“I’m not surprised. What was next?”
“Raymond’s death,” Geraldine said flatly.
“You’ll find this hard to credit, but Raymond’s death was not intended. Vincent and Laurette both insist on that. Vincent claims he pushed Raymond with his stick so that he would stumble towards the tramlines, not hard enough to make him fall.”
“But he fell?” Sam asked.
“He did. A quick-thinking, quick-moving citizen helped him up but didn’t hang about to be thanked. Vincent had already left in a hurry, of course, for fear of being recognised. He claims Raymond had plenty of time to get out of the way of the trams, which were moving slowly. As a matter of fact, the policeman on point duty bears him out, as does one of the tram drivers.”
“Then what killed him?”
“A stroke—not to get into medicalese—brought on by shock.”
“Then does it count as murder?” Frank wanted to know.
“That’s not for me to decide, thank goodness. Assault, yes. Manslaughter, probably. Murder, I don’t know. It’s up to a coroner’s jury, at least initially.”
“What I still don’t get is what was all this in aid of?”
“Misdirection,” said Geraldine. “I’ve known a few boys in my time who were experts at it. The spurious stabbing of Vincent was the ultimate attempt at misdirection, I assume?”
“Yes, the fifth incident. It wasn’t until after tea yesterday that Daisy brought to my attention a number of inconsistencies that ruled it out as a real attack. To do myself justice, I must say that I had my suspicions much earlier, but I couldn’t yet discount Sam or Frank. I still haven’t heard from Sam’s ship, though while you were all taking tea on the terrace yesterday, I received responses at last to my enquiries in Scarborough and Paris.”
Tommy Pearson was defensive. “I myself made extensive enquiries in both places.”
“But not, I think, of the police. The criminal propensities, if any, of prospective heirs were not your concern, nor their material circumstances, which were also of interest to me.”
“True.”
“We had just begun to study the letters from the Sûreté and the Scarborough police when Dr. Pardoe, the local police surgeon, called to discuss his findings on Raymond’s death; also, truth be told, in hope of getting the whole story. DS Piper continued reading the documents while I talked to the doctor. In the meantime, the footman let us know that Mr. Crowley had declared his intention of walking over to the pub, so I sent one of the local constables to keep an eye on him.”
Frank grinned. “Nice chap. He stood me a pint.”
“Then Daisy came in,” Alec continued, “with the evidence that the attack on Vincent was spurious. We had scarcely time to examine that before she rushed in again calling for Dr. Pardoe’s assistance for Mrs. Samuel.”
“Bless him!” said Sam with fervour.
“When the doctor rushed off, Piper reported to me the information from Scarborough and Paris. We—”
“What did they have to say?” Geraldine asked.
“We’ll get to that in a minute, if you don’t mind.”
“Or if I do, no doubt,” she said tartly.
Alec smiled at her. “My two sergeants and I went up to the Vincent Dalrymples’ room. On the way, acting on information from Dr. Pardoe, I sent DS Tring on an errand.”
“One which thoroughly upset my cook! I hope he found what he was looking for?”
“Oh yes. Fingerprints. Meanwhile DS Piper and I gained admittance to Vincent and Laurette’s room and found that Vincent wasn’t there. Apparently he’d been slipping in and out at will, taking care not to be seen, not difficult in a house this size. A connecting bathroom with a second door to a different hallway—”
“Which I—or my housekeeper or any of the maids—could have told you about had you asked!”
“One would hardly expect them to leave surreptitiously, Cousin Geraldine,” Daisy pointed out. “Supposedly they had locked themselves in for their own safety.”
“I should have demanded more men,” Alec admitted, “enough to cover all exits and all eventualities. When we found that Vincent was on the loose, I locked Laurette in. Piper and I separated to hunt for him. Daisy, I’m sure you’ve told everyone else what happened while we were searching, but I haven’t heard your story yet.”
“I was looking for Sam to tell him Martha had been taken ill. I found him just as Vincent attacked. You know, I don’t think he had a clue the kids were tracking him until they jumped him. Then DS Piper and the local constable turned up, in the nick of time.”