resulting from a misunderstanding that you can make disappear such that the truth will now be communicated to you? Consider this excerpt: “’That was a sound, spanking lie I told just now,’ remarked the medical man, laughing. “In point of fact, poor Quinton doesn’t have his sleeping draught for nearly half an hour. But I’m not going to have him bothered with that little beast, who only wants to borrow money that he wouldn’t pay back if he could. He’s a dirty little scamp, though he is Mrs. Quinton’s brother, and she’s as fine a woman as ever walked.’” In such a case, the police might convince the doctor that they need to speak with their patient. [The Wrong Shape]
Interviewing witnesses and suspects
- Confessions are extorted is the popular belief
When you testify before a jury, as opposed to a judge, you will be mindful of the popular belief in some quarters, wrongly held but nonetheless generally popular at times it seems, that the police act like bullies to extort confessions. In this vein, the short story “The Eye of Apollo” sets out this opinion:
… All your church is but a black police; you are only spies and detectives seeking to tear from men confessions of guilt, whether by treachery or torture. You would convict men of crime…
- Explanations
Investigators might have to echo the phrase that follows, to ensure a full understanding of the words of the witness, in certain cases. “I don’t understand you…” See “The Sins of Prince Saradine”. To the same effect is the question asked a few pages later in this short story: “The prince turned from the window and stared at him in a singular manner, his face in shadow against the sunset. ‘What do you mean?’” [The Sins of Prince Saradine]
- Plain speaking
The short story “The Honour of Israel Gow” provides great advice on this score:
“You seem to have a sort of geological museum here,” he said, as he sat down, jerking his head briefly in the direction of the brown dust and the crystalline fragments.
“Not a geological museum,” replied Flambeau; “say a psychological museum.”
“Oh, for the Lord’s sake,” cried the police detective laughing, “don’t let’s begin with such long words.”
Well said. Indeed, police should always eschew polysyllabic utterances and speak plainly to all, notably potential witnesses who might well be ill at ease.
- Seek clarification
When interviewing witnesses or even would-be suspects, do not hesitate to seek clarification by means of non-leading questions. As we read in “The Honour of Israel Gow”, you ought to ask: “What do you mean?” and not “Do you mean to say…” and then you add what you believe the witness intended to say?
Judgment in investigations
- Bias
“… That was all Paul, the butler, would say, and Paul was obviously a partisan.” [The Sins of Prince Saradine] Investigators must be wary of partisan or biased perspectives.”
“Cherchez la femme”
Review the contents of the rubric « Judgment – “Cherchez l’argent!”.
“Cherchez l’argent!
A great deal of popular literature involving detective stories draws the lesson that almost all violent crime is explained by this French phrase, “find the money” or the other one: “Cherchez la femme” (seek out the love interest). In this context, the suspect in “The Eye of Apollo” is intelligent enough to be led to seek out the police to advise them that the murder of the victim will profit him greatly, and to note that love is seen by the police as leading to violence… Thus:
… I care so little for the cloudland of this life that I will offer you the speech for the prosecution. There is but one thing that can be said against me in this matter, and I will say it myself. The woman that is dead was my love and my bride; not after such manner as your tin chapels call lawful, but by a law purer and sterner than you will ever understand. She and I walked another world from yours, and trod palaces of crystal while you were plodding through tunnels and corridors of brick. Well, I know that policemen, theological and otherwise, always fancy that where there has been love there must soon be hatred; so there you have the first point made for the prosecution. But the second point is stronger; I do not grudge it you. Not only is it true that Pauline loved me, but it is also true that this very morning, before she died, she wrote at that table a will leaving me and my new church half a million. Come, where are the handcuffs? [Emphasis added]
- Choice of weapon
“The Hammer of God” short story is of interest in pointing out the police question: why should the strongest man in the village who could have selected the heaviest hammer in his shop have picked the smallest of all? It turns out the hammer was easiest to carry on one’s person and was thrown down at the victim.
- Comparing how a person acts in a series of movements
On occasion, the detective may be able to discern a tell-tale action by a person when comparing how they behave in a series of what should appear to be similar behaviours, such as handing out envelopes or digging potatoes. In “The Honour of Israel Gow”, the suspect gardener did not dig in one precise location as he did everywhere else over a lengthy period that showed how unusual this was. As we read, “
“I’m doubtful about it,” said the other, “because old Gow was doubtful about it himself. He put his spade in methodically in every place but just this. There must be a mighty fine potato just here.”
Upon investigation, they found the head of the corpse in that location.
