The Lady By His Side(82)
“I paused in the front hall and checked the time,” Sebastian went on. “It was just coming up to nine forty-five. I didn’t want to get caught in any conversation with the other guests—I didn’t want to have to excuse myself at ten o’clock and indirectly call attention to my meeting with Ennis. So I went out of the front door and onto the front terrace—the stretch that runs beside the drawing room. There was no one in the drawing room—the ladies were in the music room—so I knew no one would spot me and come to chat. I waited on the terrace. It was quiet outside…and, now I think of it, I heard the billiards room door open and shut twice—that must have been Filbury and Wilson returning, one after the other. That was only a few minutes before I returned inside. I waited until nine fifty-eight, then went in via the front door. I walked down the front hall, into the side corridor, and so to the study.”
He paused, letting the memories roll through his mind. “While I was in the front hall, I remember hearing the ladies in the music room, and then Blanchard walked out through the servants’ door, pushing the tea trolley. He saw me and nodded, then went on to the music room. I turned into the corridor leading to the study. The clocks started to whirr…but underneath that, I remember hearing the murmur of men’s voices as I walked along the corridor—that must have been Boyne, Featherstonehaugh, and Parrish in the library. Then the clocks chimed the hour. I reached the study door—which was ajar—as the last chime was fading. I heard the clink of billiard balls—the door to the billiards room is at the end of that corridor, and the door was open, but from where I stood outside the study door, I couldn’t see anyone in the billiards room.”
Crawford had been scribbling madly. He paused and looked at what he’d written. “That’s a good bit more detail than you mentioned before, but it all fits with where everyone else says they were.” He flicked back to his earlier notes. “The only others to account for are Parrish and Featherstonehaugh, who had remained in the dining room. Parrish says they finally got up from the table at about five minutes to ten and ambled into the library. They saw Boyne sitting in an armchair at the far end of the room and walked down and started chatting. They were still chatting when all hell broke loose—and that fits with what you said.”
Antonia looked from the inspector to Sebastian, then back again. “So where does that leave us?” The inspector was starting to look a trifle worn down.
Crawford scratched his temple with the end of his pencil, then sighed. “If we discard any notion of conspiracy and agree this is all just one man, one murderer with no help from anyone else, then there are three men who might have done it—three who were out of sight of any others for long enough during the critical time. But even for those three, it would have been tight. Very tight.” Crawford glanced at Sebastian. “I had another chat with the doctor. Sound man—ex-army. I asked how long he thought Ennis might have hung on after he was stabbed and fell. The doctor’s estimate was five minutes—seven at the very outside.”
Sebastian narrowed his eyes. “That leaves us with Filbury, Wilson, and Boyne as potential candidates for the role of murderer.”
Crawford nodded. “Either Filbury or Wilson could have doubled back, returned through that rear terrace door near the gun room, then gone to the study. There was a decent window of time for either of them to have done that, when none of you others were in the front hall. Then they stabbed Ennis, left through the study window, and joined the others in the billiards room—and that’s the one scenario that gives a purpose to that open window.” He shuffled through his notes. “Boyne…he had time to come out of the library and go to the study, but it’s harder to see how he could have returned to the library in time. Even going out through the window and in again through that rear terrace door, he would have had to avoid crossing paths with Wilson and Filbury as they headed to the billiards room, or being seen by Featherstonehaugh and Parrish as they left the dining room.” Crawford shook his head. “It’s difficult to see how he might have managed it, time-wise.”
Sebastian grimaced. “All three are Anglo-Irish, and all three spend a good part of their time in Ireland. There’s also that snippet of conversation we overheard in the conservatory—Filbury and Wilson asking about conditions on Ennis’s Irish estate.”
“Sir Humphrey and I tried to ask them about that.” Crawford’s expression hardened. “Let’s just say, both were evasive. They certainly didn’t want to reveal, much less discuss, whatever the matter giving rise to that conversation was.”