’Good lord, what on earth was that?’ Isabella begged with a trembling lip.
‘Nothing to be alarmed about, I assure you. Probably a bit of tidying up, I think.’ Giles, hoping his words of reassurance would be accepted without question, decided to press on.
‘Let me go back to when Jack returned from America,’ he said. ‘In the hotel he’d visited he had been a witness to the disappearance of an individual, in front of an audience of magicians, from a room that was locked and had no windows. This illusion was the brainchild of a dealer in conjuring apparatus. It seems he discovered, attached to a wall, a cabinet above a washbasin complete with bottle-opener that when pulled, came away from the wall to reveal an airshaft, extending the full height of the hotel. With his imagination working overtime, and with plans already in the pipeline to have renovations to the chimney and fireplace of the library, he decided that the necessary trappings for a similar illusion be created in his own home.’ Giles looked at the sea of faces staring at him in the darkening gloom of the library.
‘Builders were brought in, the chimney was modified, and a hand-operated pulley system installed thus creating a sort of dumbwaiter used in some large hotels. The top had been bricked over when the safe was built in to the fireplace and although the door of the safe could be opened and closed from inside this room, using the correct combination, the safe itself could also be released from its housing using a device operated from behind so that, when opened, it revealed a small hiding place just like the priest-hole in bygone days.’
At this point The Prof paused and thought he could detect, on some faces, a realisation as to where his story was leading.
‘Some important alterations had to be completed; the bathroom, that is directly above this room and has a wall backing on to the chimney, required an opening giving access to the chimney and the small platform connected to the pulley and, when this was done, a large cabinet complete with the essential release mechanism was fitted to cover the opening in the chimney wall; he then had all the necessary elements in place for his pièce de résistance - the bottle-opener illusion he’d witnessed in that Boston hotel. One final component was added which enabled the cabinet to be closed and securely locked from inside the chimney shaft thus preventing anyone, other than the person authorised, to enter the dumb-waiter. I have gone over the cabinet in the bathroom with a fine toothcomb and found all as I’ve just described.’
The Prof took a deep breath, his probing eyes searching for the slightest sign of serious concern from the others in the room. His worry that at least two in the gathering were sitting like dormant volcanoes waiting to erupt would soon become reality.
‘It was always intended that the assistant would enter the chimney and use the dumb-waiter as I have indicated, gain access to the library, and act in liaison with the magician for the purpose of the Jekyll and Hyde illusion. Attempted murder was the last thing on the mind of Jack Ramsden - yet murder is what happened!’
The murmur emanating from the previously hushed audience was instantly dwarfed by a torrent of words bursting from the lips of Isabella Ramsden.
‘I can hardly believe what I’m hearing,’ she shrieked. ‘Are you seriously suggesting that someone entered this library from the upstairs bathroom, shot my husband, and returned to the bathroom?’
‘Yes I am!’
‘But that means...the answer to your question!’
‘Yes, Isabella...the answer to the question that puzzled me for so long! Why should Laura decide to take a bath when she was supposed to be the magician’s assistant?’
Laura had to be restrained again as Giles expanded on his theory.
‘It all boiled down to the probability that Jack’s assistant would go to the bathroom before the illusion was to take place; she had, after all, made it abundantly clear that she was going to take a bath, even telling Edgar to warn his fiancee Sally not to use the main bathroom but to use the alternate bathroom instead for washing her hair. She intended to go upstairs and lock the bathroom door, put on her black cloak and hood, similar to the outfit Laura is still wearing, climb into the dumb-waiter via the wall cabinet then close and lock the cabinet from inside the chimney shaft. The space was small and narrow and only a person slender and flexible enough to manipulate her body into confined spaces, as a magician’s assistant is usually required to do, could have managed successfully.’
Giles moved to the ash tray, picked up the cigar and thrust it between his lips before laying it down once more. Clearing his throat he stared at Laura.
