Chapter 10 #5
“Next”—Penelope tapped her fourth finger—“the killer was outside from before eight forty-five to close to ten o’clock, the times he was seen leaving and returning to the house.
He was therefore not among those gathered on the front lawn or near the orchard.
” She touched her first finger again. “And he was in the study, searching from about ten o’clock for perhaps as long as an hour.
” She looked at Barnaby. “He might have risked continuing to search even when the others returned to the house, on the grounds that, in the circumstances, no one would think of going to the study.”
Barnaby nodded. “Very possibly.”
Penelope rolled on, “Then, on Tuesday evening at nine o’clock, the killer was upstairs in Monty’s bedchamber, still searching.
He was surprised by Grimshaw coming into the dressing room and knocked the poor man out.
” She looked at Stokes. “That’s six points we know about our murderer.
And what’s more, his searching in Monty’s bedchamber suggests he might not yet have found the evidence he’s convinced Monty held. ”
Stokes nodded. “As he’s killed to keep that evidence hidden, it’s unlikely he’ll stop searching for it.”
“Although,” Barnaby said, “if he hasn’t found it yet, given we’re often in the house and we’ve set a guard on the study, he might well lie low until we depart.” He met Penelope’s eyes. “He is, after all, a careful person when not in the grip of overwhelming rage.”
She nodded, and Stokes fixed his gaze on her and Barnaby and asked, “So who fits our bill?”
Penelope smoothed out her lists of where people were and when. “Adding the information we gleaned today…”
She busily scanned the sheets, her spectacle-focused gaze tracking from one sheet to the other and back again.
Stokes and Barnaby exchanged a glance and waited, not exactly impatiently, but they knew when to hold their tongues.
Eventually, Penelope straightened. Her gaze on her lists, she stated, “Strictly speaking, those for whom we have only their word for where they were between nine and ten o’clock are Regina, who was in the grounds and out of sight of anyone over the critical time, Rosalind, who was in the gardens, looking for Regina, Leith, who was writing letters in his room, Susan, who was walking in the rose garden that’s on the same side of the house as the orchard, Richard, who was also writing letters in his room, but was on the stairs when Rosalind screamed for help, and Cordingley, who was reading in his room but says he saw Lady Wincombe on the rear lawn when she crossed to the croquet green, which suggests he was in his room at that time…
Yet if he was the murderer and returning toward the house, heading toward the side door but still in the wood, he could have spotted Lady Wincombe returning and so would have known that she’d been outside and would almost certainly have crossed the rear lawn earlier, on her way out.
” She frowned at her lists. “I think Cordingley needs to remain as a suspect for the moment. And then there’s Lady Carville, who the young ladies saw in the conservatory before nine o’clock, and she says she saw Susan leave for the rose garden via the terrace, but she might have heard that Susan had gone out and added that to her story, and we have no other confirmation Lady Carville remained in the conservatory between nine and ten. ”
Penelope scanned her lists one more time, then nodded decisively and looked at Stokes and Barnaby. “Everyone else was either with others or seen by others in the places they say they were.”
Barnaby pointed out, “It wasn’t a woman who stood in the trees and watched Monty take the payment from the vase. The footprints make that indisputable.”
Penelope regarded him. “True.” She turned back to her list. “Eliminating the women leaves us with…Leith, Richard, and Cordingley.”
Barnaby glanced at Stokes. “Richard mentioned dropping the letters he’d written on the hall table as he raced out of the house in response to Rosalind’s scream.”
“I know none of us imagines Richard is the murderer,” Penelope said, “but for completeness’s sake, we should check with Gearing. He’ll know if the letters were, in fact, there.”
Stokes nodded. “The same applies to Leith. He said he was writing letters the entire time, so either he’s given Gearing letters to post, or they’re on the desk in his room.”
Barnaby nodded. “We can check with Gearing—either way, the staff will know.”
Penelope was frowning. “If the gentleman Vincent and Patterson and then, later, Fentiman and Samantha saw in the wood is our murderer, which of our three suspects could that have been?”
“Obviously,” Barnaby said, “any one of the three could have slipped down the rear stairs and out and back via the side door…” He paused, then voice firming, went on, “Except that Richard couldn’t have completed the return journey.”
“No.” Penelope’s face cleared. “Patterson and Samantha both said they saw the mystery gentleman heading toward the side door after they’d heard Rosalind’s scream.
At that time, Richard was on the stairs, then racing through the front hall, and many members of the company saw him and followed him outside. ”
Barnaby looked at Stokes. “So Richard’s off the list as well. That leaves only Leith and Cordingley.”
Stokes grimaced. “As much as I hate to say it, we have to allow for the possibility that the man sighted in the wood was, in fact, two different men. None of the witnesses saw the man well enough to say much about him on either occasion. So Richard not being able to have been the second man doesn’t rule him out as the murderer—he could have slipped out, killed Underhill, then returned earlier, in time to be on the stairs and respond to the scream. ”
“But Richard couldn’t have searched the study,” Penelope pointed out. “He was outside in full view of most of the company while that search was underway.”
Stokes held up a hand. “I agree Percival is not a good candidate for the role of murderer—on a host of counts—but there’s an outside chance that the search was committed by someone other than the murderer.”
Penelope narrowed her eyes on Stokes. “You’re determined to play devil’s advocate, aren’t you?”
Fleetingly, Stokes grinned. “I’m just more used to the lawyers’ arguments and judges’ questions than you.
