I had gathered the whole of the house together, and we were all sitting in the lounge. Barnes and Fisher had joined us, the latter sitting, unsurprisingly, next to Isabel. I was standing by the mantelpiece, where I had a clear view of the grandfather clock on the opposite wall. I needed to be keeping an eye on the time constantly for this plan to work. Broker and the doctor were sitting with Hettie on an isolated sofa to my right. I had placed them there deliberately, as most of my evidence was actually hidden under that chair, and I wasn't too keen on anyone else getting their hands on it. My three friends were unknowingly acting as my jail-keepers. Newham was, nowhere in sight.
The rest of the acting troupe were dotted around the room, sitting on chairs or sharing sofas, and as I was satisfied that everyone was here, I clapped my hands for silence.
"Now" I began. "I suppose you can all guess why I've brought you here this afternoon."
"No" Ellie said bluntly. I sighed. She was obviously setting out to make my life difficult again.
"Alright then, for anyone who doesn't know why I've brought you here, it's because I'm going to tell you all what went on in this house two nights ago" I corrected myself politely.
"What did go on here two nights ago?" Ellie asked instantly. I refrained from throwing something and instead adopted a tone I might have used for a small, innocent child.
"Well, I tell you what. I'll continue talking to everyone else without your interruptions, and by the end, let's see if you can work it out, shall we?"
It was taking patronising to the extreme, I knew that, but really I just needed her to shut up so I could get on. It worked.
"Right" I smiled at the room, who were all hiding giggles. "As with most of my cases, when I'm explaining them, I tend to have difficulty knowing where to start, so I'm just going to begin at the beginning with what we know and then try to put it into some sort of context, shall I?"
There was a general murmur of consent. I fancied the room was still reeling from the way in which I had dealt with Ellie's heckling.
"Good. Now, I'm going to start with quite a minor point that may have been overlooked" I began again. "In truth, this point tells the start of our story, and if you missed it, then you would have assumed that the whole saga began this morning."
"Then when did it start?" Barnes asked. I smiled at him.
"Last night."
"How can you know that?" Hettie said confusedly.
"Well" I started to explain. "Remember when we first looked through Matthew's room Het. What did you find?"
"I found a cocoa mug stain on the bedside table" Hettie replied, still looking puzzled.
"Dr. Scott" I carried on, moving to address the doctor. "I asked you to examine said mug stain, what was in it?"
The doctor had been chuckling to himself throughout my previous few statements. It seemed he had latched on to my scheme to ensure there could be no doubt what I said was the truth. Therefore, he knew what he needed to say to move the story on.
"The cocoa in the mug had reasonably high levels of a powerful knockout drug, so powerful that even inhalation would cause some side effects" the doctor told the room. I nodded.
"Hettie, do you remember what I did to check the stain was actually cocoa?" I asked a still confused Hettie.
"You...smelled it!" Hettie gasped, realisation dawning. "That's why you nearly fainted that first time!"
"And, although there is nothing to prove it, I smelled the dog food in Oscar's pen before you all found me at the back door" I added. "The same drug was added to both."
"Then how come Oscar was killed?" Klaus demanded. I sighed sadly, turning to him.
"Mr. Broker, if you reach under your chair there should be a book from the library of the manor" I said smoothly, holding out a hand, without turning away from Henry Klaus. Broker obediently reached under his seat, found the book, and handed it to me. I flicked theatrically through the pages. I never could resist a bit of tension.
"Common Drugs And Their Household Uses" I announced to the room. "Page 347. This, if I'm not mistaken, Doctor, is the very same drug that was used to knock out Matthew Sharp and Oscar the Alsatian. Now, Mr. Klaus, read that note, if you would be so kind."
I positioned the book in front of Klaus, with my finger on the line I wished him to read.
"Due to some of the natural ingredients, namely...blah blah...this particular drug must only be used on adult humans, as the risk of fatal side effects are extremely high in young children and...household animals" he read, before closing the book and pushing it away. I returned the book to Broker, who stowed it back under his chair.
"Oscar wasn't meant to die" I said quietly. "The murderer only meant to knock him out, so they could get Matthew down to the boathouse without being given away."
I let the silence hang in the room for a minute. I felt it was necessary, as Klaus seemed very upset. Isabel, who was sitting near him, extended a hand of comfort, which the poor man took gratefully.
I decided the moment had gone on long enough.
