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I think Mrs Jocelyn did lie to Jocelyn because Posodini seems like the guy who has come clean the most. Although - a good liar uses most of the truth to make his story sound plausible. I think it is a ridiculous coincidence again that Blane would spot him, know him, and dob him in on behalf of an unnamed friend, Blane does not seem so far like the kind of guy who even has friends. I think Posodini is a confederate of the fake Stodart/Blane because Jocelyn keeps losing money and seems too dumb to have roped the con man in. I think Jocelyn's indignation and denial is true and instead the actual conman did con his way onboard the ship, in league with Blane. Mrs Jocelyns motive may simply be to just get back at her husband for spending too much time with Ferri. It also fits with my theory so far that the detective is terrible and just believes everything that everyone tells him until he gets an update from the boss back on the mainland to set him on the right path.
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Oct 2, 2015 19:27
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Stoca Zola posted:It also fits with my theory so far that the detective is terrible and just believes everything that everyone tells him until he gets an update from the boss back on the mainland to set him on the right path. This is definitely a common trope in crime fiction.
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Oct 2, 2015 19:29
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The detective is almost certainly terrible. I agree that Blane doesn't seem like the kind of person who would have friends. He's consistently described as a camera-shy recluse. The whole story about how Slick got nabbed the first time around is fishy. But, either way, it renders Slick/Posodini's behavior in that last interview difficult to understand. Why would he explain his own motive to kill Blane to Kettering? Even worse, why would he fabricate a motive out of thin air that only serves to implicate him, especially since he's already the most suspicious person on board? Slick probably believes the story himself, but that doesn't mean it's the truth, necessarily. Wouldn't it be hilarious if it turned out that neither Mr. nor Mrs. Jocelyn were in their cabin at the specified time - and yet, neither one did the deed? Ms. Rocksavage has a history of meddling in other people's marriages, and she was also unaccounted for at the time. What if both of them are trying desperately to cover up their own infidelities, and are sticking to the 7:45 timestamp out of fear of being caught out for that?
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Oct 2, 2015 19:39
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I wonder if the Detective is ever going to interview the so-far unnamed Chief Steward, who is potentially the only other person (other than the Bishop and Lady Welter) to actually see Stodart and Blaine together. Stodart states that the Chief Steward shows them to their cabin. Ringbottom also refers to the Chief Steward a couple of times so it's surprising he hasn't been interviewed yet.
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Oct 3, 2015 07:59
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More information only sourced from Stodart. I'd feel a lot better with independant verification that two were actually physically seen on the boat. Also looking back I noticed that empty cabin, a convenient place for "dead" Blane to hide, or actual dead Blane's body to be hidden? I kind of feel like the Count and Ferri might have both been keeping the Jocelyn's distracted for some reason. Still undecided as to whether that is related or a separate intrigue. Rocksavage going all out buying shares doesn't necessarily point to him being guilty of anything, it's what a businessman would do given the opportunity and it would be more suspicious not to go for it.
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Oct 3, 2015 08:30
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Why is Stodart's tie so short? Why is he wearing his pants halfway up his torso? No, seriously - was that fashionable in the 30s, or is he wearing ill-fitting clothes for some reason? It could be a clue.
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Oct 3, 2015 10:41
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I think the short tie and harry high pants look wasn't that unusual back then, spotted this example: The artist currently known as "Stodart" is too tall to have stolen someone else's clothes. It would show at his ankles and wrists if nowhere else, and those look to be about right. Well I'll go back and look just to be sure but I remember scrutinising him for this very same issue earlier on.
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Oct 3, 2015 12:37
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I noticed something! Stodart's suitcase is covered in stickers. They are sometimes layered, and some look newer than others. This lets us do a little bit of travel archaeology! Stodart's account of his travels and timeline: 1890 Born Felixstowe England, Boarding school 1906 Moved to India, worked in Calcutta 1914 Enlisted but stayed in Northern India for the whole of the war 1917 Father died, leaving nothing, stayed with Ranaga Rubber Co 1931 Company went bankrupt due to Depression, Stodart stayed in India, got scraps of work, was broke 1934 Returned to England, got scraps of work, was broke 1936 Gains employ with Bolitho Blane, travels to US Stodart's Suitcase's account of his travels (some of them are unintelligble but still): Savoy Hotel - A luxury hotel in Westminster London. Stodart's backstory does not support the idea that he could afford to ever stay here. Marseille, which is covered by W Italia (short for viva Italia), one of the newest stickers. It means that the suitcase went to Italy after it went to Marseille (and after the Savoy too) New York - this one is old and covered with other stickers. Stodart's backstory never includes a time that this sticker could have been placed. This one is covered by: Cunard Line - A shipping company that actually merged with White Star Line in 1934, placing an actual latest possible date at which this sticker could have been placed. This company operated between North America and Britain. Oh! The RMS Lusitania, which was sunk by Germans and brought the US into the first world war, was a Cunard Line ship. something (MRM?) Cruise Line - No Idea, can't read this one. SelenicMartian is there any chance of a clearer picture of that suitcase? Assuming the layers of stickers indicate direction, it looks like Stodart's case has travelled from New York, via Cunard Line to Britain, at some point stayed at the Savoy, at some point visited Marseille and then Italy afterwards (newest looking sticker). It's a direction heading towards India, not away from it. The stickers should be layered the opposite way around for them to support Stodart's story. It is possible that dirt poor Stodart has bought a second hand suitcase that is much more well travelled than he is, but I think it's more likely that Stodart is lying and is a well travelled con man (or Blane, who has reason to be well travelled). Stoca Zola fucked around with this message at 13:33 on Oct 3, 2015 |
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Oct 3, 2015 13:23
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Stoca Zola posted:SelenicMartian is there any chance of a clearer picture of that suitcase? 
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Oct 3, 2015 14:00
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Good catch! That luggage is definitely more well-traveled than you would expect from someone with Stodart's backstory. However, I'm not sure what theory it fits with. If Stodart is Blane, and that is Blane's luggage, then the luggage in ther other room would belong to the real Stodart, if indeed he exists at all, but that luggage is also festooned with stickers, including one that seems to say "Ritz", indicating another line of famous five-star hotels which someone with that backstory couldn't have afforded to stay at either. It works better if Stodart is a fictional person in the first place - all the luggage then belongs to Blane. I wish Kettering would've inventoried Stodart's luggage, too. He seems altogether far too eager to let Stodart off the hook without any closer inspection.
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Oct 3, 2015 14:01
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Excellent, that's the Madrid Savoy not the one in England, I could only make out the final D before so I wasn't sure. The other sticker doing a bad job of obliterating the New York sticker is just another Cunard Line one, and in fact I would love to see what text is in this box here:   ...whether that name in the box is Stodart or Blane or something entirely different. I suspect we won't get that level of detail unless the Detective starts actually paying attention to things. The rhomboid sticker is for The New Colonial Hotel, Nassau, Bahamas which was a luxury hotel built in 1923 after the original Colonial Hotel burned down. INTERESTINGLY Nassau, Bahamas is the intended final destination of the S.Y. Golden Gull. We don't get photos of anyone else's rooms so I think this suitcase is pretty significant! This suitcase has travelled the same path that Rocksavage's Yacht has been before; is "Stodart" a confederate of Rocksavage's, or of one of Rocksavage's regular passengers? Have both Blane AND original secretary been done away with, and this new Stodart is someone the Bishop knows as a Rocksavage confederate, in disguise (thus the faint)? I don't like this theory at all but you have to admit the Bahamas are more likely to be visited by someone based in America like the Rocksavages, than someone supposedly based in Britain like Blane. I guess Blane could have been a bit of a globe trotter since it was his custom to do all his business by wire anyway (according to Stodart) and most likely when Blane travelled it would be under an alias. He seems like a paranoid type who likes being disguised and using false names. The Cunard Line stickers indicate to me that the owner of the suitcase is likely to have rubbed shoulders with Slick Daniels the Count before since that is his hunting grounds. The Mauritania, where he was first arrested, is one of Cunard Line's ships. I think Slick Posodini and "Stodart" might share the bathroom between their two rooms since on the floorplan there is no letter assigned to the central bathroom on either side cabins, so maybe they planned something together? I mean I'm really grasping at straws here but I do not think we were shown a picture of that closed suitcase full of stickers for no reason. Just rereading some of the previous updates and Slick Posodini's tale of being recognised by Bolitho Blane once, and then wanting to be on the same boat as him - the story doesn't add up. He would have no chance to make money off anyone/blend in with the rich crowd etc if Blane recognised him again. If the first part is true, the second part only makes sense if he knows Blane won't actually be there (or won't be in a fit state to recognise anything). His disguise really isn't that good. So either he's lying about Blane recognising him the first time, or he's lying about why he wanted to come on the journey (or both). He has no reason to lie unless he is hiding something!
