The Midnighter

November 17, 1893 (Duncan Brown's Diary)

9:45 P.M. Today I went to the East Whitby Primary School for further investigation. I learned much about James Willis's personal life from his tenants and neighbours. That did provide me with background information on our prime suspect, but it was not enough to deduce the motive. So now, I had to learn about his professional life.

Today the weather was calm and a bit warm. I was waiting for the morning prayer and for the students to go to their respective classes. After the Bible reading and hymn singing, the school's headmaster, Brother Henry Harmon, made some announcements. I reached there a bit earlier, around 8:45 A.M.; seeing a police officer in the early morning at school could have caused unnecessary tension among the teachers and the students, so I wore a formal dress and a hat. I waited outside the assembly hall for a while, as I had already sent a letter to the school clerk for an arrangement for an urgent meeting with the school headmaster, a day ago. As I reached out to the head clerk of the school, Mr. Wilbur, I showed him proof of my identity. He agreed to arrange a meeting with the principal after the morning prayer.

While everyone was busy during the prayer, I was taking a look at the principal's office; it was locked. Need to mention that the principal's office was on the ground floor, and from the first floor onwards there were classrooms and staff rooms. There was a large notice board hanging on the left wall, outside the office. The date sheet of the examination, some drawings of students, and a few handwritten quotes were attached to it. But the most notable thing was the newspaper. The whole week's editions were attached to the notice board, named and marked as per their dates and days. Even today's edition, which is Friday, is kept there. "There was no haphazard arrangement of anything. Everything was neatly organized and secured." To be honest, I felt this was a very good decision for the school.

After the class commenced, I met Brother Harmon at his office; It has to be mentioned, that Brother Harmon is a very courteous man. Brother Harmon invited me to his office for our meeting. He was an averagely tall man, with a beard and moustache but partial baldness. I observed something really special about him - no matter what, he always wore a gentle smile, which just showed what a kind-hearted gentleman he was.  We shook hands and our conversation went somewhat like this:

- "Good morning, sir. I am the newly appointed police inspector of Whitby, Duncan Brown. Nice to meet you."

- "Good morning, inspector. Mr. Wilbur told me about your arrival. Please have a seat in my office."

- "Thank you, sir. Oh, I heard outside that today an examination is being conducted in school. Do not worry sir, for I will not take much of your time, but the reason why I am here is of utmost importance."

- "It is completely fine, Inspector Brown! How I may help you."

I entered Brother's office and looked around once. I am writing what I saw in that office room. Just beside the door, inside there was a small deed rack, on which several newspapers were kept; the recent editions I suppose. In the middle of the room, there was a large desk with numerous papers and books to the right of Brother Harmon, likely important documents. While to his left, there was a typewriter and a pen stand. All of these items were arranged properly, which was impressive. There was also a dustbin to the left of the desk. 

"Is there any problem inspector?", Brother asked politely. "No sir, absolutely not. It felt good seeing that the school thinks that besides studies, students should also keep track of the current affairs and daily news." Brother smiled and nodded. I pointed at the deed rack containing the newspapers and asked, "Are these the other days' newspapers?" Brother said yes. So I asked him for an extra five minutes as I had missed some important information from the previous days and needed to catch up. Brother Harmon happily agreed.