But if for no other reason than to make our investigation appear utterly thorough and even-handed, can we leave Percival on the list for the moment?
At least until we have confirmation that he did, indeed, drop a handful of letters on the hall table for Gearing to post? ”
Penelope sighed. “All right.” She studied her list. “So we’re down to three suspects—Leith, Richard, and Cordingley.” She looked at Barnaby and Stokes. “Will the confirmation of the existence of letters by Gearing be enough to alibi Leith and Richard?”
Stokes and Barnaby frowned, then Stokes offered, “It depends on when he wrote the letters and how many there were…” After a moment, Stokes sighed. “I really can’t see Percival as our killer.” He looked at Penelope. “He was seen going upstairs, I believe?”
Penelope consulted her notes. “Yes. By Morehouse and Carrington at about seven-forty.”
“So to be in the trees, watching the library, by nine o’clock,” Stokes said, “he would have had to leave his room and the house at some point, then return very quickly from the orchard to his room—without being seen by anyone—to seize the letters, go to the stairs, and be on the way down when Rosalind screamed.”
“But,” Barnaby said, “Richard couldn’t have known that Rosalind would find the body and scream for help, and it’s simply too convenient to imagine that he had letters written and ready to leave on the hall table to establish what he’d been doing.
That smacks of a degree of planning that we’ve agreed didn’t apply in this case. ”
Penelope nodded. “This murder was a spontaneous act of rage, not a planned killing.”
“Perhaps,” Stokes said, “we simply leave Percival on the list until we confirm the existence of those letters. We still have the list down to just three, which, in the circumstances, is astonishing.”
“But what about Leith?” Penelope persisted. “If we learn that he wrote several letters on Monday morning, does that eliminate him?”
Barnaby and Stokes both thought, then Stokes asked, “He wasn’t sighted or mentioned by anyone, was he?”
“Carrington said Leith was in the library when he—Carrington—went in there with Morehouse and Elliot at a little after seven-thirty,” Penelope replied, “but that Leith left soon after, saying he had letters to write. After that”—she scanned her lists—“we have no further mention of Leith.”
“That doesn’t necessarily mean he’s guilty,” Barnaby said. “Cordingley hasn’t been mentioned by others, either, not after he went upstairs.”
Stokes nodded. “So we’re down to those three, and in reality, that’s as far as we can go at this point.”
Barnaby observed, “In light of the plethora of guests, the multiplicity of Monty’s victims, and the mountain of minutiae we’ve had to trawl through, getting our suspects list down to just three—and really only two—is a notable accomplishment.”
“Yet considering who those suspects are, we still have to find incontrovertible proof that one of them is our killer.” Stokes studied his notes, then said, “We should follow the obvious trails. Ask Gearing about letters from Percival and Leith.”
Barnaby added, “Ask the gardeners and also the indoor staff if any of them saw our three possibles anywhere outside their rooms during the nine-to-ten-o’clock window.”
“We should also ask,” Penelope put in, “whether any of the staff saw anyone going into or out of the study after the scream and the ensuing commotion.”
Nodding, Stokes was jotting. “Further to that point, we should also see if, after everyone reacted to the scream, any of the guests or staff remember Leith or Cordingley joining the groups on the front lawn. We know where Percival was at that time, and both Cordingley and Leith said they came downstairs—Cordingley soon after the scream and Leith later, sometime after he heard the commotion. Someone ought to have seen them.”
After a moment, Stokes went on, “We should also check who was where at nine o’clock on Tuesday evening.” He looked at Penelope. “What would the company have been doing at that time?”
Penelope grimaced. “In light of the murder, they might well have retired early. The ladies, at least.” She looked inquiringly at Barnaby.
“Difficult to predict,” Barnaby said, “but I doubt the gentlemen would have retreated to their rooms at such an early hour. More likely, they congregated in the library or billiards room.” He tipped his head at Stokes. “But you’re right—that’s a point we should check.”
Stokes studied his notes, then shut the book.
“Right, then.” He looked at Barnaby and Penelope.
“We’re very close. Let’s focus solely on Percival, Leith, and Cordingley.
We have several supposed facts for which we need corroboration.
” He held up his hand and, as Penelope had earlier, marked the points off on his fingers.
“First, when he spoke with the gentlemen in the library at around nine o’clock, did Underhill approach the vase close enough to reach inside?
Second, on Monday morning, did Percival leave letters on the hall table when he rushed from the house, and is there evidence Leith wrote letters in his room?
Did he leave any to be posted? And third, did Cordingley or Leith join the others gathered on the front lawn, or were they searching the study at that point?
We acknowledge that’s something Percival couldn’t have done, but we’re leaving him on the list for the moment. ”
Penelope observed, “We know the murderer isn’t Richard, but he could be a useful stalking horse of sorts and including him at this point shows we’re not playing favorites.”
Stokes nodded. “Keeping him on the list will make sure we’re ticking all the boxes in provably logical fashion.
But we have one more test for our putative murderer.
We need to determine where Percival, Leith, and Cordingley were at nine o’clock on Tuesday evening.
” He met Barnaby’s gaze. “If we can get answers to all four questions—”
“We’ll have our killer.” Barnaby nodded confidently. “I can’t imagine we won’t.”
“What I honestly can’t imagine,” Penelope said, “is what secret would be major enough to push either Cordingley or Leith to kill to keep it hidden.”
Barnaby admitted, “I can’t, either. Nevertheless, one of those two has just such a secret, and he’s our killer.”