McWithy

“Ah, you’re all here. This is where it started, so it seemed fitting to me that it should end here..”

McWithy put on his grimmest face and looked around the classically decorated salon. The big reveal was his favourite part of the job. It awoke his sense of drama.

“It was here that Sir Atherton was brutally murdered last week. Hit over the head with the solid marble statue that, ironically enough, he had just inherited from his also-murdered uncle Eggleston.”

They were hanging on his lips. He knew exactly how this case fitted together, and he would lay it out for them piece by piece.

“What all of you did not know, but I discovered during my investigation, is that Sir Atherton himself killed his uncle, because of this statue.”

A shocked murmur went through the room. Sir Atherton, a murderer?

“And you, Mrs. Newbury, were toying with the same idea. Eggleston had discovered the affair between you and Mr. Hurst, and threatened to make it public. But before you could serve him that shepherd’s pie filled with rat poison, your employer had beaten you to the punch!”

The cook turned red and protested indignantly. “Vicious lies!”

“The painful truth, Mrs. Newbury. But what you didn’t know, is that Mr. Hurst was about to throw you over to run off with Rowena!”

Gazes darted back and forth as if a complex tennis match was being played. People were quickly losing their handle on the proceedings. But McWithy was just warming up.

“The same Rowena that had been harassed by Sir Atherton for years. Did he go too far this time, Rowena? Was it the last straw?”

The maid burst into tears. Like on command, thought McWithy.

Triumphantly he thundered on. “Or maybe he had found out that you’ve been replacing his paintings with forgeries?” Rowena immediately stopped crying and gave him a dirty look.

“Mr. Sears here, trusted friend of Sir Atherton’s, sold the originals, and you divvied up the loot. At least, that was the plan, until Sears decided to keep it all for himself.”

“Now, wait a minute...” Sears interrupted McWithy. But McWithy was too quick for him.

“No Mr. Sears, if anyone should wait, it’s you. I mean, you’ve been waiting for almost forty years. When were you finally going to tell Hurst that he is your son?”

The chaos was complete. Satisfied, McWithy looked around the room; bewilderment everywhere. No-one dared speak up, for fear of ending up on the wrong side of the next sudden revelation.

At that moment, the old-fashioned pull-bell jingled.

“Someone at the door, Hurst. I think I know who. Will you let them in?”

Hurst stood transfixed, utterly stupefied about what had taken place in the past few minutes.

“On with it, man. You’re still the butler here, aren’t you?” Hurst awoke from his trance with a start and rushed towards the hall.

It was time to wrap things up. Could anyone suspect how this would end?

“So, there were motives aplenty. But none of the people I mentioned has ultimately killed him. And yet, the pestiferous mastermind behind this sickening act is here, in this room.”

Open mouths. Fixated eyes.

“It is none other than...”

Voices could be heard in the distance: Hurst was on his way with the new guests. McWithy wanted to savour this moment for as long as possible, but there wasn’t much time left.

“...Skipper!”

For a moment, it was quiet.

Then Mrs. Newbury said: “Skipper? The goldfish?”

“Skipper, the goldfish.” McWithy said gravely. He relished this. But he had to hurry.

“Once you figure it out, it makes perfect sense. Skipper had felt neglected for years. Sir Atherton had banned him from his study to the salon. And now, he was finally fed up with the fish, and was planning to release him into the pond. Something which Skipper, as a tropical fish, would of course never survive.

“Skipper knew that Atherton always fed him personally, and that the fish feed was so high up on the shelf that he would always grab it by feel. Skipper made sure the statue was on the edge of the shelf, so...”

“Wait a minute,” Rowena interrupted him sharply, “HOW did the goldfish make sure the statue was there?”

“I’m glad you asked! Skipper knew the cat liked to sit on the shelf, spying at him. By swimming on the left side of the aquarium, the cat had to push the statue aside to be able to see him. It would come to teeter perilously on the edge, and the next time Atherton tried to take the feed, the statue would certainly fall on him and do him in.

“It was a brilliant plan, and he would’ve gotten away with it if you hadn’t had the presence of mind to call for my help.”

Footsteps outside the salon door.

“Ah, I expect those are my associates. A pressing new case, you understand. I must go. We will take care of my fee later.”

He swiftly disappeared through the door. Those present in the salon were left in a dazed state. They had much to discuss.

Outside, two stout men dressed in white kindly but resolutely guided McWithy into a van.