"Can I carry on, sir?" I asked politely. Klaus looked up and nodded.
"Of course, Miss Winter. By all means, do."
"Thank you" I smiled, before singlehandedly lifting the mood of the room back up to normal levels. "So, what we know now is that Matthew Sharp was drugged on the night before his murder, but now we come to the very interesting question of when did he wake up?"
"If he was drugged, he would have slept late" the doctor put in. I smiled at him, surprised at how well he was keeping up.
"He woke up early enough to feed Oscar" Linda Luck pointed out. "I saw him."
"Ah, yes" I smiled. "My impossible sighting."
"Why is it impossible?" Linda asked curiously. "I saw him with my own eyes."
"But did you?" I challenged. "Ellie?"
There was an awkward pause, as Ellie refused to answer my metaphorical call to arms.
"For goodness' sakes, Ellie, stop being so headstrong!" Lincoln Gray eventually snapped. "We all know you and Miss Winter don't see eye to eye, but unless you want our ex-future son-in-law's death to go unsolved, I suggest you start cooperating!"
Ellie huffed, but I could tell she knew her husband had a point.
"Fine. Miss Winter, what do you want me to say?" she asked mechanically. I felt relieved. I had been expecting much worse for when I had to call on her.
"Well, Miss Luck says she saw Matthew Sharp feeding Oscar on the morning of their deaths" I told her. "We already know that there is no way out of the back door except though the kitchen, where you were all morning, so did you see him?"
I had decided to keep the secret passageway a secret for a bit longer, and as Ellie gathered her thoughts, I asked the room the one question that could potentially ruin my plan.
"There is no other way down to the back door, is there?" I said quizzically, looking at all of the members of the troupe expectantly. To my utter relief, there was a general shake of heads.
"Thank goodness for that" I sighed. "It would have been slightly awkward if there was."
"Look, Linda" Ellie said finally. "I don't know what made you say what you said, but you have to admit you were lying now. It's gone too far. Yes, I can't prove it, but there's no way anyone could have got past me in this kitchen. That's just a fact."
"I'm not lying!" Linda Luck protested. "Someone's got to believe me! I saw him! He was there! I swear!"
"Linda!" Ellie groaned.
"You must have just left for one second!" Linda Luck continued. She was starting to sound a bit like a hysterical small child. "I'm telling the truth!"
"Can...we just hold the argument there for a second?" I asked pleasantly, cutting in before things got out of hand. "I'd like to go off topic for a second, if nobody minds."
"Where to?" Caleb asked. I smiled at him. It was about time he started getting involved in the conversation.
"Reece Danvers' philosophy lectures" I announced, to a general sigh of annoyance around the room.
"More specifically, the opening puzzle" I hinted.
"It's the same principle" Henry Klaus began to explain. "Person A and Person B having clashing beliefs. It's very difficult to change what a person believes in, or knows to be true, as this case proves. It's a never-ending stalemate. Both sides believe they are right, and frankly, I don't see any way of breaking it, Miss Winter."
"Hold on one second" Lincoln Gray said suddenly. "Does this mean that Matthew Sharp killed Oscar? I mean, Linda saw him take out his food, and the food had the poison in, so..."
"Whoa! Slow down, everyone!" I gasped, holding up my hands. "You are all moving" I said sternly "far too quickly. You don't know half the full story yet, and you're already jumping to conclusions. Don't. Jumping to conclusions is his job" I added wickedly, pointing at Barnes, who snorted derisively but took the joke well.
"But it only makes sense" Amber pointed out.
"Let me get this straight" I said slowly. "You all believe that Matthew Sharp was seen by Linda Luck out of her bedroom window, trying to drug Oscar, and that somehow he managed to get past Ellie in the kitchen twice without being seen? That makes sense?"
There was a lot of very hesitant head-nodding from the members of the troupe. I noticed my friends, along with Barnes and Fisher, were all keeping a totally deadpan expression. I smiled. They knew me too well.
I looked up at the grandfather clock. Bother. I was running late. Time to pick up the pace.
"Right, let me start picking holes in that theory, if you don't mind" I beamed brightly. "One. Ellie swears that she saw nobody in the kitchen that morning, and, quite frankly, I believe her. Two. Why would Matthew want to drug Oscar using the same drug he was drugged himself with? Three. How was Matthew even awake at that time, since as Dr. Scott so kindly pointed out to us earlier, chances are with that much drug in him Matthew would have slept late. Are we happy that this theory is complete and utter trash yet?" I asked. There were a couple of grumpy looks, but all around, everyone agreed.
