It all added up. Why hadn’t I seen it before?
Moxie Maisie was the murderer.
The murderer knew how to play Cluedo. Demelza had never played, but Moxie Maisie was obsessed with Cluedo, according to Finn.
The candlestick, the lead pipe, the revolver. The murderer had used those Cluedo weapons. Rather, the murderer had used the candlestick and lead poison. As for the revolver, it was clear to me now that the whole attempted murder scene was a farce designed to implicate Demelza. And it had worked.
But Moxie Maisie had an accomplice, and it couldn’t be Finn. The two of them had been kissing noisily and at length directly in front of the security camera while Priscilla was being murdered. Moxie Maisie must have spotted the security camera earlier and carefully planted herself in front of it while Colonel Mustard was doing away with Priscilla.
Priscilla’s murderer had to be Colonel Mustard—there was nobody left.
Finn had just told me that Moxie Maisie and Colonel Mustard were good friends. Priscilla had treated Colonel Mustard badly, but that wasn’t sufficient motive for murder. My guess was that Moxie Maisie had offered him a cut of the inheritance money.
I stood up, grabbed my goblet of Witches’ Brew, and hurried into Mugwort Manor.
Half an hour or so later, I fetched my laptop and logged into the security system. I pulled up the log of when Moxie Maisie and Finn were kissing on the garden seat.
There was a knock on the door. I smiled. Just on time.
I walked down to the front door and opened it. Moxie Maisie and Colonel Mustard were standing on the front porch.
I stood aside and opened the door. “Come in,” I said. “Where’s Finn?”
“He caught an Uber to town to buy me some more chocolates,” Moxie Maisie said. “What’s all this about? You said it was urgent.”
“It’s about the murder, as I’ve already told you,” I said. “Come with me.”
She followed me into the dining room. “Where are your aunts? And your boyfriend?”
“They’re all in town for the morning. Take a seat, both of you.” I indicated they should sit in front of the laptop. I certainly wasn’t going to risk them standing behind me.
I started the video. “What’s this?” Moxie Maisie asked.
“It’s security footage from around the time your grandmother was murdered. You and Finn were sitting on the garden seat, kissing.”
Moxie Maisie nodded. “That’s right. The police told me you had this footage.”
“Yes, and at this point, you hear Colonel Mustard scream. You both get up and hurry towards the cottage.”
“What of it? My mother has been arrested for murder. Are you trying to rub it in?”
I leant forward a little and moved the replay to earlier. “And this is sometime before. You walked past the security camera and looked directly at it.”
“So what? It’s not a crime, is it?” she snapped.
“No, but murdering your grandmother and your stepfather is certainly a crime.”
Moxie Maisie jumped to her feet, nearly knocking the chair over in the process. “Are you mad? It was my mother!”
I took a step away from her. “No, it was you, Moxie Maisie. Whoever committed these murders is a Cluedo fan. Finn told me that you’re obsessed with Cluedo, but your mother had never played the game.”
“So what? That doesn’t prove anything.”
“It was easy for you to access your mother’s computer and order the lead acetate from her account online. It was also easy for you to plant the container of lead acetate in her cottage. And then there are your diaries, which you happily told the police about. You had spent some time and effort preparing to implicate your mother for the murder. And you staged the whole revolver scene to implicate Demelza. It seems as though you planned this ages ahead.”
“I don’t have to listen to this!” Moxie Maisie made to push past me, but I stood my ground.
She crossed her arms over her chest and pouted. “Nobody will ever believe you.”
“Why not?” I said. “The police haven’t arrested your mother. They only took her in for questioning, and I just had a call that they are about to release her.”
“You’re lying!” she spat.
I shook my head. “They don’t have any evidence against her, only your diaries and a poison which could easily have been planted–and was planted—in her cottage.”
“But I was on the security camera at the time Grandmama was killed.” Moxie Maisie jutted out her chin in a belligerent manner.
“That was obviously staged,” I said. “You were in it with Colonel Mustard. What did you offer him, half your inheritance?”
“I wish!” Colonel Mustard said. “She only offered me one million dollars.”
Moxie Maisie rounded on him. “Quiet, you old fool!”
“What does it matter if you admit it to this woman?” Colonel Mustard said. “Can’t we do away with her too? I’ll do it myself, if you’ll give me some more money.”
“Did you kill Eli as well?” I asked Colonel Mustard.
Moxie Maisie stomped her foot. “No, he didn’t. I had been poisoning Eli for ages, putting the lead acetate on top of his chocolate fudge brownies. He even went to a doctor who was too dim-witted to diagnose him with chronic lead poisoning.”
She snorted rudely. “I mean, he had all the symptoms: irritability, loss of weight, loss of appetite, hearing loss, abdominal pain, and so on. And then when this Cluedo holiday came up, I thought, what a marvellous opportunity! I could use the lead instead of the lead pipe, and I could get Frances to kill that nasty woman with the candlestick.”
“So, Frances killed Priscilla by your instructions?” I asked her.
“Of course, he did. I’m the brains of the operation,” she gloated.
“Why did you pick up the candlestick?” I asked him.
He shrugged. “That was Moxie Maisie’s idea. She thought it would be a nice touch.”
I had no time to ask any more questions as Colonel Mustard advanced a step towards me. Gone was the bumbling, affable man. In his place was an apparition of menace.
Inspector Oakes and Inspector Mason jumped out of the tall maple wood cupboard to the side of the room and promptly arrested Moxie Maisie as well as Colonel Mustard, who was startled, to say the least.
“You tricked me!” Moxie Maisie said, aiming a vicious kick at my shin, but I was way too fast for her.
“Did you get everything you needed from them? Did they say enough?” I asked Inspector Oakes.
“Yes, indeed, thank you, Pepper,” he said. “When you called, I was most reluctant to go through with this plan of yours, but I must say it worked out beautifully.”
“Did you suspect Moxie Maisie?”
The detective tapped his chin. “I thought she was overly eager to implicate her mother. The diaries made me suspicious. And when I showed Mrs Miles the lead acetate, Moxie Maisie knew at once it was what had killed Mr Miles. She was either very quick-witted, or the murderer. That, plus the fact she was the heir, did indeed make her my prime suspect.”
I nodded.
Detective Mason was having some difficulty with the Colonel, who was trying to fight him off.
Lucas appeared and went straight to Detective Mason’s aid. The three of them escorted the two murderers outside. “We hid the police vehicle around the corner,” Detective Oakes told me. “Lucas, would you be so kind as to hold onto Mr Wiggenbottom-Higgenhouse the Ninth while Mason fetches the car?”
When Detective Mason left, Lucas shot me a significant look. I expect he was none too happy that I had put myself in danger.
“All’s well that ends well,” I said, shooting Lucas a big smile.
He simply frowned at me in response.