Don Gutteridge - Dubious Allegiance

She turned back to stare out the window, as if to underline the very traits he had just ascribed to her.

“What puzzled me was why you might have chosen this particular time to lash out. But the death of your dear sister and Randolph’s callous flouting of the traditions of mourning may have been the last straw. Or, by the same token, these insults may have driven your devoted brother to some sort of precipitate action on your behalf. Thus, it turns out that you both had motive and immediate provocation. Still, I was sitting next to the pair of you when the fatal shot was fired. While it was logical to enlist Miles Scanlon to do the job, neither of you appeared to have had the opportunity to arrange it.”

Marc paused until the coach had finished jouncing over a rough patch of rutted road, then continued. “How could either of you have fired that shot? For some unexplainable reason, a picture popped into my head. Back at Morrisburg, when I was supposedly out for a walk airing my uniform, I was actually assisting some friends to cross the river. One of them, a man, not wanting to be recognized, had dressed up as a woman, wig and all. Then a second image leapt up beside it: you and your husband as I first saw you, when I mistook you for your husband’s sister, not his wife. Percy remarked that such a mistake was not uncommon. You and your husband are both tall, walk erect, and have similar fair features.”

Adelaide turned again to scrutinize him through her widow’s veil, but said nothing. Her breathing seemed more rapid though.

“The question, then, of a possible disguise entered the equation I was trying to work out. Certainly neither you nor your brother was in disguise at breakfast. But what if the murder did not take place at nine thirty but earlier, say at seven thirty or eight? The body was found submerged in ice-water. There was no way to determine when the fatal wound might have been suffered. If so, then the killer, if it were one of us, had perhaps two hours to play with, to cover his or her tracks, and to establish a foolproof alibi. Moreover, I found it hard to believe, right from the outset, that Captain Brookner would sleep in until nine. I believe he got up at seven or so and immediately prepared to promenade himself down that scenic path for Scanlon or anyone else to try taking a shot at him. But it was not Scanlon. Someone from our group followed him. It was easy to come up behind him undetected and blow his brains out.”

“I could ask Percy to stop this coach,” Adelaide said, in what was meant to be a cold and intimidating tone but came out more world-weary than menacing. Marc simply continued his narrative.

“While Scanlon would be the obvious suspect, none of us had any real idea where he might have been yesterday morning. Perhaps he had escaped to New York. So rather than leave it to such unpredictable and potentially incriminating possibilities, a more practical and ingenious deception was devised. If those at breakfast could be witness to the captain leaving the inn-very much alive-at nine fifteen, then alibis would be established and the entire investigation of the murder sent askew. The risks were minimal: if the body were discovered before nine, then the planned ruse could simply be abandoned with no-one the wiser. But the risk seemed worth it.”

Marc paused, took a deep breath, and plunged towards his denouement. “I remembered that your husband was obsessively vain about his uniform. Two parts of it appeared to be brand new, as if he had bought them specifically to show himself off during your days in the big city, among the regulars from the Royal Regiment. Your brother suggested in court that the greatcoat was acquired recently: it almost glistened in the sunlight, as did his boots. I believe both were purchased in Montreal. And the hat he wore was much like mine or Pritchard’s or your brother’s. All this meant that an extra greatcoat and an extra pair of boots were available, both older and somewhat tawdry, but that was a chance the killer or killers had to take if the ruse was to work. I say killer or killers because I still do not know whether it was actually you or your brother who pulled the trigger. But one of you certainly did.”

Again, Marc waited in vain for a direct response.

“I soon realized that it would take both of you to execute the deception. For if Percy had not been in on the game, he would have seen right away that you-dressed in your husband’s old greatcoat and boots and wearing your brother’s hat-were not Captain Brookner. We might have been fooled, but not Percy. I suspect that you planned it together. In any event, you brazenly clumped down the stairs, having waited anxiously, I’m sure, for me to wake up and go down to breakfast. I was to be your most incontrovertible witness, wasn’t I? You must have been puzzled and not a little frightened by my bizarre movements, but at last I did go down, and you were able to follow, disguised as your husband. All those at the breakfast table were aware of the captain’s departure. Once outside, you did not go down the path to the creek, but just wheeled behind the inn, mounted the fire-stairs, and returned to your room, doffing the coat, hat, and boots, and then coming down to breakfast as yourself, no more than four minutes after your husband had apparently left on the twenty-minute trek to his death. You joined us to secure your own alibi, and adroitly explained away your dishevelled state as grief over your sister’s death. The only real risk here was that one of the stablemen or maids might see you back there, but, as it turned out, they didn’t.

“There was one other possible danger, though. What if Pritchard or one of us at the table had called out or moved to stop you from going out? To forestall this, I believe you arranged for Percy to rush over and appear to restrain his brother-in-law. You and he then pretended to have a whispered arguement, he was brushed aside, and out you went. A perfect plan. Why would I or anyone else suspect that Percy was playing some devious game? Especially when even the coroner himself was satisfied that nine thirty or so was the time of death. You and your brother must have been pleased at the outcome of the inquest. Even the business with Lambert and Dingman was an unexpected gift.”

Adelaide did not raise her veil, but she spoke nonetheless. “You have a remarkable mind, a nice conscience, and a penchant for kindness-the very sort of man I foolishly thought my husband would be. But then we all marry too young.”

“Could you not merely have divorced him?”

“I have not admitted murdering him, Lieutenant. Your theory is fantastic, but plausible enough, I suppose, if you like theorizing. What you lack is a shred of evidence.” She was speaking as if somehow she felt obligated to, the weariness still undisguised. But then, she had just suffered a double bereavement.

“True. But just as I fell asleep, I realized that you and Percy had one major problem after the fact. If, during the inquest and under interrogation, one of us suddenly had had doubts about seeing the real captain in that hallway-for example, if the coroner had thought to ask, ‘Did you actually see Brookner’s face?’-the first thing the magistrate would have done is gone looking for that spare coat and pair of boots, for the new ones were on the body in the creek and are now with your husband in his coffin. That was the only real evidence that could make a theory such as mine credible. The pistol, either Percy’s or a second one of the captain’s, was tossed deep into some snowdrift where it won’t be found, if ever, until spring. And I’m sure that hat was your brother’s. But you can’t throw a militia greatcoat with identifying insignia on it out into the snow. The boots could be left in the captain’s trunk, but not that incriminating coat. Both you and Percy would be suspects, so stuffing it in either of your suitcases would be risky. My instincts told me that you might try to leave it behind. So I went into your room after Percy had cleared it out this morning. It took about five minutes of poking and stomping about, but I soon found the loose floorboards under the carpet over by the dresser. They came up easily. And there was the coat, stuffed between joists and destined to remain there to provide nesting material for generations of mice.”