"So what did happen?" Caleb asked.
"I'm going to tell you" I smiled pleasantly. "Amber?"
"Yes?" Amber said hurriedly. I turned to look at her.
"Two points. Well, maybe three. When I was looking around Matthew's room, I couldn't help but notice how messy it was. Is that usual?" I asked. It was a bit of a cheat, as I had asked Amber this question before, so knew what she was going to reply with.
"It's rather strange" she told the room, just as I had predicted. "He was usually very tidy."
"And what about the fact that the jacket which was missing from his wardrobe was not the matching one to the rest of the outfit which was missing?" I asked again.
"Again, strange" Amber replied. "Not like him at all."
"Dr. Scott, Mr. Broker, Caleb, Mr. Gray, Mr. Klaus, Chief Inspector, Deputy Inspector" I reeled off my list of names. "You all saw Matthew's body, did you not? I want you to all picture it in your minds. Now, I want you to answer the following question of your own accord, as quickly as possible, without listening to anyone else's opinion. Do you understand?"
There was a general chorus of yesses and nodding of heads from the men.
"Did Matthew Sharp's body have a jacket on?" I asked.
"No" Dr. Scott and Fisher said instantly, simultaneously.
"No" Mr. Gray said, a split second after.
"I don't think so" Mr. Klaus added, over the top of them.
"Nope" Barnes chipped in.
"No, he didn't. What does that mean?" Caleb asked, just as Broker added his negative assent.
"Well" I smiled, feeling very satisfied. "That went better than I'd ever dreamed. I wonder what happened to that jacket?"
I left the question hanging in the air for a second, before issuing my next set of orders.
"Hettie, Doctor, if you both reach under your chair there should be a big box. Can you bring it out, please?" I asked, looking quickly up at the clock as I did so. I was doing well for time, and time was crucial right now.
"Can someone tell me what this is?" I asked.
"It's our makeup box" Caleb said confusedly. "But what's it doing there?"
"It's evidence" I explained. "Because, if we open it up, you'll see there are a couple of things missing."
"The black hair powder, and the cream and the white highlighter pencils" Linda Luck remarked, leaning in to have a closer look.
"And the face glue" Klaus added. I nodded.
"Yes. Now, who's got half a brain in this room?"
For a moment, everyone was silent. Then Amber spoke up.
"Why, if you used the highlighter pencils cleverly enough, and glued down one of your eyes, you could easily...pass for Matthew from a distance!" she gasped.
"Exactly. Coupling that with the missing jacket, and I think we've got ourselves an impostor" I smiled grimly.
"But..." Linda Lane started.
"I'll prove it later" I cut in. "For now, let's talk a little about time."
"What does time have to do with it?" Barnes asked. I smiled again.
"Everything. Time keeps us looking in all the wrong places. Let me explain. We decided that Oscar had been barking at eight thirty on the morning of his death. We decided this because some of the people sitting in the breakfast room thought they heard him bark at around that time."
"Yes" Barnes nodded.
"No" I replied bluntly. There was a lot of murmuring, and confused faces.
"Putting a sound to a time is a difficult thing" I explained. "It's something which is very easy to be manipulated by outside input. As I remember, only a few of the people in the breakfast room remembered hearing the barking at half past eight, which made me wonder whether or not it had been half past eight at all. The only solid evidence we have that Oscar was actually barking is Linda, who, I assume, heard him bark then looked out of the window to see what he was barking about."
"So half past eight is irrelevant?" Barnes asked. I nodded.
"Yes. To be honest, we would probably be more accurate if we said half past nine." I sighed, looking once more up at the clock. Nearly time now.
"Allie, you still haven't explained how Matthew got past Ellie in the kitchen" Isabel pointed out. I sighed again.
"True. But I think Linda wants to know how she mistook an impostor for Matthew, am I right?" I said, turning back to Linda Luck, who nodded.
"Come with me, everyone" I smiled, heading to the door. "Oh, and Het, can I borrow your watch?"
I led everyone out of the living room, and up the stairs to the room which Linda's fake death had been set in. I took Hettie's watch from her and checked the time. I still had a few minutes. Delaying tactics began now.
