The Statue of Three Lies

by David Cargill

  ‘Edgar had puzzled me for some time! I couldn’t put my finger on it but something nagged at the bottom of my mind. Something to do with his fear of the dark! His fear of the dark was matched by his horror of fire. No, Edgar would never have condescended to be a party to such a prank except for an assurance of it being harmless fun. Unless...!’

  He looked across at Isabella Ramsden. She was watching him with apprehension in her eyes.

  ‘Perhaps you will confirm my suspicions, Isabella after I have finished my explanations!’

  The nod of her head plus the understanding that emanated from the elderly lady’s misty eyes was all that Giles required to continue expounding his theory.

  ‘Something I couldn’t quite get out of my head was what had brought me here in the first place? It was the letter from Laura with the riddle. The riddle was supposedly by the psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud. Was it coincidence, I asked myself, that the riddle was the writing of a man who believed that childhood events have a powerful psychological influence throughout life? Was Laura aware that this particular riddle might direct my thoughts in a certain direction or had she already a suspicion of a specific member of the family without any plausible explanation? This set me thinking. It wasn’t difficult to assume that Edgar’s phobias stemmed from childhood but try as I might I couldn’t imagine what had been so scary for him. That is until I recalled staying here at the Hall one night in March 1941.’

  ‘It was the thirteenth and we were down at the lodge playing Monopoly with Doreen and George. Those were the days of the blackout and it was just about time to return to Maskelyne Hall when the faint sound of the air raid sirens could be heard coming from Lockerbie. We could barely hear them but I remembered the look in Edgar’s eyes; it was the same look of fear he showed in the lounge one evening at Halloween when a log fell out of the fire causing a shower of sparks; it was also the same look I’d seen at dinner the night the lights went out and Conrad struck a match.’

  The Prof studied the expressions on the faces of Isabella, Doreen and George.

  ‘It also was evident when we discussed flak and barrage balloons. I knew I’d seen it before but couldn’t remember where! Then it came to me! It was the night the German bombers flew over Lockerbie on their way to Clydebank. George, who was an air raid warden at the time, had to react to every “yellow message” that we, as kids, used to think was hilarious. He had to go on duty and Doreen was left to take us back here. We thought it all a bit of adventurous fun; all of us that is except Edgar who was crying in a kind of hysterical fashion. Doreen was running on tiptoes and telling everyone to be quiet as we headed back to the Hall. We could hear the uneven drone of the aircraft engines overhead and Doreen kept warning us to lower our voices to a whisper to avoid being heard by the enemy airmen. By the time we reached safety Edgar was inconsolable and it has taken me all this time to understand why.’

  The nod from Isabella was received by Giles with quiet satisfaction and he returned her movement with a similar nod.

  ‘You see,’ he continued, ‘if my theory about Edgar and Jack’s assistant was to have some meaning I had to know if there was anything in Edgar’s past that would have convinced him to support her in a prank against the family. I decided there was no harm in doing some research; that’s why I checked official records. I have no doubt that you’ll confirm what I learned, Isabella?’

  The matriarch of Maskelyne Hall clasped her hands in her lap and looked straight at Giles. There was a tear in her eye.

  ‘I knew you’d learn the truth sooner or later. There seemed no point in making it known at the time, that would’ve made it more difficult for Edgar to adjust, and the rest of the family accepted the arrangement as natural.’

  There was a shuffling in the quietness of the library as everyone waited for her to continue.

  ‘Jack’s brother and his wife died in the blitz on London in 1940. Edgar, who was their only child, survived so it was logical for him to join us and grow up as a member of my family. It was fairly easy to explain that he’d been away to boarding school and nothing was ever questioned.’

  ’Thank you, Mrs Ramsden, for being so helpful. It confirms everything I found out. It was good to hear it from your own lips even though official records are difficult to dispute. It was the one piece in the jigsaw that encouraged me to believe that Edgar might be an accomplice to a prank, a prank at the expense of his uncle and not against his father. After all it was only to be a practical joke. He would introduce the ex assistant to his family as Sally, his fiancee, on the day of the birthday party before the illusion and then to the magician after it, when they could laugh at the whole affair. At any rate that was the plan.’