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Oct 3, 2015 15:30
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Or he could have bought a second hand suitcase.
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Oct 3, 2015 16:17
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It could be a loaner from his boss even 
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Oct 3, 2015 16:19
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Update 7. Pages 87 to 97. Rudeness and obstruction. : Today we speak with the presumably richer part of the party.DETECTIVE OFFICER NEAME'S SHORTHAND NOTES OF DETECTIVE OFFICER KETTERING'S SECOND EXAMINATION OF MISS FERRI ROCKSAVAGE.  : Good morning, Miss Rocksavage. : Good morning.: Sorry to trouble you again but there's just a little difference of opinion between Mr. Jocelyn and yourself as to what time you came down from the top deck on the evening of Blane's death. He says it was 7.30 and you say it was 7.15. Can you clear that up for me?: I'm afraid not. I didn't really notice the time and perhaps it was twenty or twenty-five past seven, but surely you're not suggesting that I had anything to .......: Of course not, Miss Rocksavage, of course not. But saying it was even as late as 7.25 you didn't get into the lounge changed until 8.40. That is an hour and a quarter after you came below. Surely that's a long time for even a lady to take changing for dinner.: But I told you yesterday that I didn't start to change at once. I was reading a book in my cabin for half an hour or so after I came down.: Yes, I remember that, but as you had so much spare time on your hands it seems a little strange that you should have been ten minutes late for dinner.: I was interested in my book and I forgot the time. You must know how easy it is to do that if you are deep in an exciting story. My maid will tell you that I did not ring for her until nearly a quarter past eight. That's why I was late.: I see, and you did not see Mr. Jocelyn again after, say, 7.30 at the latest, until you reached the lounge at 8.40?: Why do you ask that?: Well, I'm just going to let you in on something, Miss Rocksavage, which I want you to keep to yourself. It's not your movements that I'm interested in but Mr. Jocelyn's.: You don't think .......: I don't know, Miss Rocksavage, but unless he can bring somebody forward to vouch for what he was up to between 7.30 and 8.10 things aren't going to look too good for him. If, on the other hand, you were with him for longer than you say we'd forget your previous statement, and that might make just all the difference as far as he's concerned.: No, no. I wasn't with him after, say, 7.30 at the latest.: All right, Miss Rocksavage, thank you.: Suddenly, Kettering remembers maids can talk.DETECTIVE OFFICER NEAME'S SHORTHAND NOTES OF DETECTIVE OFFICER KETTERING'S EXAMINATION OF MISS ROCKSAVAGE'S MAID, NELLIE ORDE. : Come in. Don't look so scared now. I'm not going to bite you. Sit down kid. : Oh, I'm not scared.: That's the way. Now, you're Miss Rocksavage's maid, aren't you ? D'you help her to dress every evening?: Yes.: Did you help her the night that Blane got his?: Yes.: How long were you with her?: She rang for me about ten after eight and we weren't through till near a quarter of nine.: How d'you find her when you came along?: All right. She's always cheerful. I'll give her that. She made me hustle though, getting her out of her dress.: That so. How was the cabin?: Just like any cabin always is.: Can it. You know what I mean. Was it all tidy, or did it look as though she'd had a party there?: If she'd had ten parties I wouldn't be telling you. I like Miss Ferri and I like my job.: I get you. Maybe you wouldn't object to a party yourself some time?(NOTES CONCLUDED ON THIS AS HAVING NO FURTHER REFERENCE TO CASE.) : ... What just happened? Did she say something rude to him? Did they arrange a date? Did they have sex while Neame took notes?DETECTIVE OFFICER NEAME'S SHORTHAND NOTES OF DETECTIVE OFFICER KETTERING'S SECOND EXAMINATION OF MR CARLTON ROCKSAVAGE. : Good morning, Mr. Rocksavage. : 'Morning, Mr. Kettering.: What's the latest quotation for Argus Suds?: Eh! Oh, they opened at 13½ this morning, but why the question?: I was just thinking what a fine break it is for you that Blane should have faded out just when he did.: What the devil d'you mean?: Only that you must be picking up those Argus shares by the bucket full and making a fine thing out of it. That's all, Mr. Rocksavage.: Now look here, what are you insinuating?: I'm not insinuating anything. I'm only voicing what is quite apparent to anybody who knows anything of your financial situation during the past few weeks. You were up against it Mr. Rocksavage. Up against it pretty badly until Blane's death, but once that happened it was easy enough for you to get all the financial backing you needed and you're picking up Blane's shares as hard as you can go, so that before you're much older you'll have control of his companies as well as your own. That will make you the unchallenged king of the soap market with a secure future. It's a bit unfortunate though that Blane should have died on your yacht.: Everything you say is perfectly true. I admit that, as you would see it, I had a strong motive for putting Blane out of the way, but very fortunately the facts of the case place me absolutely beyond any suspicion. I did not leave the lounge until ten past eight, so how could I possibly have murdered a man, disposed of his body, and changed for dinner - all in twenty minutes?: Twenty-five, Mr. Rocksavage. You didn't get back to the lounge until 8.35 and I hear you are an expert quick-change artist. I've just been talking to Mr, Jocelyn. He tells me that you wagered Count Posodini a hundred dollars that you would change in under 4 minutes on the night before Blane's death, and that you won your bet. If you did that the night Blane died it would have left you a full 20 minutes to commit this crime and clear up afterwards.: So Jocelyn said that did he, but wait a minute, how d'you know that he didn't do this job? I passed him in the passage still unchanged at ten past eight, when I went down to change myself.: Did you now!: I did, so perhaps you'll exercise your talents in finding out what he was up to between 7.45 and 8.10. There was much more time for him to have done this job than me.: He hadn't got your motive.: He certainly had. He's always lived above his income. For the last five years he's been entirely dependent on Lady Welter. She's in a jam because of those fool paper she runs. She loses a packet on them every year, yet she won't give them up because she just lives for this christian crusading business. If I'd failed to do a deal with Blane she would have gone under with me and young Jocelyn would have found himself on his uppers. He stood to benefit just as much by Blane's death as I did. More, in fact, because even if Rocksavage Consolidates had gone down the drain I have other resources.: I get your point, Mr. Rocksavage.: How about the Jap too?: How about him?: Well, he stood in to lose a million dollars if Blane had lived long enough to come to an arrangement with me.: I'd certainly like to hear some more about that, Mr. Rocksavage.: It's this way. Officially he's acting for the Shikoku people and he's been trying to sell me the Japanese soap monopoly on their behalf for months past, but he's playing ball with another crowd called the Totomi Soap Company on the side. They're in a position where they might be able to queer the pitch as a home producing firm by rousing national opinion against the monopoly going outside Japan, unless they're squared first. Their price was a million, so Hayashi wouldn't have got it all, but I'll bet he stood in for a pretty useful split. I wouldn't conclude though, once I got the idea of coming to terms with Blane, but if my deal with him had fallen though Hayashi knew he could count on my signing up. It's plain sailing for him now Blane's out of the way, and you know what these Orientals are. He had a mighty strong motive to do in Blane in order to prevent Blane and me getting together.: Does Kazuma Kiryu's orphanage come into this plot?: That's certainly something to work on Mr. Rocksavage and I'll get down to following up what you've said of Jocelyn and Hayashi right away.: Good. And there's no trouble I won't go to in helping your investigation. I don't need telling the sort of thing that people are going to say on account of Blane having died on my yacht, so its to my interest, more than anybody's, that poor Blane's murderer should be brought to book.: Don't worry, Mr. Rocksavage, we'll get him.: Right away Kettering follows up on the info about Hayashi and Jocelyn by calling Lady Welter.DETECTIVE OFFICER NEAME'S SHORTHAND NOTES OF DETECTIVE OFFICER KETTERING'S SECOND EXAMINATION OF LADY WELTER. : Come in, Lady Welter. I