"As you can all see, this is the room Linda was in when she thought she saw Matthew feeding Oscar" I began. "The window is at quite an awkward angle to the dog pen outside, so the view isn't as clear as it could be."
I had no more delaying tactics. It had to be now.
"If I just open the window like so" I continued. "You can see for yourselves that the view is not as clear as it could be."
I opened the window, moving to the back of the room as everyone else surged forwards to look out of the window. I could hear Linda chattering away, pointing out exactly where she had seen the figure. I was watching the watch.
A blood-curdling scream made my head snap up.
"Oh my God, he's there!" Amber shrieked, pointing out of the window. "Matthew's just come out of the back door!"
"Good god!" Caleb gasped. But that's not possible!"
"Are you sure it's him?" I asked firmly from the back. I hadn't moved from my original position.
"It's definitely his jacket!" Linda Luck squealed.
"What's he doing?" Barnes asked.
"I don't know!" Linda whimpered, as pandemonium broke out in the little room.
"It's exactly like how it was before!" Linda continued hysterically. Amber too, was crying her eyes out again.
"Everyone!" I yelled, taking charge. "Let's get down to the kitchen, and out the back door. We'll see who's behind all this!"
There was a stampede to the stairs. I kept my place at the back as everyone hurtled down to the kitchen, and down the little passageway to the back door. It was flung open, and everyone stopped in their tracks.
"There's nobody here!" Broker exclaimed.
"But look!" Hettie added, pointing down at a set of footprints in the mud. "Someone was."
"Then where have they gone?" Mr. Gray asked frustratedly, looking in vain around the corridor we were in. Everyone started talking at once.
"Perhaps it's a ghost!" Linda Luck screamed suddenly.
"There's no such thing as ghosts!" Ellie snapped.
"Besides. It left footprints!" Isabel agreed.
"Ghosts don't leave footprints!" Fisher added.
"Miss Winter, what's happening?" Amber asked.
"I have got absolutely no idea" I replied, crossing my fingers behind my back. Amber began to cry again.
"Amber!" Caleb sighed, coming over to give her a hug. It's alright. I...I bet you anything he's just in here."
With that Caleb crossed over to a certain point on one of the walls, took out his pocket knife, and dug it into one of the joins between the planks of wood. I saw him doing this, and clapped my hands for silence as the secret door swung open, revealing Newham wearing one of Matthew's jackets.
There was a silence, before Mr. Gray strode forward, grabbing Newham by the back of his neck and dragging him out.
"What is the meaning of this?" he demanded.
"HEY!" I shouted, much too loudly than was necessary. "Let him go! I'll tell you what the meaning of this was, he was under my orders! Now let him go!"
Mr. Gray reluctantly let Newham go.
"I think" I announced "that we are all missing the real point here. I asked you all not too long ago if there was any way of getting to the back door without going through the kitchen. You all said no."
There was a general agreement in the little hall.
"So how do you know about this little passage then, Caleb?" I asked the young man. "And why didn't you tell us about it before?"
At that point, Caleb realised his mistake.
"I reckon it's because you've used it before" I said curtly. "To provide yourself with an unbreakable alibi in the form of Ellie Gray. Although we don't usually see eye to eye, I have always trusted her judgement. Once down in disguise to drug Oscar, and again with the real Matthew on your way to the boathouse."
"But Caleb was with me having breakfast when Oscar barked" Amber pointed out.
"No he wasn't" I sighed. "Because, if you recall, I'm placing Oscar's poisoning at about half past nine, and by then I reckon you would all have gone your separate ways to prepare for the fake murder."
"So what did happen?" Isabel asked.
"Let's start from the beginning" I announced. "It's cold down here, so I'll try to be quick. The real Matthew is drugged in his cocoa the night before he is set to be killed. It is now almost certain he will sleep late, and keep out of the way. The following morning, Caleb has breakfast with you, Amber, then you go your separate ways to prepare for the fake murder where, I assume, you all have set positions. Caleb then goes into Matthew's room and borrows a jacket from the wardrobe. With the makeup, he then transforms himself into a rather crude version of the man still asleep on the bed. Since his makeup is so crude, he can't get too close to anyone, so uses the passage to get himself down to Oscar's pen, where he drugs the food he puts out for the dog. It's very clever, as if he is seen, chances are he will be mistaken for Matthew, as Newham and I just proved. He then returns back the way he has come and removes the makeup, and as he knows where everyone will be in the house, he does it without being seen. At this point, I reckon it is about twenty to ten, and as the fake murder is set to be discovered at ten past ten, he still has plenty of time. He wakes Matthew, telling him he had overslept. This" I admitted "is where I start doing a bit of guesswork. What I think happened is Matthew gets up, and in a hurry grabs the nearest clothes, leaving his room in a mess. Caleb tells him it is too late to get into position, so suggests the boathouse as a place to hide. Matthew agrees, and they go down the passage again and out the back door, past the dead Oscar and down to the boathouse, which is where, I assume, Matthew is killed, his body dumped in the water in the hope it will sink and never be found."