- Complex versus simple explanations
At times, the police are confronted with situations, let us say mischief, that may be rooted in a deeply held mistrust of a certain individual, or of the group within which the victim is identified. Let us imagine a vehicle vandalized that was the only one in the area with plates from a certain province. This might well tend to point to a form of hate motivated offence. However, if one digs deeper and finds that other cars, from the province where the offences take place, were also damaged in weeks or months prior, the investigation might disclose that the offender is a neighbour who claims the right to interdict parking in the spot in question. In few words, earlier act or later ones change our view of the motivation. In this context, note the following example from “The Honour of Israel Gow”: “… These religious pictures are not just dirtied or torn or scrawled over, which might be done in idleness or bigotry, by children or by [those professing a precise religious faith I need not identify.”
- Delay prior to responding
Consider this example: from “The Honour of Israel Gow” “’… what are we to do? “His friend’s reply came with the pent promptitude of a gun going off.” If you judge that promptitude in replying to a question equals either sincerity or credibility, you are making a judgment without an objective metric. The great story of the baseball player dragged from a burning bed decades ago is useful. When accused of falling asleep, drunk while smoking, he responded immediately: “The bed was on fire when I lay down to sleep!” Of course, the quick response meant nothing as it was a ridiculous reply. The further element of analysis surrounds the use of the word “pent” to suggest that the person was expecting a question, like the action of squeezing lightly on a trigger expecting the deer to leave the cover of the bush. In many situations, the likely suspect expects to be questioned, having committed the deed, and is mentally rehearsing a defence. A quick reply in such circumstances adds little to the value of the contents.
- Interpreting words
“The Wrong Shape” includes this guidance on that subject:
“’You call it odd, and I call it odd,’ said the other, ‘and yet we mean quite opposite things. The modern mind always mixes up two different ideas: mystery in the sense of what is marvellous, and mystery in the sense of what is complicated. That is half its difficulty about miracles. complicated. The quality of a miracle is mysterious, but its manner is simple…
- Memory
We are often more impressed by the depth and breadth of a suggested memory if it is “anchored”, so to speak, by means of a reason for an event to be easily recalled. As we read in “The Sins of Prince Saradine”:
He had not troubled much about the prince then, beyond ascertaining that he had been a brilliant and fashionable figure in southern Italy. In his youth, it was said, he had eloped with a married woman of high rank; the escapade was scarcely startling in his social world, but it had clung to men’s minds because of an additional tragedy: the alleged suicide of the insulted husband, who appeared to have flung himself over a precipice in Sicily. … [Emphasis added]
- Most likely suspect in killing married woman’s lover
“The Hammer of God” provides insight, whether accurate or sheer nonsense, from over a century ago: “Why do these idiots always assume that the only person who hates the wife’s lover is the wife’s husband? Nine times out of ten the person who most hates the wife’s lover is the wife. Who knows what insolence or treachery he had shown her…”
- Repetition may not refer to the same sense each time
Consider this example, drawn from “The Wrong Shape”:
… Yet he only said the same thing three times. When first he said ‘I want nothing,’ it meant only that he was impenetrable, that Asia does not give itself away. Then he said again, ‘I want nothing,’ and I knew that he meant that he was sufficient to himself, like a cosmos, that he needed no God, neither admitted any sins. And when he said the third time, ‘I want nothing,’ he said it with blazing eyes. And I knew that he meant literally what he said; that nothing was his desire and his home; that he was weary for nothing as for wine; that annihilation, the mere destruction of everything or anything …’ [Emphasis added]
- Reverse the proposition
I have noted in 46 years of observing trials that investigative success may depend on the ability of detectives to “flip scripts”, to consider any scenario from the “inside out”. If a person is said to have recently entered the employ of the small company that then became the subject of employee theft, suspicion naturally falls upon them, but it might also fall on the shoulders of the person who made the hire. Was it an inside job on a dual level? In this context, the passage that is excerpted below serves to offer a fictionalized illustration of this reality, of looking at all sides of an issue:
“... For the central riddle we are prepared; we have all seen at a glance that there was something wrong about the last earl. We have come here to find out whether he really lived here, whether he really died here, whether that red-haired scarecrow who did his burying had anything to do with his dying. But suppose the worst in all this, the most lurid or melodramatic solution you like. Suppose the servant really killed the master, or suppose the master isn’t really dead, or suppose the master is dressed up as the servant, or suppose the servant is buried for the master … [The Honour of Israel Gow]
I know this is the stuff of fiction, but I have read of so many actual cases in which truth is stranger than fiction to warn investigators not to be surprised at the ironies of life they come to study.
- Simple conclusions to explain complex dynamics
I would include this passage under that rubric: “’That woman’s over-driven,’ said Father Brown; ‘that’s the kind of woman that does her duty for twenty years, and then does something dreadful.’” [The Wrong Shape]
- Suicide note
Only in fiction can you have this scenario: in “The Wrong Shape”, the murderer comes across a manuscript written by the victim that includes a suicide note – destroying the earlier pages, all that remains is the apparent written confession of taking one’s life, after the murderer destroyed the subsequent pages. His downfall was that he had to eliminate the quote mark at the end of the note and this led to Father Brown unmasking him.