‘By operating the silent rope pulley with her hands the dumb waiter would transport her to the bottom of the shaft behind the safe where she could manually free the safe from its anchorage and enter this room, close the safe and hide behind the large Japanese screen. What happened next would be pure conjecture without a statement from the actual murderer. and I’m not entirely sure I have any chance of getting that!’
Moving across to the ashtray the Prof picked up his cigar and relit it.
‘What I’m about to say is pure surmise but I firmly believe the actions of the magician’s assistant to have been something like...let’s see? The figure in black would move to the gun supported on the stand that would’ve been roughly there.’ He pointed to the area in front of the Chung Ling Soo poster where the shotgun now lay. ‘This action by the assistant must have been contrary to the original plan for, according to her testimony,’ he checked his notes again, ‘Mrs. Ramsden heard her husband say “Leave that alone!” He was probably referring to the gun but it wasn’t easy to identify sounds coming from the library and Jack’s actual words may have been misheard. To whatever he said there was no reply - nothing that was audible at any rate.’
Giles glanced at his notes once more.
‘The next thing Isabella heard was “put your mask on!” which I assume was a direction to his assistant to cover her hood with something similar to the one used earlier in the illusion we watched.’He checked his notebook again.
‘Jack’s last words before the shot was heard were “no, no...don’t touch that...it might be.” suggesting that his assistant was not following the script and demanding she put the rifle down in case it was loaded. Whether the gun was already loaded or not we may never know, but the figure in the cloak and hood must have removed the rifle from the stand taken aim and fired before returning the rifle to its original position on the stand. We now know the gun had been modified and the recoil was less but the actions I have just described are my own account of what may have happened. Perhaps the assailant then moved to be with Jack after he fell to the floor.’
The Prof took a puff of the cigar, removed it from his mouth, smiled and nodded at the burning object in his hand.
‘Mrs. Ramsden says she heard a dull thump and, after a short silence, Jack’s voice saying something like “good God, what have you done, Hyde?” followed by “We must keep the secret, so go now!” But why, I asked myself, did Jack not call out for help at that moment?’
The Prof drew on his cigar blew smoke out and watched it rise in the air.
‘I’ll tell you why, he said, ‘...it was because he believed he was talking to a person who was in on the trick! And that corroborated Edgar’s view that he thought the other person was a friend! As it seems it was not unusual for strange unexplainable things to occur prior to birthday performances it was several seconds for the two persons outside the door to react, enough time for the assistant who had some of Jack’s blood on her gloved hand to reach the safe. In closing the safe she left traces of blood on it but, by the time Mrs. Ramsden and Edgar got the library door unlocked and entered the room, the assassin was well on her way back to the bathroom where she removed the hood and gown and hid it until it could be put amongst the props elsewhere.’
Giles, who was beginning to warm to his task of lecturing his small but captive audience, puffed at his cigar several times blowing smoke into the air in an almost pensive manner.
‘When Mrs. Ramsden fi
nally entered the room after a great deal of prompting from her youngest son she.’
At this point Giles hesitated, screwed up his eyes, and lines appeared on his forehead as if he was trying to recall the sequence of events that puzzled him. ‘.She saw Jack lying on the floor over there,’ he pointed towards the illusion box on wheels, ‘by the bookcases. He was holding his chest and there was blood on his hands. We know that Edgar said he would get the girls and dashed upstairs presumably to alert Laura and Sally in the two bathrooms. From here on in I accepted everything I was told without reservation. That is until my trip to the States. As I mentioned earlier two incidents opened my eyes to a possible solution to the problem. I have already explained how the illusion in the Statler Hotel provided clues about the concealed entry. It was now the turn of the statue in the grounds of Harvard University to prod my brain and cause me to question the statements of those present at the scene of the crime. Lies, half-truths and fabrications - many of them made unwittingly!’
He took another puff of the cigar creating ghostly smoke that punctuated the deathly atmosphere inside the library.
