Fina felt her jaw drop.
“You mean – you mean they put nicotine in the eye-drops?”
“Yes. You see, the brilliant part of their plan was that it would be naturally assumed the nicotine came from the pipe or pipe tobacco. There wouldn’t be any way to prove or disprove it. Then Wendy came up with an idea.”
Wendell looked a little bashful. “Well, it was really your idea. But it did seem odd to me a murderer could plan that you would punch Gasthorpe, therefore causing the tobacco to fall out and therefore allowing Gasthorpe to top it up again with the remaining tobacco. Besides that, it had to be someone who knew at least a little about him. Grace and Victoria had interacted with him and therefore knew about the eye-drops. What’s more, they knew why he took them.”
“Because he had dry eyes?” said Fina doubtfully.
“It was his preferred method of taking cocaine,” said Wendell. “Remember, he was the point of contact for the drug ring. Jack was wrong about him. He soon fell to taking the drug himself. Grace and Victoria both suspected the drug ring business, though they didn’t understand the first thing about how it was organised. They did know, however, that he was obsessed about his eye-drop usage. They didn’t know when he would use his medicine, but they were able to switch the bottle with the nicotine-filled version.”
“Rather ingenious,” said Fina in awe. She looked up gratefully at the plate of raspberry tart headed for their table. Fina handed Wendell a fork for him to share the tart amongst the three of them.
“Thanks, but I’m not keen on sweets,” said Wendell.
“That’s almost more shocking news than the eye-drops,” said Fina, digging in. “But wait. I do have a question before we move on to the arrest of Ossie,” she said, swallowing her first delicious bite. “This plan was awfully risky. I mean, so many things could go wrong. Victoria is obsessed with control and planning. I cannot imagine her agreeing to do this with Grace.”
Ruby put down her fork. “It also stopped me from suspecting Victoria, but then I realised her increasing obsession with rules and order was a response to the strain of the murder itself. In other words, her strain made it look even more unlikely she was the murderer – a clever, unintentional trick which threw us off. As for Grace, she’s the adventurous one of the pair. She has a flair for the spontaneous. The two of them together – the planner and the risk-taker – were an unstoppable combination.” She paused for a sip of water. “As for your second question, I’m sure you’re wondering why Wendy and I didn’t say much of anything during the police theatre presentation.”
“Well, yes, rather. Especially because Ossie and I had to sleep in jail,” said Fina.
“I knew the police thought it was her. I also knew I had absolutely no evidence of anything, just as the police had no evidence to tie the murder to Ossington and yourself, much less directly implicate Esmond in the drug ring.
“So last night I called on Grace and Victoria. I went to Grace’s room and Victoria was there, conveniently enough for me. I gently confronted the two of them.”
Fina nearly choked on her tart. “But they could have killed you!”
Wendell said, “I stood outside the door to Grace’s room, listening the whole time.”
“Yes, I was grateful Wendy could help out, though I honestly didn’t think they’d try anything. I told them what I knew and reminded them that you and Ossington were going to hang for the murder if they didn’t come forward.”
“Clever – if they have a conscience,” said Fina, shivering.
“I suspected they did have a conscience, and I was counting on it. I wasn’t fooling myself into thinking they’d turn themselves in, because who would? But they were aware it was only a matter of time before I came up with enough evidence to turn them in. I also told them I had shared my suspicions with my brother so that if anything happened to me he would immediately go to the police.”
Ruby licked her fork and set it down carefully, as if it would break the flow of her narrative if she did not. “So I made them an offer they couldn’t refuse. I said if they signed a sworn statement taking responsibility for these crimes, I would give them until the next morning to escape the country. I told them I would turn in the statement to the police after that and they would have to hope they made it far enough to escape British authorities.”
“So they agreed,” said Fina, thoughtfully. “I wonder where they went.”
Wendell replied, “That pair are clever enough. I don’t think we’ll see the likes of them again.”
Ruby sat back, as satisfied as a cat who had polished off a bowl of cream.
“You’ve done it again, Ruby,” said Fina. “But I do have one more question. Did Vera put the brassiere in Gasthorpe’s coat?”
“That seems to be the most plausible explanation. Perhaps she thought it would confuse the police, so she slipped it in his pocket. Just in case they found she had stolen the carriage clock. Perhaps she had a half-baked idea of framing him as the thief.”
Fina nodded. It seemed like a good time to surprise them both with her news. “While you two were in the back of the police station, I must admit I did a little snooping, though it was entirely unintentional.”
Ruby and Wendell leaned forward.