hope you're feeling a little more reasonable this morning. I've got to ask you a few more questions and the sooner you realise that rudeness and obstruction will only prolong the ordeal the better it will be for you. : I find all this most tiresome. I've already told you that I know nothing whatsoever about this man Blane's death.: I hasn't occurred to you I suppose that you might be charged with it?: What! I! You're mad, my man. I shall report you.: Wow, he's not even trying to butter them up first any more.: You can make any report you like but it won't alter the fact that you had a very strong motive for wishing Bolitho Blane out of the way.: This is ridiculous.: Not at all. You lost a big portion of your fortune in 1929, you've been paying up the losses on these papers which you run for years and now you are up against it, because the Rocksavage companies in which the remainder of your money is invested passed their dividend last year. Owing to Blane's death Rocksavage is back on his feet again and you with him.: Well, if that is so Mr. Rocksavage benefits by this man Blane's death just as much as I do.: You're wrong there. Rocksavage has other assets outside his soap companies, whereas you haven't, so motive is stronger in your case.: This is absurd, as though an elderly woman like myself could murder a man and push him out of the porthole.: You're only 55 Lady Welter and a strong, well preserved woman at that. Let me assure you from my police experience that many a woman with less physical strength than yourself could have done this business and in your case the motive was there. Moreover, there is no check on your movements from the time you came below with the Bishop at 7.5 until you arrived in the lounge changed at 8.5 on the night of Blane's death. : Oh, yes there is, young man. My maid was with me, helping me to dress for dinner.: Ah, now that puts a very different complexion on it, but why didn't you tell me that before Lady Welter?: Because I didn't think you could be such a fool as to suspect a woman like myself of a crime like this.: Was she with you the whole time?: No, I rang for her when I reached my cabin and she was with me for about half an hour, until I had finished dressing.: Wait a moment then, that only gets us to about 7.35, and we know Blane was alive at 7.45. You were already changed and you had twenty minutes, therefore, in which you might have done this job before arriving in the lounge.: I was in my cabin the whole time.: So you say Lady, but I want proof of that and, if you're a wise woman, you'll do your best to produce it.: Proof! But how can anybody prove such a thing. You must take my word for it.: I'm afraid I want something more than that. What were you doing all that time?: Well, if you must know, I was knitting a jumper. I only had one sleeve to do so I thought I would finish it before I went in to dinner.: Can you give my any proof of that?: Yes. My maid knows just how far I had got with the jumper before I dressed that evening and I left it finished on the table for her to press when I left my cabin half an hour later.: Can you produce the jumper Lady Welter?: She did, two days ago.: Yes.: All right. That'll do for the moment ....... no, not out of that door. D'you mind stepping into the next cabin for a few moments. I'm going to see your maid and I don't want there to be any chance of your fixing things up between you before I've had a word with her.: What impertinence!: Women Kettering stashed in the next cabin: 2.DETECTIVE OFFICER NEAME'S SHORTHAND NOTES OF DETECTIVE OFFICER KETTERING'S EXAMINATION OF LADY WELTER'S MAID, MILDRED SHORT. : Come in Mildred. Just a few questions I want to ask you about what happened on the night Mr. Blane me his death. : Yes, sir.: What time did Lady Welter ring for you to come along and help her dress that night?: I think it was about ten past seven, sir, that is when I got to her ladyship's cabin.: How long were you with her?: Just under half an hour sir. I was back in the service room below by twenty-five to eight.: Lady Welter was busy knitting a jumper that day, wasn't she?: Yes, sir.: Do you remember how far she had got with it before she sent for you to help her to dress?: She only had one sleeve left to do, sir.: How long would that take her?: About half and hour, sir. It as only a short sleeve, you see.: When you came back to her cabin, after she had gone up, did you notice if the jumper was just the same, or had she done anything with it?: I didn't see it then, sir. In fact, I was wondering yesterday what had happened to it because I haven't seen it since.: Is that so? All right. You can go. Mildred.: Next time:
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Oct 3, 2015 17:36
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Hrrm. The times when the maids came up from the lower deck match the observations of Ringbottom and Jenks within a 5-minute or so window, though we still don't know why one of them took the long way to her mistress's cabin. The most interesting thing here is Rocksavage's testimony that he ran into Mr. Jocelyn, unchanged, on his way from the lounge to his cabin. Rocksavage's cabin is on the opposite side from the Jocelyns' cabin, and furthermore their cabin door is not visible from the lounge stairway. If Jocelyn was moving from Blane's cabin to his own, there is no reason why he would bump into Rocksavage unless Rocksavage himself was also going the wrong way. More likely, then, that Jocelyn was coming from the starboard side going back towards his cabin... for instance, because he had just spent half an hour in, say, Ferri's cabin. So, the flow of events then is that Mr. Jocelyn and Ferri Rocksavage were up to some hanky-panky in her cabin until about 8:10, when he left her cabin and she called for her maid. On the way, Jocelyn runs into Mr. Rocksavage, who is just coming down from the lounge to change. Ms. Jocelyn, at this time, is in Slick's cabin. Mr. Jocelyn makes it back to his cabin and into the bath; she arrives shortly thereafter. Neither one wants to own up to what they've been doing, so they go with the "7:45" fabrication (perhaps through silent agreement). Hyper Crab Tank fucked around with this message at 21:28 on Oct 3, 2015 |
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Oct 3, 2015 19:00
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Warm night can't sleep, had an idea. Ferri is into acting, has been to Europe, possibly has made an actor friend who is now posing as Stodart? Perhaps the bishop didn't recognise Blane but did recognise an actor? Rocksavage's business partner was supposedly poisoned, Mrs Rocksavage is now dead and gone after her father provided money to get Rocksavage started, all the other companies that Stodart wrote stock info down for bar one, the first one, are owned by Rocksavage. Perhaps the Rocksavages are utterly ruthless when it comes to money.
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Oct 3, 2015 19:42
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I get a vague feeling that Slick might have been brought in to vouch for 'Blane' or Stodart in some way. That's the sort of thing I'd actually expect him to be there for, but that's tough to square with what Jocelyn said. It's just a bit convoluted, but could have happened (Slick hired on to work his way into Jocelyn's good faith). It's still unclear whether what Rocksavage said about Hayashi has to do with his correspondence with Blane in New York. Either Hayashi was bluffing or wanted to make a separate deal with Blane's company to avoid having to deal with them jointly. Or there's something more he had to offer, or Rocksavage is lying.
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Oct 3, 2015 21:22
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Did word spread around that Blane was pushed out the porthole? The common trick in detective stories like this is to notice when suspects like Lady Welter know something about the murder that they shouldn't.
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Oct 3, 2015 23:29
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Maybe the reason the detective is so incomptent is that he's teh murderer!
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Oct 3, 2015 23:37
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Nidoking posted:Did word spread around that Blane was pushed out the porthole? The common trick in detective stories like this is to notice when suspects like Lady Welter know something about the murder that they shouldn't. The reports don't mention it, but a lot of people seem aware that the man was killed, at least, and probably know that there's no body. Most of them did have breakfast together the day after. bunnyofdoom posted:Maybe the reason the detective is so incomptent is that he's teh murderer! The Murder of Roger Ackroyd was ten years ago, get with the times. 
