Black Widower
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Much later that evening, Henry, Emmy and Prudence Barrington were sitting in Sir Edward Ironmonger’s study at the Tampican Embassy. Winston Nelson, all the fight gone out of him, had made a full confession to the murders of both Lady Ironmonger and Dorabella Hamilton, and was already on his way back to Tampica, stoutly escorted by Inspector Bartholomew. Sir Edward Ironmonger, naturally shocked and deeply upset, had demanded a full explanation of the case from Henry before making a public statement.
Henry had outlined Nelson’s plot, and his achievement of a lost quarter-of-an-hour. Sir Edward said, “He couldn’t have known that Bishop and Mrs. Barrington would go into the garden just then.”
“No, he couldn’t—but it wouldn’t have mattered if they hadn’t. The one thing he could rely on was that they would not be likely to keep the appointment on time—or even to have more than a hazy idea of what the right time was. The Bishop’s watch was notorious. Once he had left the reception and altered the library clock, he didn’t have to worry. If the Barringtons had, in fact, been punctual, they would have inferred from the library clock that they were early, and just waited for Nelson. And of course he was able to time Lady Ironmonger’s collapse very accurately, by slipping her the doctored drink at the right moment.
“You’ll see from his confession that I was right about Dorabella —he convinced her that the request for the Alcodym came from you, Sir Edward, and he had her add a normal dose to some plain tomato juice in the kitchen. That way, he reckoned he would implicate her, so that she wouldn’t dare to tell on him, if things got difficult.
“It was Dorabella who put the bottle of Alcodym into Lady Ironmonger’s bathroom cupboard when she went in to get the talcum powder—she was trying to protect you, Sir Edward, thinking that if Alcodym were to be traced, the bottle would prove that Lady Ironmonger was taking it, voluntarily.
“Nelson realized that was a blunder. He didn’t want Alcodym to come into the picture at all. He had a good try at removing the bottle when he went up with the undertaker—but Sir Edward foiled it by coming up and ordering him out of the room. So the next day he ordered Dorabella to remove it—he dared not do it himself. Unfortunately for Nelson, she didn’t get a chance to do so until after Dr. Duncan had stuck his inquisitive nose into the cupboard and seen the bottle. If he hadn’t, he wouldn’t have dreamed of looking for it during the autopsy—and even if you had suspected murder, you’d never have been able to prove it.”
“I may be very silly,” Prudence said, “but I still don’t see just how you worked out that Matthew’s old watch could be dangerous to me.”
Henry smiled. “The credit should go to your friend Lucy Pontefract-Deacon,” he said. “She was quicker than I was. That is, we both came to the same conclusion at the same time, but I had had far longer to think it over. After I had discussed the case with her, and we both had had time to get it sorted out in our minds, we both realized that on the evening of the reception your husband’s watch—while undisputedly wrong—had contrived first of all to be fast, and then slow. Lucy also remembered that while you were on the island you had told many people—including Nelson—that according to the watchmaker that watch had been running slow for years.”
“That’s right. When he came to tea. I never thought—”
“Of course you didn’t. But he has been scared stiff that somebody, somehow would find out about the time discrepancy—the lost quarter-of-an-hour. He was a desperate man by then. He had killed Dorabella because he overheard a telephone conversation in which I mentioned Alcodym to her and she promised to meet me and make a clean breast of things. That would have included the fact that it was actually Nelson and not Sir Edward who had asked her to doctor Lady Ironmonger’s drink. Up to the end, she must have believed that you were guilty, Sir Edward—but she was going to tell me that you knew nothing about it, and take all the blame herself. That accounts for what she said in the hospital. Poor Dorabella.”
Softly, Sir Edward echoed, “Poor Dorrie. If only she’d spoken to me about it, outright. . . .”
Henry said, “Both Dorabella and Nelson were cases of misguided loyalty, in different ways. I must admit that at first I was sure Nelson was involved in the Research and Development Company—but there’s no doubt that he wasn’t. He acted purely out of a misdirected sense of patriotism.” Henry sighed. “Well, a financial scandal in Tampica is no affair of mine, but I’m afraid, Sir Edward, that when you investigate it, you’ll find that Holder-Watts is pretty deeply implicated—and possibly his wife, too. I suspect it may have been the main reason why he took Tampican nationality.”
Sir Edward said, “You are probably right. I was puzzled that he chose to do so. I was very glad to have him on my staff because of his experience—in spite of the fact that, as you probably know, I have never liked him. I’m afraid this is going to be a messy business —but, as you say, it’s nothing to do with you, Tibbett. Well, that all seems quite clear. It only remains for me to thank you.”
“Not me,” said Henry. “The people to thank are Miss Pontefract- Deacon, and Mrs. Barrington, and my wife . . .”
“Me?” said Emmy, greatly surprised.
“Yes. You did splendidly this afternoon, getting hold of Inspector Bartholomew so quickly.”
“Incidentally,” Emmy said, “how on earth did you know I was there?”
“By the grace of God,” said Henry, “I heard you calling on the Almighty for a helicopter from the other side of the hedge. I reckoned that if I could hear you, you could hear Mrs. Barrington and me, and that you’d stay to listen and then take the hint.”
“I thought I’d never find my way back to the main path,” Emmy said. “In fact, in the end, when I found myself just on the other side of the hedge, I broke all the rules and a lot of boxwood by simply scrambling through. I expect the owners will be furious/’ “Don’t worry, my dear,” said Prudence. “Eunice and I are . . . sort of sisters-in-law. By marriage. That is to say, she’s my daughter’s mother-in-law, so that makes us . . . oh dear, I never did understand the Table of Kindred and Affinity . . .”
“And as for you, Mrs. Barrington,” added Henry, “you certainly saved my life. You were extremely brave.”
“Brave? Nonsense. I’ve known Winnie since he was a little boy.” She took a tiny white handkerchief out of her bag and quickly wiped away a tear.
“And right up to the last moment, you believed in his innocence,” Henry said.
Prudence looked at him sideways. “You think so?”
“Well, didn’t you?”
Prudence said, “Winnie has always been an impetuous and somewhat unstable person. He is also one of the finest knife-throwers in Tampica. You were simply making him angry and upset—and dangerous. You said I saved your life. My dear man, I was saving my own. I’m a sort of mother figure to him, and if I had turned on him and started accusing him at that moment, the knife would have been out and you’d never have saved me.” She sighed. “Poor Winnie. It’s a good thing that I know him so well. . .”
Epilogue
From The Washington Post, June 16th
Today the United States lost one of its oldest naval bases. At the conclusion of talks on the island of Tampica, it was announced that no agreement could be reached, and consequently the Navy is making plans to withdraw from its station on Barracuda Bay.
Sir Edward Ironmonger, newly-elected Prime Minister of Tampica, told reporters that government plans were already in hand to develop the area as a tourist resort and a harbor for cruise liners. He confirmed that a group of private speculators had endeavored to exploit the situation by buying up land in the area, but said that the company had been nationalized.
It will be remembered that British-born Michael Holder-Watts, Counsellor at the Tampican Embassy in Washington under Sir Edward, resigned last month, following allegations that he had been involved in improper property deals in Tampica.
From The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Boston Herald, etc., etc.,
December 1st.
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