22

The broken door, askew on its hinges, provided a sad welcome to the bedroom. Sprawled on a beautiful antique rug, the body of Leslie Dashwood lay face down – positioned between the door to the bathroom and the large four-poster bed in the middle of the room. Fina nearly gagged at the sour odour permeating the room.

Gayatri and Charles immediately knelt down near Leslie. Charles gently rolled the body back so Gayatri could look at the face. “Yes, it’s the same signs of acid-related trauma. Could be the same type of poison. Hard to say for certain,” she said.

As Gayatri and Charles continued to examine the body, Ruby and Fina agreed to make a thorough search of the room. “Maybe we’ll find something that will help us piece this together,” said Ruby.

They agreed to search the perimeter of the room in separate directions and then place their findings on a small lacquer table near the door. It was strange, thought Fina, how a quiet corpse could generate such a beehive of activity.

Task completed, they had amassed what looked like a museum exhibit of artefacts on the small table. Just like any museum curator worth her salt, Fina sat down with her notebook to catalogue the items.

Ruby selected each item, in turn, and described them in hushed tones for Fina’s notes.

“One book. Oswald Mosley’s The Greater Britain.” Ruby’s eyebrow raised. “The inscription reads, ‘To my one and only’.

“That’s it? No initial or signature?” asked Fina.

“No, unfortunately. But it could be Granville’s handwriting, given our theory. Perhaps we can find a sample later,” said Ruby, as she picked up the next item for the catalogue.

“Next, we have a small box of mints… empty,” Ruby said, shaking it and placing it back on the table. “One handkerchief, unused, but by the bedside. One clean notepad and pen. One leather toiletry case.” She unzipped the pale grey case to reveal a number of items. “Quite the groomer, Mr Dashwood. One small leather case with scissors, and an assortment of tweezers and files. One clothes brush, one ebony mirror, one shaving brush container, with the shaving brush, one shaving container with lid – and cream. One toothbrush holder, empty. One comb. That’s the lot.”

“I looked through all of the pockets in his wardrobe and didn’t find anything of interest,” said Fina.

Gesturing at the array of items on the table, Ruby said, “So what does this tell us, besides the fact—” she lowered her voice even further “—that Leslie may have been on intimate terms with Granville?”

“Could Leslie have killed Granville – perhaps a jealous rage of some sort – and then killed himself? Or maybe he murdered Granville and then whomever was part of this love triangle, or love star, as you said, killed him for revenge?” surmised Fina.

“I suppose that’s possible, though something about this doesn’t add up to a suicide – either in his case or in Granville’s. There’s no note, either. And there’s too many murderers in the other scenario. No…” Ruby tapped the table with the pen. “Let’s ask ourselves a question about this room.”

Fina settled herself back in her chair so she could have a panoramic view of the room.

“Besides the peculiar position of the body – though what normal means in these circumstances, I cannot imagine – what is odd?” asked Ruby, scanning the room.

“Odd? What do you mean by odd?” asked Fina.

“Perhaps odd isn’t the right word. I believe I mean to say, what’s missing? Given what we know about Leslie Dashwood, what’s missing?”

“Alcohol,” said Fina, firmly and quickly. She surprised herself with how quickly the image of the drunken Leslie came into her mind.

“Exactly,” agreed Ruby. “We haven’t seen Leslie without a drink this entire weekend, except perhaps at breakfast. But even then, who knows?” she said, the corner of her mouth lifting into a sardonic grin. “The point is that there is no evidence of a vehicle for ingesting the poison.”

“Yes, you’ve hit upon it,” said Fina excitedly. “It’s the exact opposite – though the method was the same – from Granville’s murder. There were too many receptacles – or vehicles as you say – to deliver the poison in that case, though there’s no evidence of poison residue. In this case, where is the glass or cup – or even flask – that contained the poison?”

“Charles,” said Fina, rising to walk toward the body where Gayatri and Charles were talking quietly. “Did you see any sort of glass or cup when you and Grimston entered the room? It’s important because there doesn’t seem to be any evidence of a way for Leslie to have taken the poison.”