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Oct 3, 2015 23:51
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I bet the ship's carpenter would make a better detective than this guy. Blane's letter to The Bishop really seems to be key. It implies that he had some sort of plan that may have involved faking his death/identity swapping, but that also doesn't rule out the possibility of someone bumping him off first. What if in fact Blane & Stodart switched places just because Blane fully expected there to be an attempt on his life? Then Welter/Jocelyn may have killed Stodart who was posing as Blane. Blane lives to see another day with no one the wiser. That still leaves his company in the toilet, but maybe he had a deal with Hayashi. Thinking about this again, even if Blane fakes his death and shows up alive later, it still tanks his stock. So either Blane really hoped for some deal with Rocksavage, but kept Stodart as insurance, or he had some other way to profit off his faked death.
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Oct 4, 2015 00:40
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Blane's motives for faking his own death are the big problem with the switcheroo theory right now. (Well, one of the big problems - there are more.) I can think of a few potential motives, but they all suffer from the problem of being pure speculation, entirely unsubstantiated by any evidence we've been provided. Blane may have been shorting his own stock in anticipation of securing the deal with Hayashi (perhaps he's even secured it ahead of time). He may have just sold his stock already and just intends to abscond. Maybe he's been defrauding the company for some time already. Anyway, it's all speculation.
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Oct 4, 2015 00:52
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My favorite thing about our keen-eyed detective is that he repeatedly lists Miss Rocksavage, who lives entirely off her father's money, as having no possible motive. My second favorite thing is where he asked the maid whether she wants to party. Grab the 1. Bottle bath salts, 1. Bottle white powder and 2. India rubbers from the evidence locker, it's time to get the 1936 equivalent of freaky.
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Oct 4, 2015 13:24
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Maybe Kettering can't read Blane's handwriting either.
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Oct 4, 2015 15:24
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Update 8. Pages 98 to 109. Doing some funny business.: Only two interviews to go and we're done with the fourth report! DETECTIVE OFFICER NEAME'S SHORTHAND NOTES OF DETECTIVE OFFICER KETTERING'S SECOND EXAMINATION OF MR. INOSUKE HAYASHI. : Good morning, Mr. Hayashi. : Good morning, Officer.: I don't think you were quite frank with me yesterday.: Oh, but I am always frank. I answer everything you ask - yes?: Maybe, but you didn't go out of your way to give me any extra information, did you? For instance, you didn't tell me that you had written a note to Blane asking him either to come to your cabin or give you a meeting in his before dinner.: I did not think that had any bearing on the case.: It has a bearing which may make things look very nasty for you, Mr. Hayashi. What time did Blane come to your cabin?: He did not come to my cabin.: Then what time did you go to his?: I did not go to his cabin. Poor man, he ignored my note, perhaps because he had no option.: What time did you send that postcard along to him?: About ten past seven, soon after Mr. Blane came on board. I wrote it in the small writing-room here and sent it down at once.: What were you so anxious to see him about?: It is quite simple. I have the disposal of the soap monopoly of my country in my hands. I must get the best price for my country that I can. I have been negotiating for its sale by correspondence with both Mr. Rocksavage and Mr. Blane, but neither would make me a definite offer. I knew that if these two once got together the chances were that they would arrange an amalgamation. That would have put an end to their competition and my government would have had to accept a much lesser price in consequence. It was my business, therefore, to try and arrange a deal with one of these two gentlemen before they met. I spoke to Mr. Rocksavage soon after I came on board in the afternoon, and he was unwilling to deal with me until he had seen M. Blane. His position was, of course, then far stronger than Mr. Blane's, because the shares of the Blane companies had been falling so heavily during the past few weeks. In consequence, I determined to see Mr. Blane, if I could, and try to persuade him to make a firm deal with me. If he had done so it would have strengthened his position in dealing with Mr. Rocksavage tremendously. I do not know if you are well acquainted with the methods of finance but whichever of these gentlemen had purchased the monopoly I have to offer would have been able to float a new issue upon it and, thereby, draw much fresh capital, which they badly needed, into their concerns. I hoped that Mr. Blane might have been persuaded to see the wisdom of saving himself in this manner, before he opened negotiations with Mr. Rocksavage.: He doesn't talk in paragraphs. How suspicious.: And what did you hope to gain for yourself, if you could have pulled the deal off?: For myself, nothing. I am only the employee of the Shikoku Products Company.: So you say, but what were you standing in to make on the side?: This suggestion you make is one which I resent most strongly.: Now you can cut out that high moral stuff right away, and I'm warning you that you had best come clean. Mr. Rocksavage has given me the low down on the situation. You'd have us believe that you're trying to get the highest price you can for the Shikoku people, who are acting for your government, but that is not the case. The thing you're interested in is the highest bribe you can get to split with the Totomi Soap people, in order to stall them off from wrecking the deal. Rocksavage told me himself that he had promised you $1,000,000 to split with them if the deal went through. It's my opinion that you were scared that if Rocksavage and Blane got together they would no longer be prepared to pay you enough to square the Totomi people, so the whole thing would have fallen through.: That I deny.: Deny it if you like, but it's the truth and we can prove it. In consequence it becomes quite plain now that you had the strongest possible motives for getting rid of Blane. If he and Rocksavage had ever got together it looked as if you were going to lose your share of a million dollars.: Do I understand that you accuse me of the murder of this man Blane?: That's about what it looks like to me.: No, no - please. You make here a big mistake. I have no hand in that - none whatever.: Do you deny that Rocksavage had offered you a big bribe which you intended to split with the Totomi Soap Company, and that you feared you would lose it if Rocksavage and Blane came to an understanding?: On that question I give not my answer now. I reserve it for my defence, should you make the error to charge me with this crime.: Unfortunately you are unable to prove any alibi. You say you went to your cabin at 6.10 and you did not arrive changed in the lounge . . .: But I came up again. I wrote the postcard which you found in Mr. Blane's cabin here, in this writing room, between seven and ten past.: You might have mentioned that yesterday. What did you do then?: I went down again.: Well, that doesn't help us any as you were in your cabin between 7.45 and 8.15 and during those thirty minutes, you may have murdered Blane as I suggest.: No, no. I was in the cabin all that time. Working, please, on my papers and, wait, the steward can prove that I was there at 7.50, because I rang for him.: Why?: To bring me some writing paper. When I asked for it before there was none, as the chief steward had only just returned from Miami and he had the key of the store where it was locked up. That was why I wrote first on a postcard. The steward came back with the writing paper about five minutes after I asked him for it.: Were you changed then?: No, I had not then changed. I was still in lounge suit at five to eight. The steward can prove that. How then could I change my clothes and murder a man in the short space of 20 minutes when, in that time, I also wrote a longish letter?: Where is the letter?: I see no reason why I should answer that question. The document is a secret one and can add nothing to your investigations.: Mr. Hayashi, you don't seem to realise that you are under suspicion of having committed murder. It is vital for your own sake that you should produce any evidence that will free you from suspicion.: It may be true that I am under suspicion, but I hope sincerely, Detective Officer, that you will not do anything so foolish as to charge me with murder. I have assured you that that letter exists. It could be produced, and if produced it would clear me of suspicion immediately. It would also, er ..... make rather a fool of you, so I pray you do not force me to produce it.: Aw, these Oriental tricks won't wash with me. If you'd been writing a letter during those twenty minutes you'd only be too pleased to fetch it up. Will you or won't you?: I have nothing more to say to you, Sir.: O.K. I've done my best with you.: The Bishop, at last.DETECTIVE OFFICER NEAME'S SHORTHAND NOTES OF DETECTIVE OFFICER KETTERING'S SECOND EXAMINATION OF THE BISHOP OF BUDE. : Good morning, Bishop. I hope you're feeling all right again now. That