‘Let’s consider what Mrs Ramsden told me when I asked her to describe what occurred that fateful evening. Remember it was fourteen years since the shooting and memories can play tricks. She told me she was the first person at Jack’s side after he was shot.’
‘I was! I was definitely the first one there!’
The Prof ignored the lady’s protest.
‘Not true!’ he said, his words reverberating around the room. ‘I’m inclined to think that the first person to go to Jack’s side after the shot was fired - was the murderer herself!! Haven’t I suggested that was how his blood was transferred to the safe? You couldn’t possibly be the first to reach him - unless you were the murderer!’
The old lady looked subdued and the expression on her face conveyed to Giles that her error had not been intentional.
‘Do not fret, dear Isabella!’ he said. ‘Your words were genuine and understandable and made in good faith. Nevertheless you were mistaken. What you said was a lie!’
The words boomed out with apparent relish.
‘Jack’s last words were spoken in a whisper. You quote him as saying “I didn’t mean it to end like this” and I took that to infer that he thought the whole thing was a disastrous mistake - a mistake that could be rectified at some future stage.’
Mrs. Ramsden was nodding in agreement.
He looked at his notes again before speaking.
‘Prior to that he asked, in a whisper, and an almost inaudible whisper at that, “did you see Dr. Hyde?"
‘That is correct!’
‘By your own testimony this was a strange question. Jack was hardly likely to get Jekyll and Hyde mixed up so I checked to see if the name of Hyde had been used in any previously heard utterance. You see it is perfectly possible for someone who has just been shot to be confused and delirious and say things that weren’t meant. When you heard the shot you thought you heard Jack shout “good God what have you done, Hyde? We must keep the secret...so go now!” Giles cleared his throat before continuing.
‘When I wrote that down I must admit that I wasn’t sure whether to write “hide” meaning disappear or Hyde as in the man’s name. It was conceivable that he would use the name of the character being played by his assistant and yet it could easily have meant he was telling her to disappear especially when he used the phrase "we must keep the secret...so go now!” The confusion arose with his question “Did you see Dr. Hyde?” The Prof looked across to Isabella who had a puzzled expression on her face.
‘If Jack did say that he might have been repeating the previous error in his confused state by using the name of Hyde. That statue in the grounds of Harvard urged me to be aware of more untruths. Was it just possible, when Jack said “good God what have you done, Hyde", that he might have paused slightly between “done” and “Hyde” and actually said “what have you done? Hide, we must keep the secret -so go now!” You see how everything changes. If that were so since he knew his daughter had just fired the gun might the final question to his wife have been “did you see daughter hide?” He might have been unaware of the seriousness of his injury and thought they would live to fight another day if his daughter could retrace her steps and get back to the bathroom undiscovered. He could pretend it was all an accident. He never got that chance. There we have it. Maybe he didn’t ask, “Did you see Dr. Hyde?” Another lie, perhaps?’
‘You mentioned the statue of three lies but you never did tell us why it was called that. I think you should come clean, Giles. Or is this just another of your cheap tricks?’
‘I’m so sorry Victor,’ Giles addressed the eldest son who had made the remarks. ‘I should have given the facts about this statue or, as Freddie would put it, the inside information. Let me mark your card!’ He winked at Freddie who smiled back.
‘The bronze statue that was presented to the University was supposed to be of the founder John Harvard but since there was no known portrait of the man a student was used as a model. That was lie number one! Harvard College was not founded by John Harvard but named after him. Lie number two! Finally the College was not founded in 1838 as stated but two years earlier. Lie number three!’
’Thank you Giles. You have offered us two possible lies regarding events that took place fourteen years ago. Are there others or have you run out of plausible excuses?’