  ‘Come off it Giles, you may be correct in one or two of your assumptions, but you can’t expect us to swallow your story that Sally was Jack’s assistant! That’s what you’re saying, isn’t it? Come on, pull the other one!’

  ‘Victor is quite right,’ Conrad said, getting to his feet, ‘It’s a bit far fetched even by your standards. I mean if Sally and Edgar choose to refute your allegations you really won’t have a leg to stand on. It’s your word against theirs! You’re dreaming again!’

  ‘I suppose, in a way, you are perfectly correct. Since the only other person who could testify that Sally was Jack’s assistant was Jack himself, but now he’s dead, that would leave those two suspects as my only chance for a confessional corroboration. I accept that, Conrad; as you say it is my word against theirs! If you’ll sit down again perhaps I can convince you all.’

  Victor lit a cigarette sat back in his seat and crossed his legs.

  ‘I challenge you,’ he said, ‘to produce both Edgar and Sally right now as if you were the master magician and ask them to tell you exactly who they are. I can’t wait to see the look on your face when they tell you that it’s a cock and bull story you’ve concocted!’

  ‘Have you hidden them away so as you can play the great detective?’ Mabel enquired. ‘Is that why George had the shotgun when he came in?’ she said in a tone that suggested she was now seeing the significance of everything. ‘You’ve deliberately prevented them from listening to your accusations because you know they would deny all you’ve said!’

  ‘I’m sorry to spoil your fun, Mabel, but neither Edgar nor Sally is able to confirm or deny my suspicions.!’

  Victor got to his feet in outrage.

  ’We’ll soon see about that,’ he stormed. ‘I’m going looking for them this very moment!’

  ‘Sit down at once, Victor. You’re going nowhere!’

  The Profs words were delivered like a stern schoolmaster.

  ’Edgar is dead - he was murdered this afternoon. The noise you heard coming from the cellar was the police removing his body and I assure you he won’t be making any statements to them!’

  ‘Murdered, you say?’ exclaimed Mrs. Doreen Gardner, at the same time putting an arm round Isabella Ramsden who had slumped in her chair.

  ‘Yes! No doubt about it! He asked me to meet him in the cellar earlier this afternoon, as he wanted to tell me something. The note he left for me suggested he knew who the murderer was. I’m sure he wished to get the whole sordid business off his chest. Someone had tampered with the fuse and it was dark in the cellar when I arrived; I almost fell over him. I’m positive he was going to tell me what I already knew but had no real proof...when he was silenced!’

  ‘There you are then, Giles,’ exclaimed a triumphant Conrad, ‘you’ve just shot yourself in the foot. Sally would never kill her own husband! She would never.’

  The knocks on the library door stopped Conrad from completing what he was saying. The knocks were repeated and the door opened on silent hinges. A senior police officer entered and removed his hat, crossed to Giles and had a whispered conversation with him. Giles nodded his head in quiet understanding of the news he was hearing. His face was grave and he looked decidedly older. The police officer turned, left the room and closed the door.

  Giles went over to
the ashtray and stubbed out his cigar before turning to the assembled group.

  ‘I think we should all retire to the lounge,’ he said, ‘where we can be a little more comfortable. I’ll complete my findings to you there. Meanwhile I am sorry to be the bearer of further bad news...Sally is dead!’

  Chapter 21

  THE HANGING JUDGEMENT

  And naked to the hangman’s noose

  The morning clocks will ring

  A neck God made for other use

  Than strangling in a string.

  A.E. Housman

  George brought the smouldering embers of the log fire to life as the rest of the household gathered in the lounge. The rosy glow of firelight was starting to warm the ashen faces around him as the Prof prepared to deliver his final pronouncements.