was a rotten business your throwing a faint on us yesterday. : Thank you, thank you, I am better, yes; but my heart you know has been troubling me for some little time and I'm rather subject to these sudden attacks.: Now, that's real bad, particularly as I've got to ask you some rather unpleasant questions.: Dear, dear, I cannot think what they would be about. I have nothing to hide, nothing at all, I assure you.: Well, I hope that is so for all our sakes, but I want the truth about your relations with Bolitho Blane.: A casual acquaintance made years ago. I barely knew the man, as I told you yesterday.: Now, that won't do. You evidently haven't looked in your black despatch box this morning, or you'd realise that, when I was searching the cabins yesterday, I removed that letter from it Blane wrote you a few days back from Adlon-Claridge in New York. In that he spoke of the wonderful friendship you had for each other.: Oh, er - that. What an extraordinary letter it was, wasn't it? I took it to be some kind of a joke. I could hardly regard it as anything else, but I did remember from my meeting with him in the past that Blane had a very queer sense of humour - very queer.: Pointless sort of joke, wasn't it?: Quite pointless, but we all know now that the poor fellow was half off his head with worry. I imagine he must have been suffering from some strange reaction caused by overstrain when he wrote it. Those protestations of friendship were so absurd when you consider that I had only met the man quite casually.: I don't consider anything of the kind, Bishop. In 1917 you knew Blane mighty well.: What - what's that?: You heard. You remember that nasty business in 1917, so nasty that we just won't talk about it. You were in that up to the neck and Blane knew it. For reasons we needn't go into, he decided not to spill the beans at the time, and so you managed to get away with it. If you hadn't you wouldn't be a bishop to-day, but Blane hadn't forgotten he had the goods on you and, when he contemplated doing some funny business during his trip in this yacht, he took the precaution of writing you first to tip you off that if you didn't keep your mouth shut he meant to put you though the hoop. Now, what have you got to say?: Aw, what was the nasty business in 1917?: I protest, sir. I protest. An Episcopal Court exonerated me completely - on every charge - in that most unsavoury matter in which it was my ill-fortune to be involved when I was with the troops in 1917.: All of the troops at once? What a man.: An Episcopal Court might have preferred to give you the benefit of the doubt rather than have a prominent churchman involved in a public scandal.: Be careful, sir. There is, I warn you, such a thing as the law of libel.: I should worry. You wouldn't dare to rake that unsavoury scandal up by bringing an action in a civil court but, unless you're very careful, it's all going to come out now whether you want it to or no.: What d'you mean? You don't think I - I .......: Well maybe we won't have to rake it up, but that largely depends on you. It's my duty to get the man who has murdered Bolitho Blane and, if you'll give me your assistance, I'll do my best to keep you out of this business as far as I can.: That's very kind - very kind, indeed. Of course you must quite understand, officer, that there was no foundation for those charges, none at all, but naturally I should find it most distressing to have that horrible affair made public after all these years. I am afraid I don't see, though, how I can help you more that I have done already.: You came below to your cabin at 7.5 on the night of Blane's death and you did not appear in the lounge until 8.5. What were you doing all that time? I want the truth now.: I was in my cabin. I never left it I assure you.: Can you give me any proof that was so?: No. I fear that I cannot.: I wonder if you realise the seriousness of your situation Bishop. Here is this man, Blane, who knew something which he might have published to your detriment. He writes you a letter from New York containing a veiled threat that in certain circumstances he may give you away. The moment he comes on board you go down to your cabin. If you had started to change then you had forty clear minutes in which to do so, which would bring you round to 7.45, and then fifteen clear minutes before you appeared in the lounge to kill that man who was holding a threat over you. You were the only person on board who had ever met Blane before and you had a very strong motive for wishing him out of the way. D'you understand now how black this case looks against you?: But surely you're not suggesting that - that .......: I certainly am.: But my dear sir, this is - well really!: It's really a very strong case against you, unless you can prove what you were doing between 7.5 and 8.0.: Nothing, absolutely nothing, except changing in my cabin. I give you my word but, unfortunately, there is no way in which I can prove it.: All right, then, but I'm afraid I shall have to talk to you again later on.: We learned bugger all from these two. Disappointing.DETECTIVE OFFICER KETTERING'S FOURTH REPORT, CONTINUED. Having re-examined all the parties, I proceeded to a new analysis of the situation and composed a fresh list of possible motives. POSSIBLE MOTIVES (No. 2.) 10.3.36. Mrs. Jocelyn. Nil, as far as is known at the moment, but she is in collusion with her husband, supporting his statement that he was in his bath at 7.45, when we know that he was not, and she may or may not have been in her own cabin at that hour. Count Posodini Alias "Slick" Daniels. A motive, in that he admits that it was through Blane's agency that he was sent down for his first term in Sing Sing, and that Jocelyn brought him on board with the deliberate intention of giving him the opportunity of getting even with Blane. It is even possible that Jocelyn may have paid him to do the job, or that they did the job between them. His alibi depends on his being able to prove that Mrs. Jocelyn was in his cabin from 7.45 till 8.10, and this she denies. Mr. Rocksavage. Strong motive, and it is now proved, owing to his capability of changing in under four minutes, that he had ample time to commit the crime between 8.10 and 8.30. The Bishop of Bude. Strong motive. In the Bishop's previous statement he said that he had only met Blane casually in an English country house home about seven years ago (1929), whereas he does not now deny that he met Blane in France in 1917. Blane's letter shows that there was some strong tie up between the two. It now seems certain that this was in connection with the unsavoury business that the Bishop is so anxious should not be made public. The probability is that Blane was holding this over him and, as there was ample opportunity for the Bishop to commit the crime, he now comes strongly under suspicion. Lady Welter. Strong motive, owing to the fact that it looks as though she would have been completely bankrupt if the Rocksavage companies had gone under and no longer in a position to finance the group of papers which are her principle life interest. Mr. Hayashi. Strong motive. It now appears that he stood to lose a considerable sum of money if Blane and Rocksavage had ever got together. Mr. Jocelyn. Strong motive. Lady Welter's bankruptcy would have thrown him back into the precarious existence which he was leading between 1923 and 1931, with the additional burden of a wife to support. It is now proved that he told a direct lie in his early statement where he said that he was in his bath at 7.45, since Mr. Rocksavage met him in the passage still unchanged at 8.10. Moreover, "Slick" Daniels' evidence goes to show that Jocelyn had deliberately invited him on board in the hope that he might square accounts with Blane. Miss Rocksavage. Nil, as far as is known at the moment. : The detective seems to trust and distrust people very selectively.DETECTIVE OFFICER KETTERING'S FOURTH REPORT, CONTINUED. The foregoing examinations and the writing of the report have occupied me all morning and at the moment I admit that I am completely baffled. Only the two stewards, the ship's carpenter and Stodart are conclusively ruled out, it having been quite impossible for any of them, or any other member of the crew to commit this crime. Against Miss Rocksavage and the Hon. Mrs. Jocelyn we have no evidence of motive, although both of them had opportunity. On the other had there was motive and, in many cases, very strong motive against Count Posodini, Mr. Rocksavage, the Bishop of Bude, Lady Welter, Mr. Hayashi and the Hon. Reginald Jocelyn; and all of these had opportunity. A further report will follow this evening.  1.35 p.m. 10.3.36 on S.Y. Golden Gull. : Well, not this evening. The fifth and final report is 20 pages long and I intend to cover it in a single update, so it might take some time. Kettering thinks he's baffled now, but wait until we see the last statements and the last pieces of physical evidence. Next time: The final clues.
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Oct 4, 2015 17:36
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Kettering really has a problem when it comes to the ladies doesn't he? Unless they're old and religious, that is...
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Oct 4, 2015 18:07
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You have to give the man credit, though - Oriental tricks definitely won't wash with him.
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Oct 4, 2015 18:13
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I just remembered...tiistai posted:Maybe Kettering can't read Blane's handwriting either.