“There was evidence James Matua had been there. Which wouldn’t be so odd in itself – except that I saw a note which alluded to a meeting between Hogston, someone whose name begins with J, and another inspector. I couldn’t see his whole name, but it started with ‘Pic’.
Wendell let out a low whistle. “That would be Inspector Pickering. You know who he is? He’s the local force connection to Scotland Yard. A liaison who often goes back and forth. I only know this because he happened to speak to Hogston while I was at the station. They introduced me to him.”
“So you think James is the one who’s been watching us?” said Ruby, tapping her teeth.
“Seems like the most likely explanation,” said Fina. “I pondered what I knew about him. He’s naïve, seemingly inept, a new student with ties to a faraway place – New Zealand.”
“And he studies history, like you,” said Ruby, warming to the subject. “It would be natural for you two to talk about politics and for you to gradually form a bond.”
“Yes, we share anti-colonial politics, but his family is far enough away that he wouldn’t really need to prove himself in any way. He probably hopes I’ll spill the beans about our activities, particularly as they relate to you, Ruby.”
“And I also believe he invited himself to the nightclub to watch us. Mind you, I do believe he is genuinely smitten with Gayatri – but that provided him a convenient cover to follow us,” said Ruby.
Wendell nodded. “This confirms an idea which came to me when we were sitting at the police interrogation lunch,” he said, pulling out a crumpled sheet of paper from his jacket pocket. Unfolding it, he said, “I realised the proverbs had something to do with the name of the person watching us … as we discussed already. But it came to me that the proverbs themselves were anagrams. I couldn’t make any full names out of the first proverb about sheep, but the second one about butchers held out two possibilities: ‘Jack’ or ‘James Matua,’” he said in triumph. “So I surmised it was most likely to be James since the proverb included a full name anagram … although it wasn’t a perfect anagram. It was devilishly difficult because it had superfluous letters.”
Ruby and Fina stared at Wendell. Fina began to clap. “That’s marvellous, Wendell!”
Ruby patted her brother on his shoulder. “Excellent work, Wendy. And now that you’re saying this, I remember what was bothering me. In all of our discussions of our family, Ian never once mentioned having a sister. In fact, I remember him saying once he was an only child. That must have been the signal it was that proverb told by his sister which we were to pay attention to,” she said, her eyes widening.
“That’s settled, then,” said Wendell, leaning back in his chair and once again folding his hands behind his head.
“Assuming James was the one to search my room, however, how would he have done so without being noticed? There are strict rules about men in the women’s halls,” said Ruby, tapping her teeth again.
Fina replied, “He either has a co-conspirator or he dressed in feminine clothing himself to search your room.”
Ruby replied, “It seems more likely to me that he would have threatened a scout to do it. Probably Beatrice.”
“What would he have asked her to search for? Why now?”
“As for the second question,” said Wendell, “I think he used the timing of the murder investigation to his advantage. He probably thought it was his best opportunity to search – and that it would look like it was either the police or the murderer searching for something – or even the college thief.”
“What about my first question?” Fina queried.
Ruby jumped in. “I suspect he told Beatrice or some other scout to search for suspicious literature. Which could be why, of course, two of the three books stolen were Russian literature. Highly suspicious, Feens,” she said with a low, rumbling laugh.
“So if it is James, what do we do?” Fina pleaded with rising panic in her voice.
“This is the best position to be in,” said Wendell. “You know who is watching you, but they don’t know that you know. So you can handle situations to your advantage to throw them off track.”
“Yes,” agreed Ruby. “It’s much better we have the devil we know. Not that James is the devil – my guess is he naïvely thinks he’s helping himself. Or the more likely scenario is that he’s doing this because he’s been threatened in some way,” she said, looking at Wendell knowingly.
As he nodded, the smoke from his cigarette made little bumpy waves. “I’ve known a few chaps who’ve been turned because a government agent threatened their family, or threatened to expose some secret. Or even worse, they’ve been threatened with made-up charges and forced to do whatever the authorities tell them to do.”
“So you’re saying that we do nothing?” asked Fina.
“I know it seems like inactivity, but it’s not. Besides, it’s a much better use of our precious energy to keep an eye on him, rather than do anything. Especially when he tries to follow us,” said Ruby.
“Follow us? You mean around the university?”
Ruby grinned. “That, too. But I really meant follow us in a few weeks’ time. We’ve been invited to Italy.”
“The moon runs until day catches it,” said Wendell with a wink.
The End
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The Ruby Dove Mystery Series
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