  ‘Don’t you think you owe us an explanation?’ Victor demanded belligerently. ‘Two more deaths, you say, in mysterious circumstances and you haven’t had the decency to give us an idea of what has been going on. You have made accusations against two members of this family who apparently cannot now defend themselves. If Edgar and Sally are dead as you say they are, and I’m not sure whether to believe you or not, don’t you understand that your trumped up case has just died with them?’

  ‘Oh they’re dead all right and, contrary to what you’ve just said, their deaths prove my case and I’ll explain why I think so and let you be judge and jury.’

  The stoical housekeeper was comforting Isabella who was sobbing quietly; Laura was standing beside Victor looking pale and frightened, her older brother, with jutting jaw, stood legs apart and arms folded ready to assert his authority; Mabel knelt in front of the fire with hands clasped, shivering ever so slightly, whilst Conrad stood with one hand on her shoulder. Freddie had wandered over to the windows and looked out on a dark foreboding sky.

  ‘Your explanation had better be good!’ Victor said in a threatening manner. ‘Otherwise you may become the subject of a full scale investigation!’

  The Prof cleared his throat several times and scanned the assembled group.

  ‘You may or may not have noticed,’ he began, ‘ that when we were all gathered here earlier this afternoon, before asking Laura and Sally to leave us and make final preparations for their illusion, I asked Laura to do something for me. I asked her to tell Sally, when they were alone together, that I knew what she was doing in the cellar this afternoon, that I knew she wasn’t in the smaller bathroom washing her hair on the night Jack was shot fourteen years ago and that I now knew who the murderer was!’

  He looked across to Laura.

  ‘Did you speak to Sally, Laura?’

  ‘Yes I did!’

  ‘Did she say anything?’

  ‘No! She just stared at me in a strange way. There was a faraway look in her eyes, as if she was going away and had difficulty saying...goodbye.’

  ‘She was saying goodbye, but in her own way. She knew the game was up and had two choices. You see I arranged that particular illusion because I knew that at some stage Sally had to substitute for Laura in order for Laura to enter the empty caravan then reappear after Sally had left the room. When she left the room she could either have returned as soon as the show was over and challenged me to prove my allegations or she could try and make a getaway. I was banking that she would try and make a run for it and the noise Mabel heard was, as she rightly thought, a car. It was Sally leaving in Edgar’s car and I had already warned George to be prepared for such an emergency. The “yellow message” I gave him was the same as I gave to the local police.’

  The Prof paused to allow what he had just said to sink in.

  ‘They manned a barricade at the entrance gate and that was also the reason dear old George carried his shotgun, though the police did not care too much for that action.’

  Giles looked across at a chastened groom - his smile and nod saying a silent “thank you” before his expression changed to one of doom.

  ‘Sad to say,’ he continued, ‘Sally did not stop at the tractor blocking her only way of escape. Instead she swerved, crashed through the fencing and, because of her speed, failed to turn on to the road, but careered across and down the embankment on the other side. Her car rolled over several times before hitting a tree and, although she was still conscious when the police and George reached her, she apparently died shortly afterwards. That was the news the police officer brought me in the library. She was still wearing the black robe when she died!’

  ‘Tell me, George, did she say anything before.?’ Isabella Ramsden’s quavering question choked in her throat.

  ‘Yes, Mrs. Ramsden!’ George replied, his voice quiet but ominous. ‘She said "Edgar had to die you know...andall those years ago I thought I’d committed the perfect murder until Giles...!” then she closed her eyes.’

  Mabel looked up from her place by the fire, her eyes showing bewilderment.

  ‘I still don’t understand!’ she cried. ‘Where was Sally if she wasn’t in the other bathroom washing her hair when poor Jack was shot? If she entered the library the way you’ve described she had to get in through the main bathroom and we know that’s impossible ‘cause Laura was already there...sorry, Laura, I didn’t mean to suggest.!’

  At that point Mabel started biting her lip.

  ‘I’m just so confused I don’t know what I’m saying!’

  ‘Oh but you do, Mabel!’ The Prof’s gently spoken words brought a fleeting smile to her face. ‘All along I was just as confused until I saw how it could be done! Then it all fell into place!’