“No, I would have noticed – since I’m trained to look for those sorts of things to tidy up. I’m sure Grimston wouldn’t have removed anything in any case – especially not after it was so clear that it was murder… this time,” said Charles. He then held out his clenched hand and opened it. “We’ve searched his pockets and found this.”

Fina picked up the gold necklace, a delicate oval locket with a broken chain. The surface of the locket had an elaborate engraving with the initial C. Prying it open with rising excitement, Fina found the locket was empty.

“Charlotte is the only obvious person this could belong to – or be a present for, though it looks rather ancient, like an heirloom,” said Ruby. “How about middle names: do any of the women here have a middle initial C?”

“I don’t know about the guests, but I do know that Lady Snittlegarth’s middle initial is C for Charlotte as well. Charlotte is named after Lady Snittlegarth,” said Charles.

“What about you, Gayatri, and your sister?” asked Ruby.

Gayatri shook her head, but continued, “And for the record, what about the two of you, Ruby and Fina?” Ruby and Fina looked at one another and let out a light laugh.

“I apologize, Charles and Gayatri, I think it must be the shock getting to us. My full name is Ruby Betto Dove,” said Ruby, turning to Fina.

“My full name is Fina Siobhan Aubrey-Havelock,” said Fina, recovering herself.

“Doesn’t Siobhan start with a C?” asked Charles.

“It’s Irish, Charles. It’s spelled S-i-o-b-h-a-n,” said Fina with a smile, not wanting to make Charles feel inadequate.

“Of course, of course,” said Charles, reddening.

“Well, we have quite a list of clues, now, don’t we?” said Ruby. “Besides confirming where everyone was in the past few hours, we need to find out who the mysterious C represents. And we also need to find a copy of Granville’s handwriting.”

As Charles and Gayatri left the room, Ruby made as if to follow them, but once they were out of earshot, she turned and motioned to Fina to go into the bathroom. They entered the narrow room, covered in a luscious jade green tile with a large claw-foot bath. A towel hung on a rack near the door. There was a medicine cabinet and a mirror with a washbasin near the door. As one would expect, thought Fina, there was a soap dish with a bar of soap, as well as a toothbrush perched precariously on the edge of the sink.

Ruby felt the inside bottom of the bath and then the towel. “Wet,” she said. Then she opened the cabinet. It contained a tin of tooth powder and a jar of pomade. Frowning, she turned to Fina. “I thought there might be a glass in here, but I don’t see one anywhere, do you?”

Shaking her head in agreement, Fina followed Ruby back out to the bedroom. “You were right to look in the bathroom – it looks as if he fell as he was walking out. Do you think he was poisoned in there?”

“It’s clear that he had to have ingested the poison somewhere in this bedroom or bathroom. He would not have enough time to drink something downstairs, walk up the stairs, take a bath, get dressed, go back into the bathroom and then…” Ruby froze. “And then…” she said to herself, staring at the ceiling.

She trotted back into the bathroom. “Feens!” she yelled. “Look at this,” she said, returning to the bedroom, toothbrush in hand. “Feel it.”

Fina whisked her finger over the top of the toothbrush. “Yes, it’s wet. So? He brushed his teeth.”

Ruby stared back at her. Fina could see she was willing her to see the light.

Fina blinked.

“It would be the only thing that he put in his mouth… and therefore must be the way he was poisoned,” said Ruby.

Ruby continued, grasping Fina’s arm for what seemed to be intellectual and physical support. “That explains how Granville was poisoned, too. It would be too risky to put it on the toothbrush itself – it might be noticed.”

“Or rinsed before brushing,” said Fina, happy she was able to make however small a contribution to Ruby’s deductive chain of logic.

“So it must be the tooth powder,” said Ruby as she moved back into the bathroom to retrieve the tooth powder. She sniffed the toothbrush delicately. “Yes, it’s there all right – just a trace, but very distinctive. Would you go to Granville’s bathroom to find the toothbrush and tooth powder? That is, assuming the murderer didn’t take it already.”