The Duke of York's Steps by Henry Wade — Read

Poole realized that before pinning the crime of murdering Sir Garth Fratten to any individual, he must first find out, or at any rate try to find out, how that murder had been committed. It was clear enough _when_ it was done but, so far, in spite of the presence of a number of witnesses, it was not at all clear _how_ it was done.

In addition to Hessel, a number of witnesses had written to or communicated in other ways with the police, offering to give evidence at the inquest as to the "accident" on the Duke of York's Steps. Preliminary investigations had suggested that none of these witnesses had any very different story to tell than had already been provided by Hessel, and it had not been thought necessary to call them for the initial stages of the Coroner's enquiry. Poole, however, had their addresses and, on the morning after his interview with Inez Fratten -- and his failure to interview Ryland -- he determined to make a round of visits and go exhaustively into the question of what the eye-witnesses of the accident had seen.