- Superficial versus ultimate judgment
As the outset of the adventure entitled “The Honour of Israel Gow”, we read that the gardener appeared to be incapable of hearing and quite blunted in his intellectual development, based on public rumour and reputation. As the story develops, Father Brown and the police have opportunities to judge of Gow’s actions and after a discussion with him, we read: “… I’ve had it out with old Gow, the gardener, who is neither so deaf nor so stupid as he pretends. …”
- Touching – affectionate or aggressive
“The Wrong Shape” records this telling illustration: “’No, but look here, old chap,’ said the youth in the red tie, trying affectionately to capture the doctor by the lapels of his coat. ‘Look here. I’m simply sewn up, I tell you ...’” We read earlier that the young man might have been feeling the effects of drink. In deciding whether to charge him, the police must decide if the touching was aggressive, friendly, accidental, etc. The Code definition at s. 265 says nothing about this save for “intentional” but the reality of the common law requires you to judge the nature of the touching. An additional fact that emerges is that the physician knows the young man, and does not care for him…
- Truth – might not make sense
“The Honour of Israel Gow” includes this interesting observation: “The priest had turned his face to the castle as he answered: ‘We have found the truth; and the truth makes no sense.’” Sadly, I have presided over trials in which the sad background to violence is pointless, and on occasion, mindless.
Professionalism
- Duty is performed though pointless
“... He had never had the slightest doubt that it was Pauline Stacey; and, though he had sent for a doctor, he had not the slightest doubt that she was dead.” [The Eye of Apollo] No matter his belief in her death, duty commands that an ambulance be summoned.
- Patience
Consider this interesting confession:
“My friend,” said Flambeau, with a grim humour, “you must be careful with me and remember I was once a criminal. The great advantage of that estate was that I always made up the story myself, and acted it as quick as I chose. This detective business of waiting about is too much for my French impatience. All my life, for good or evil, I have done things at the instant; I always fought duels the next morning; I always paid bills on the nail; I never even put off a visit to the dentist …” [Emphasis added]
Save for emergencies, I doubt there is any reason to act promptly. You must investigate thoroughly and successfully, not be the first to break the tape to refer to racing images.
- Prejudge an issue – never!
In the short story, “The Hammer of God”, it becomes evident to many in the small village that only the most powerful of men could have struck the terrible blow that killed the victim, and that he had the most reason as his wife was dallying with the deceased. In response to that declaration, the author wrote: “’We must not prejudge anything,’ put in the doctor, a tall, black-bearded man, rather nervously; ‘but it is competent for me to corroborate what Mr. Gibbs says about the nature of the blow, sir; it is an incredible blow. …” It was added that the witness did not think anyone might have delivered the blow at all, which is something an investigator would wish to explore.
- Rights to counsel
Consider this excellent illustration of what is not to be done when informing a detainee or person arrested of their right to counsel: “Some seven minutes later the island was occupied by an invasion of townsfolk and police, and the latter had put their hands on the victorious duellist, ritually reminding him that anything he said might be used against him.” Rights to counsel are not part of a ritual – they are to be explained in detail, slowly, and with alertness by the officer as to what is being understood. [The Sins of Prince Saradine] In any event, the fellow stated that he was very happy and “I only want to be hanged” having avenged the murder of his father
- Torture
Of course, such means are illegal, but it is interesting to quote how a non-police officer once viewed the best way to get at the heart of the hidden crime: “’I will get some sense out of this,’ cried Flambeau, striding forward, ‘if I use the tortures of the Inquisition.’” [The Honour of Israel Gow]
- Truth, never seek anything but the
Investigators, as in the case of all other police officers, seek out the truth, without concerns as to whom might be accused in the final analysis. In this vein, I quote from “The Honour of Israel Gow”: “’Go on,’ said the priest very gently. ‘We are only trying to find the truth. What are you afraid of?’ ‘I am afraid of finding it,’ said Flambeau.” That is never a concern for Canadian police officers.
- Warning to remain quiet with the urging to not speak!
Consider this odd manner of addressing a suspect: “’I won’t ask you, Mr. Barnes,’ he said, ‘whether you know anything about what has happened here. You are not bound to say. I hope you don’t know, and that you will be able to prove it. But I must go through the form of arresting you in the King’s name for the murder of Colonel Norman Bohun.’” [The Hammer of God] The investigator must ask a detainee whether they wish to make a statement, and in this case, in doing so, the detainee established a complete alibi.