‘No Victor, there’s more to come. All that I’ve said falls neatly into place if we assume that the person in the black cloak and hood was Laura. If however that person was an impostor, someone that Jack thought was Laura...but wasn’t, other factors come to the fore. This brings me to the crux of my argument. There were many questions still to be answered. What possible motive could Laura have for wanting to murder her father? If Laura was not the person in the library with Jack that night...who was? It had to be someone that could easily have been mistaken for Laura. Is that possible? Well, yes it is! Haven’t you seen it with your own eyes in this same room during the illusion performed by Laura dressed in the cloak that she is still wearing? Without knowing how the act was done it doesn’t take a great stretch of imagination to conclude that a substitution took place at some stage in the proceedings since Laura is still in this room and yet someone, dressed in similar garb that we genuinely believed was Laura, actually left this room and has never returned.’
The ripple of acknowledgement, as understanding began to dawn on his audience, broke the eerie silence.
‘So you see we could be fooled by two persons dressed alike and with the same kind of figure as long as the faces were concealed and no words spoken! Is it possible that Jack could have been equally deceived? I say to you - Yes!’
The word thundered and reverberated around the room once more.
‘I am convinced that is exactly what happened! So who had a motive strong enough to commit murder? Who, apart from Laura, would have the expertise and know-how to operate the bathroom cabinet, the dumb-waiter and the safe? Who would have the ability to contort his or her body to negotiate the small lift? Only Jack and his daughter knew of the plan and method to effect entry via the chimney...unless one of them confided in someone else! Which one? Laura would be unlikely to do that unless she required an accomplice.but why the need for an accomplice, who would have to be an exact double, when she was already capable of performing everything herself? That left only one person - Jack himself! Did he tell someone else how he was going to bring off the illusion?’
Giles paused briefly and took another puff of the cigar.
’Of course he did! Looking back at the list of motives produced by my criminologist friend in America I noted his comment against Revenge - a powerful motive for murder! So which of my suspects would murder in order to exact revenge? Why, the person to whom Jack told every single detail of his planned illusion! The person Jack coached and instructed before he was forced to change his plan and rely on his daughter...the only logical
person who was Laura’s double when dressed in black cloak and hood and had the same ability to be his assistant as she was!’ his voice rose to a crescendo. ’The assistant he dismissed!’
The hubbub of dissent that followed was intermingled with a cry of ‘Not possible!’ from Isabella Ramsden. ‘Didn’t I tell you?’ she exclaimed. ‘Weren’t you listening? After their almighty row I told you Jack said his assistant had gone for good. We never saw her again!’
‘I believe that’s exactly what you told me for I have those very words written in the notebook.’ The Prof spoke with quiet innuendo. ‘One more untruth to add to our list I think, Mrs. Ramsden, though I concede that was what you genuinely thought?’
‘I don’t understand! How could that be possible?’
‘I asked myself that same question, Isabella, and here’s the answer I came up with. We know that Jack brought his assistant to this house on several occasions between the time he arrived back from America, had the library and bathroom renovated, and the day he dismissed her sometime in September. We also know that the assistant always remained in some form of disguise and never stayed for meals, which meant that nobody in the house except Jack knew of her identity. This may have been another one of those lies! Suppose, by some quirk of fate, another co-incidence perhaps, Edgar and the assistant bumped into each other and started meeting regularly both inside and outside the house but without the others knowing? I have no doubt their original plan was to become engaged but not announce it to the remainder of the family until Halloween, the evening of Isabella’s birthday.’
The Prof started pacing the floor.
‘This was thrown into chaos when Jack dismissed his assistant after their almighty row, as Isabella described it. Supposing Edgar’s fiancee decided to go through with the announcement and hatched a plan to play a trick on the magician without mentioning the possibility of the trick ending in murder. Would Edgar have gone ahead with such a plan? I asked myself that and came to the conclusion that the one reason he might not would be that he was the youngest member of the family and might have a very strong allegiance with his father and be reluctant to be a party to anything that could cause embarrassment.’The Prof looked around at the sceptical faces and tried to coax his cigar into some sort of life again.
The Statue of Three Lies Page 29