  Giles paused for a moment then crossed over to Laura, took hold of her hands and looked earnestly into her eyes.

  ‘I want answers to several questions,’ he said, ‘and much depends on what you say! No more lies, you understand!’She nodded in agreement.

  ‘On the night your father died did you go to the main bathroom intending to enter the library via the dumb-waiter?’

  ’Yes!’

  ‘What stopped you assisting your father in his Jekyll and Hyde illusion?’

  ‘I couldn’t get into the chimney! The bathroom cabinet wouldn’t budge...it was jammed!’

  ‘So what did you do then?’

  ‘I wasn’t sure what to do. You see it had never happened during rehearsals and I wondered if Daddy had fixed things that way and altered his plans.’

  ‘So what did you do, Laura? Answer me truthfully!’

  ‘I took a bath!’

  ‘Exactly! As simple as that!’ Giles let go of her hands and smacked both of his together in one loud clap that startled Mabel into a half scream.

  ‘Exactly!’ he repeated. ‘But why did you not tell me this when you brought me back to Maskelyne Hall? It might have saved a lot of trouble!’

  ‘You wouldn’t have believed me! You’d have been convinced I was lying ...you’d have believed I was the murderer! I couldn’t prove that I didn’t, after all, carry out the prearranged plan of entry to the library and it would’ve seemed I was the only person who had the opportunity. All the others had to do was deny everything!’

  ‘Quite possibly!’ Giles stroked his chin and sighed audibly.

  ‘So you couldn’t open the dumb waiter! Do you now know why?’

  ‘No!’

  ‘For the simple reason that someone was already inside the chimney and had locked it from inside. That someone was Sally, Jack’s previous assistant, who knew all about the planned route for the illusion.’

  ‘You still haven’t explained how she could get into the dumbwaiter ahead of Laura without being noticed and, more importantly, how she could return to the other bathroom while Laura was still taking a bath?’ It was Conrad’s turn to pose the question.

  ‘Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.’ Giles replied. ‘Why don’t we start at the beginning and I’ll take you step by step right through to the.’ He cleared his throat then gestured to Victor, Laura and George to sit down. Freddie came away from the windows and took a seat close to where Giles was standing.
>
  ‘Unfortunately we’ll never know exactly what Jack and his assistant were rowing about before he sent her packing, but Isabella said something that puzzled me when describing the “almighty row” she’d overheard. It didn’t register at the time, I grant you that, but later when I examined possible motives it started to make sense. You see, Isabella said it sounded like...she was threatening - blackmail! Whatever it was - it was serious stuff! Since we are now aware that Sally was Jack’s assistant and had been having a serious relationship with Edgar for some time, but with no intention of being introduced as such until after the birthday illusion, I wondered if she might have been testing the water by asking the magician to introduce her to his unmarried son with the possibility that, in time, she could become a future daughter-in-law? That would’ve been like a red rag to a bull as far as Jack was concerned and he would have told her so in no uncertain terms. His reaction would certainly throw a spanner in the works and might have sparked a chain reaction where she conceivably threatened to inform his wife about certain unconfirmed allegations regarding his conduct with his assistant - blackmail of the worst kind that could destroy his reputation! All surmise and conjecture, I’m afraid, as none of the prime characters are in a position to enlighten us!

  ’The Prof looked pensive as he dug his hands deep into his trouser pockets.

  ‘When Jack booted her out of his house he assumed she was not only out of his system, but out of his life as well. He would never have believed he had already created the blueprint for his own death! When Sally formulated the plan with Edgar to play a prank on Jack, who was his uncle and not his father, remember, it was on the understanding that it was only to be a jocular exercise in teaching him a lesson. I’m sure that Sally had other ideas right from the start. She was a conniving temptress who was planning murder but was perfectly happy to let her fiance believe otherwise. After all Edgar was a rather naive seventeen years old and was probably easily dominated by this beautiful femme fatale in his life who was several years his senior.’