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Oct 4, 2015 18:31
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Hayashi's evidence letter is pretty thin, imagine that he did whip out a sealed envelope with a big letter that he wrote. He has had so much time to write something after the fact there is no way it could be a convincing defence, so why even try it? It's not a very good oriental trick if it is one. Holy poo poo, that first one on unlined paper is awful to try and read. http://www.denniswheatley.info/sams_books/handwrittendrafts.htm
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Oct 4, 2015 18:49
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Bah, nothing useful this time around. Kettering overlooks asking to see the letter Blane wrote to Hayashi that prompted their meeting in the first place - we know there is one, because Hayashi mentions it in the postcard. Nor does he order a search of Hayashi's cabin to forcefully extract the letter he's referring to in the interview. Not that it would prove anything about his whereabouts at the time, but at least it would be interesting to have. For what it's worth, the bishop probably didn't do it... the carpenter was working right outside his cabin at the time and did catch him leaving only after 8:15 somewhere. Speaking of whom, can we get Jenks to interview these people in the future? I have a good feeling about that name. The dossier's continued insistence that the crime took place after 7:45 and that Stodart is most assuredly innocent only makes me more suspicious of both statements.
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Oct 4, 2015 19:32
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This section only makes K. 'Croc' Kettering and his partner 'Tubbs' Neame look only more incompetent. He has no real suspects and is just pressuring people to see if they'll crack.
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Oct 4, 2015 21:15
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Update 9. Pages 110 to 131. Oh Lordy!: This report is ridiculous in the amount of info provided. DETECTIVE OFFICER KETTERING'S FIFTH REPORT After lunch to-day Mr. Rocksavage came to me and said that he would like to see me privately. We went to the small writing room together and he told me that our interview of the morning had greatly upset him. He again protested his complete innocence of Blane's death and said that, in spite of any unpleasantness which might arise for him out of the matter, he had decided to inform me of certain facts which would clear him altogether. He then sent for Doctor Ackland, his personal doctor, who always travels with him, and in the presence of the doctor, Detective Officer Neame and myself, he made the following voluntary statement. This statement has been duly vouched for as the truth and signed and witnessed by Dr. Ackland.  : I didn't kill him, Your Honour, I was getting high with my doctor.DETECTIVE OFFICER NEAME'S SHORTHAND NOTES OF DETECTIVE OFFICER KETTERING'S EXAMINATION OF DOCTOR FRANK ACKLAND, Ph. S.D., F.C.S.B. : Doctor, you have just vouched for this statement of Mr. Rocksavage, that you went below with him at 8.10. You are quite certain that is correct? : Yes.: But you weren't in the lounge with him?: No. I was sitting just outside, enjoying the evening air on deck. As Mr. Rocksavage passed the deck entrance of the lounge he saw me and beckoned. I knew at once what he wanted, so I got up without a word and followed him down.: You had to come into the lounge to follow him down the companion-way, though.: Yes. A few steps, that's all, as the companion-way is within a couple of yards of the deck entrance.: No one in the lounge seems to have noticed you. Don't you think that strange?: No. The Bishop, Lady Welter and Mr. Stodart were sitting together at a table with their backs to the companion-way and the deck entrance, so they would not have been likely to notice me as I stepped through. Cane, the lounge steward, saw me though. Ask him if you doubt my word, and Mr. Jocelyn too. Mr. Rocksavage and I passed him in the passage way below.: Thanks, doctor. If the lounge steward saw you I guess that will do.DETECTIVE OFFICER KETTERING'S FIFTH REPORT, CONTINUED I then examined the contents of the wastepaper baskets, which had been removed from each of the parties' cabins on the morning following the crime, and three items of interest emerged from this examination. In the refuse from Count Posodini's cabin I found 31 cigarette ends, 25 of these are Chesterfields, but the other 6 are an English brand called Players, and four out of these six have obvious traces of lipstick on them. In the refuse from Miss Rocksavage's cabin I found a twist of hair which had obviously been removed from a comb. Most of this was golden hair, which undoubtedly comes from the head of Miss Ferri Rocksavage, but mingled with it there are a few short, black curly hairs, which definitely suggest that a man had used that comb after her. Among the refuse from the Bishop of Bude's cabin I found one match torn out of a booklet of matches, upon which is printed in block letters the words "Adlon-Claridge." I then re-examined various members of the party.  : Here are the goods. Let's take a look. : I know what you're thinking. Is it actual human hair? Yes. The publisher bought some in monasteries, then had the staff make the needed mix of two hair types.You know, most people whose hair was used in the 1936 edition are probably dead now. We should start an urban legend about haunted copies of Murder off Miami.  : As I understand, this match was at some point struck by a worker at the publisher's printing shop. They took fresh boxes home and brought back struck clues. All pieces of physical evidence in these dossiers, apart from letters, are hand-made, hand-placed and, technically, unique.One of the later cases included a torn naughty photo to assemble, and each puzzle was also "hand-made", torn by the publisher's employees. That also means that stock detective adventure game puzzle of assembling a ripped clue is pushing 80. So does including real-life ads into games, since a fake newspaper in one of the later dossiers had real sponsor adverts. Dennis, you crafty bastard.  : I suppose a baggie with butts would've been too much for the book, and smelly too. They did try to use smell as a clue in one of the later dossiers by adding differently perfumed letters. Unfortunately the smells wore out pretty quickly rendering the clues both useless and a waste of time of the people who sprayed thousands of sheets.DETECTIVE OFFICER NEAME'S SHORTHAND NOTES OF DETECTIVE OFFICER KETTERING'S THIRD EXAMINATION OF THE HONOURABLE MRS. JOCELYN. : Come in, Mrs. Jocelyn. Sit down, do. : What, more questions, already?: Yes. Sorry I've got to trouble you again, but let's make it as pleasant as we can. Have a cigarette?: No thanks, I only smoke my own.: Right then. May I have one of yours so we can be sociable?: Certainly.: I see you smoke Players. Very popular brand in England?: Very.: That's a charming shade of lipstick you use Mrs. Jocelyn.: Need we go into that?: I'm afraid we've got to. I'm going to trouble you for the lipstick you have in your bag at the moment.: But - I don't understand.: He wants to wear it.: Never mind. Just hand it over, will you. it'll save all sorts of trouble in the end in you'll oblige me now.: All right. There's nothing very exciting about my lipstick, but I'm sure I don't want to be searched. Here it is.: Thanks. You won't mind if I keep it will you? We shall need it later to prove that it matches the lipstick on these cigarette ends which I've got in this little tin box - see?: Why - yes. But .......: Players, all of them, Mrs. Jocelyn, smoked by you and found the morning after Blane's death in Count Posodini's cabin. Now, don't get me all wrong. I'm not trying to fix you for murder, and I'm not trying to raise any nasty scandal about you. The point is that some time between the morning of the 8th and the morning of the 9th you smoked these cigarettes in Posodini's cabin. If it was, as I have reason to believe, between 7.45 and 8.10 p.m. that lets you out of any suggestion that you were doing anything with the Count that you shouldn't have, because it's not reasonable to suppose that you would have smoked six cigarettes and had much of a necking party in a matter of twenty-five minutes. On the other hand, if you didn't smoke them at that time, it might suggest that you were there for a very much longer period and then - no offence - but it might be suggested that you and the Count were up to the sort of thing your husband wouldn't care to hear about.: I have nothing to add to my previous statement.: All right, Mrs. Jocelyn. Then the presumption is that you were in the Count's cabin at some other, and probably a much longer, period during that twenty-four hours. If that comes out, it may quite well have to in case like this, what will you husband have to say?: A lot I expect.: This doesn't appear to worry you over much?: As a matter of fact it's just the sort of little lesson I've been meaning to give him for some time.: So he's been playing you up with Ferri, eh? I guessed as much.: I did not say so.: Wait a minute, though. I'm going to put you wise to something which may make you think differently before you burn your boats. The bird you know as Count Posodini is actually "Slick" Daniels; con man and card sharp. Here's his police record. Take a look. Now, what about