"But why?" Amber asked, sniffing. "Why would Caleb do that?"
I paused, wondering how best to attack the situation.
"Because...if he didn't, he would lose everything he's ever wanted" I told her delicately.
"I don't understand" Amber said, puzzled. I smiled sadly.
"The other day, you told me that you and Matthew planned to leave the troupe after you were married. You wouldn't ever be with them ever again. And Caleb couldn't bear the thought of that happening."
I was trying to dance around the topic, hoping Amber would take my hint, but it seemed she hadn't. Just as it seemed everything was going to fall through, Ellie stepped in.
"Amber, girl, stop dreaming! What Miss Winter is so delicately trying to get at is that this maniac over here is hopelessly in love with you and didn't want to see you go off out of his life wih another man!" she explained briskly, sending any hope of discretion flying with a waft of her hand. "So, he murdered your fiancée to keep you in his life!"
Amber looked horrified, and I winced as the whole room also took in the whole horror of the situation.
The silence was quite literally electric, before Barnes stepped in.
"I'm arresting you on the charges of manslaughter and animal mistreatment. Anything you say could be taken down and used against you."
And then Caleb was gone. Barnes marched him swiftly out of the back door, and that was the end of that.
"It's horrible!" Amber snuffled, burying her face in her mother's shoulder.
"These things usually are" I sighed reluctantly. "I should know."
We traipsed slowly through the kitchen and back up the stairs, and as we reached the main hall of the house, Barnes and Fisher were again waiting for us.
"We're off" Barnes said, as soon as he saw me. "I'm glad someone had an idea of what was going on in this house. Still, I would have liked to know a little more" he finished sternly, looking grumpily at me. I sighed, shaking his hand.
"Never take anything strange as a co-incidence, and make sure you check everywhere you can" I advised. "Goodbye for now."
"You think there's going to be a next time?" Barnes chuckled amusedly.
"Oh yes" I nodded confidently. "Either that or I'll ask you both around for tea."
Barnes laughed properly now, and moved on to Newham and the others. Fisher smiled at me. I smiled at him.
"It's been a pleasure" I said, shaking his hand.
"It has, er, Miss Winter" he replied nervously.
"And" I lowered my voice "You had better treat Izzy right, or I will have words."
Fisher looked alarmed and opened his mouth to protest.
"I'm a detective" I reminded him. "Nothing gets past me. You suit each other splendidly."
Fisher's ears went a bit red, and he smiled bashfully at me. I smiled wickedly back, before steering Newham away from the little group.
"What?" he asked, under his breath.
"Fisher and Izzy. Watch" I hissed. We watched as my sister and the Deputy Inspector said their goodbyes. We saw Fisher look shiftily at the people surrounding him. Barnes was engaged with Dr. Scott, and the Brokers along with the rest of the troupe had wandered back to the lounge. I beamed as Fisher handed my sister a slip of paper or whatnot, with what I assumed was his address on. Newham raised an eyebrow cynically at me.
"How long have you known?" he asked.
"Not long" I replied. "A day, at best."
"You're going to have fun with this, aren't you?" Newham smirked, as Fisher and Barnes headed out the door.
"Course" I replied nonchalantly, as Isabel herself came over.
"That was a mean trick you two played!" she complained. "I would have thought higher of both of you!"
Newham and I looked sheepish. Isabel tutted, obviously back to her old self once again.
"Well, you'd better hurry up and pack. I've spoken to Hettie, and she agrees the sooner we get out of here, the better!" she fussed. Newham and I exchanged sly glances as she hurried away.
"I was expecting some sort of clever quip there!" Newham teased, sounding disappointed.
"Oh, don't you worry" I said craftily. "I've got a lot more up my sleeve for when we get home..."