it when the press get hold of that? Can't you see the headlines in the news sheets. "Society dame becomes moll of a well-known crook." That's not going to be so funny for you, is it? You'll sure be ruined socially and that's a high price to pay just to get your own back on your husband.: Yes - yes, it would be horrible.: All right, then, why not tell the truth.: I have nothing to add to my previous statement.: Oh Lordy! Let me put it to you another way, then. Mr. Rocksavage and the ship's doctor both saw your husband still unchanged in the passage at 8.10. So your bluff about his being in his bath at 7.45 is now quite useless. Get that?: Yes.: On the other hand there is a very strong presumptive evidence that Posodini did in Blane. As "Slick" is a known criminal that makes the presumption doubly strong. Now, you seem a decent sort of girl. Just because a man has a criminal record behind him you're surely not going to see him sent to the chair for a murder he didn't do, if you can stop it, are you?: I see, Yes, that does make a big difference, doesn't it? All right, then, I was in the Count's cabin. When we came below at a quarter to eight I went in to borrow a book and I sat there talking to him for the best part of half an hour.: Then, why the heck didn't you say so to begin with?: Isn't that obvious?: Yes, because your husband told you not to. Did he know where you'd been?: I intended that he should. I suppose I might as well tell you everything now. My husband and I haven't been getting on very well lately and this trip has brought matters to a head. I don't worry much about his having an occasional affair, because he's the type of man who's never quite grown up, and it seems that sort of thing is absolutely necessary to him. You see I try to persuade myself that he never really goes off the rails, but this business with Ferri Rocksavage has been a bit too much. I jib at being made a fool of in public and, of course, he considers that I'm as safe as houses, because I'm very very fond of him and I've never looked at another man. I thought that it might bring him to his senses if I did, so when he and Ferri started throwing eyes at each other on the first day out from New York I decided to start a party of my own with the Count. I knew quite well that I could take care of myself and I thought that, if spent half an hour alone with the Count in his cabin, before changing that night, Reggie would be certain to ask why I was so late. As it was I had all my trouble for nothing. He was so occupied himself that he never even thought to ask where I had been.: I understand.: I wouldn't have told you this unless you'd had proof already that he didn't come down till ten past eight, but now, as there's no object in keeping up my original story, at least I can get the Count out of trouble. I'm glad to do that because, whether he's a gaolbird or not, he's a very amusing and kindhearted person.: Thank you, Mrs. Jocelyn. I really am grateful to you for having cleared this matter up.DETECTIVE OFFICER KETTERING'S FIFTH REPORT, CONTINUED The Hon. Mrs. Jocelyn had only just left when Lady Welter's maid, Mildred Short, appeared at the door of the writing room and asked if she might have a word with me. She was very nervous, but, after a little, I got her to tell me her trouble and, from a big work bag which she was carrying, she produced the pale blue knitted jumper. In the middle of the back of the jumper there was a large burn where it had been singed with a hot iron and, after some persuasion, Mildred Short made the following statement about it.  : Sadly, the sweater was not included in the dossier.DETECTIVE OFFICER NEAME'S SHORTHAND NOTES OF DETECTIVE OFFICER KETTERING'S THIRD EXAMINATION OF MISS FERRI ROCKSAVAGE. : Sorry to brother you again, Miss Rocksavage. Come and sit down won't you.: Well?: Look here, help me out will you.: I always help people out if I can.: That's a good girl. You got a sunny nature, haven't you? You're always being nice to people, whether they deserve it or not.: Oh, I don't know about that, but it's a short life and it's no good being miserable.: You've said it, and that's why I'm hoping you're not going to blow up on what I'm gonig to say.: Why should I?: Well, I don't know, you're a young girl. Very well brought up and that sort of thing. Some girls like that might resent the sort of questions I'm going to ask, but you know I wouldn't do it if I didn't have to in the course of my duty. Now, I'm going to treat you just as though you weren't a young society girl at all. I'm going to talk to you as though you were a woman of the world.: She's 23, not 13!: I suppose I am what you call a woman of the world. Most girls are these days.: That's right. Now, I'm sure you don't want any sort of scandal attached to your name and believe me a scandal is the last thing that I want to involve you in, but there's one thing I've got to ask you. Who was the man who was in your cabin on the night that Blane met his death?: I don't understand.: Oh, yes you do, and you can take it from me that I have actual proof that a man was there. You can take your choice: come clean with me now or face it out against the evidence that I shall produce when you're in the witness box, with all the press photographers standing round to take shots of you at forty different angles. Who was the man in your cabin the night that Blane met his death?: You're bluffing. You haven't got any evidence.: Yes I have. Take a look at this little bunch of hair. That came out of your comb. It was found in the newspaper basket the night after Blane was murdered. The fair hair's yours but the short dark curly hairs are not. Somebody used this comb to tidy their hair after you had ruffled it, before leaving your cabin.Those strands of yours were probably already in it at the time. Anyhow, you'd have cleaned it before you used it to do your hair when you dressed for dinner. Shall I tell you who these dark hairs belong to?: Who?: Reggie Jocelyn.: Very ingenious, Mr. Van Dine, but we had a swim off the yacht earlier in the afternoon. I lent my comb to Mr. Jocelyn then, and I'd used it and, being a lazy person, I suppose I never thought to clean it afterwards. Doesn't that rather upset your clever little story?: It might, Miss Rocksavage, if it weren't for the fact that a man's life hangs in the balance.: What d'you mean my that?: Just this. Reggie Jocelyn had a very strong motive for wishing Bolitho Blane out of the way. He even brought Count Posodini on board, knowing the Count to be a criminal, with a grudge against Blane.: What! Our handsome Count turns out to be a crook!: That's so, and Jocelyn brought him on this trip in the hop that he'd do Blane in. He didn't though. Posodini's proved an alibi and that makes the presumptive evidence even stronger against your boy friend. He swears that he was in his bath at 7.45, but his wife now admits that he wasn't. What's more, he was actually seen in the passage way still unchanged at ten past eight. Now, what was he doing between 7.45 and 8.10? If he was with you I think you'd better say so, because, if he wasn't, it looks to me very much as though Jocelyn is going to stand his trial for murder.: In that case you win. Reggie was with me, from the time we came below, which was really about a quarter past seven, until he left me at ten after eight. I'm afraid that would hurt Mrs. Jocelyn a lot if she knew, and father wouldn't be too pleased, either. Will you try and keep that out of it if you can?: I'll do my best, Miss Rocksavage. You're just paying the penalty of being over kind to a good-looking young rascal, but I'm prepared to take a little risk on being kind to you.DETECTIVE OFFICER KETTERING'S FIFTH REPORT, CONTINUED After my third examination of Miss Ferri Rocksavage it occurred to me that the letter Hayashi alleged he had been writing might have been posted and would then still be in the postbag as, in the course of routine, I had given instructions on the morning of the 9th that no letters were to be sent ashore. This turned out to be the case, and I had the letter translated by the yacht's second cook, who is a Japanese. He attests that the original could not have been written in less than eight minutes, leaving Hayashi only twelve minutes to change. His story therefore appears to be true. The lounge steward, Cane, confirms the fact that the supply of ship's notepaper in the writing room ran out early in the afternoon, before Hayashi came on board, and that he could not refill the racks until the chief steward, who had the keys of the store room, got back from his trip ashore. He further states that Hayashi handed him the letter for posting on arriving in the lounge at 8.15. It is obvious, therefore, that Hayashi could not have procured the paper earlier or written the letter at any other time than that appearing in his statement. The cabin steward, Ringbottom, also confirms that Hayashi was still unchanged when he brought him the supply of ship's notepaper at 7.55. Letter and attested translation herewith.   : Anyone has comments on the handwriting, or the translation?DETECTIVE OFFICER NEAME'S SHORTHAND NOTES OF DETECTIVE OFFICER KETTERING'S THIRD EXAMINATION OF THE BISHOP OF BUDE. : Come in, Bishop. Have you thought of anything since this morning which might show us how you were occupying yourself between 7.5 and 8.0 on the night of Blane's death?: No. I wish I could, but I can't think of anything.: What time did Blane come to your cabin?: Blane?: Yes, Blane. It's no good denying it. I've got the goods on you. Just a little thing that happened to be in your wastepaper basket. See, it's a book match with "Adlon-Claridge" on it, the New York Hotel from which Blane wrote you a few days back. Nobody except Blane could have left it where we found it, and it proves that, after he came on board, he went along to see you in your cabin. Now what have you got to say?: But Officer - I - I-: I want the truth. What time did Blane come along to you?: Oh dear, or dear. This is terrible. Quite terrible.: What time did he come I say?: Only a few minutes after the ship sailed. I hadn't been in my cabin more than three minutes when he came in.: How long did he stay?: Only two minutes. No more, I assure you.: Why did he come?: Just to ask if I had got his letter.: What did he say?: Only - only - after asking if I'd got his letter, that it would be well for me to remember that we were very very good friends indeed.: Then you went back with him to his cabin?: No, No.: You're prepared to swear to that?: I am.: That he left you at about 7.10 and you never saw him again?: I - never - saw him again.: Then what in hades were you doing all that time? It didn't take you 50 minutes to change.: No, no. I read a little first, I told you, but I never left my cabin. I am prepared to swear to that before Almighty God.: What did you read?: I read an essay of R. L. Stevenson's.: What was it about?: What was it about? Why, it was .......well, you know I really can't remember; most odd indeed, I can't remember, most unusual.: Listen, Bishop, you're in a spot, you're in a spot I say. I've got all the movements of every other party in this ship checked up, and, unless you can prove your alibi, I am proposing to run you for the murder of Bolitho Blane.: You can't, you can't do that. I didn't do it.: You had motive, you had opportunity. You killed Bolitho Blane and I'm sending you to the chair for it. Get that.: What was the essay about? What was it about. I don't know; that infernal hammering all the time .......I couldn't concentrate for a moment.: What hammering? You haven't mentioned hammering before.: Oh, indeed, it was terrible. From about ten minutes after Blane had left me until I went up to the lounge changed it didn't stop for a moment.: For the love of Mike! Couldn't you have told me that before?: Why certainly, but I never thought it important. Now what was that essay about ? I really .......: Oh, to hell with the essay. That hammering must have been the carpenter who was outside your cabin all the time.: Yes - yes, the carpenter. I said good evening to him when I went up to dinner at eight o'clock.: Well, now, if that isn't the limit. I'll check up on it, but Bishop, I reckon it lets you out.: And our suspects after all this are...DETECTIVE OFFICER KETTERING'S FIFTH REPORT, CONTINUED In closing this report I now have to confess myself completely at a loss. The situation has developed this afternoon in a most remarkable manner and it is even more baffling than it was at mid-day. After the examination which I conducted this morning it was quite apparent that numerous members of the party had ample motive for wishing Blane dead. The trouble appeared then to be to fix upon the actual perpetrator of the crime but, since then, so much new evidence has come to light I am now far more befogged that I was before. In the last stages of my examination this afternoon I had quite made up my mind that the Bishop of Bude was the guilty party, but the ship's carpenter, Jenks, confirmed his statement and it is quite clear that he never left his cabin between 7.45 and 8.0, when he went straight up to the lounge. The following is an analysis of what occurred according to my latest information, and in my opinion it would have been impossible to commit the murder, dispose of the body, and partially remove the bloodstains from the carpet in less than ten minutes. Mrs. Jocelyn. Could not have done it, because she was with "Slick" Daniels, Alias Count Posodini, from 7.45 till 8.10 in his cabin, and from 8.10 till 8.30 she was with her husband, changing. Count Posodini, alias "Slick" Daniels. Could not have done it, because he was in his cabin with Mrs. Jocelyn from 7.45 till 8.10, and from that time until 8.25, when he appeared in the lounge, he would have been occupied in changing. Mr. Rocksavage. Could not have done it, because from 8.10 when he came down to his cabin, until he went up changed at 8.35, Doctor Ackland was with him and vouches for his presence there. The Bishop of Bude. Could not have done it, because from 7.15 until 8.10 the ship's carpenter was doing a job of work outside his cabin and vouches for the fact that he never left it during the whole of that time. Lady Welter. Could not have done it, because her maid, Mildred Short was with her, in her cabin, from 7.5 until 7.35, and from 7.35 till 8.5 she is proved to have been knitting the last sleeve of a jumper, which would have occupied her the whole of that time, until she went up to the lounge. Mr. Hayashi. Could not have done it, because, when he rang his bell at 7.50, the steward found him in his cabin still unchanged, and he was still unchanged when the steward returned at 7.55, with the notepaper. Eight out of the following twenty minutes he was occupied in writing a letter and the balance in changing to arrive in the lounge at 8.15. Mr. Jocelyn. Could not have done it, because from 7.15, when he went below, he was with Miss Ferri Rocksavage in her cabin, until 8.10, and from that time until 8.30 he was with his wife changing. Miss Rocksavage. Could not have done it, because from 7.15 she was with Jocelyn in her cabin until 8.10, and from thence onwards she was occupied with changing in the presence of her maid, Nellie Orde. It seems to me, therefore, that all the parties under suspicion have incontestable alibis and as we know that Stodart was in the company of various persons in the lounge from 7.30 until 8.33 he could not possibly have committed this murder either. Moreover it could not, on the evidence shown, have been any member of the crew. This leaves me at a completely dead end, and I am now awaiting further instructions. 4.55 p.m. 10.3.36. on S.Y Golden Gull. : Nobody could have done it, but somebody did. Great. We have arrived at the seal. : So, thread, who did it? When? The boat is a man short, after all. Any theories?The book did tell us to look for clues in the photos, and so far we haven't noticed much. Those are not stock interior pictures: the curtain pattern matched the material in the book (in 1936), and in Blane's open case you can even see that book by Eve Chaucer. We know that Kettering is blind as a bat, so have another look. This time they are in higher resolution and taken in a better light. Save them if timg can't unwrap them enough.     
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Oct 6, 2015 17:36
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Why was nothing disturbing on the desk if blane was thrown out the window, and why does Stoddard have two pairs of shoes?
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Oct 6, 2015 18:24
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Hayashi's handwriting is terrible too! Combined with my skills being merely rudimentary, I can't make out most of the letter, but it does mention Rocksavage and Blane several times, as well as Shikoku. It doesn't help that this was written before the 1946 writing reform... The desk being undisturbed can easily be explained by the killer taking a minute or two to put it back in order before leaving. Remember, the killer already had to spend several minutes afterwards cleaning up the bloodstain in the carpet. Sounds like we were right on what the Jocelyns had been up to. For what it's worth I think these testimonies are all pretty much true for now (e: though the bishop may be lying about details if Blane is still alive), unless a glaring hole opens up somewhere. I think this case is ultimately going to hinge on the assumption that Blane was killed after 7:45, the only evidence of which we have is the note on the back of Stodart's note page. Having two pairs of shoes doesn't seem unusual for the time... just look at Blane's luggage list. He's got multiples of everything. Photos... There is something I noticed earlier that I didn't remark upon because I didn't know what to make of it, but I guess I might as well: The seat cushions on the sofa on the right are bulging quite a lot. Way moreso than the sofa on the left. It could just be that sofa having unusually puffy cushions, or there could be something hidden underneath. I wouldn't put it past Kettering to not search under them, but I don't really know what would be under there anyway. e: It still galls me that even though we have at least one person confirmed to have seen Blane in person on the night in question, we still have no idea what the man looks like! e2: What are the metal items attached to the lid of Blane's suitcase? One of them seems to be missing. Hyper Crab Tank fucked around with this message at 18:51 on Oct 6, 2015 |
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Oct 6, 2015 18:38
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Those cushions are hilariously too big, you couldn't sit on that without being tipped off. Right at the start of the trip, Blane and Stodart were unpacking but Blane's case is still open, he never finished. Did Stodart nip in and do him in early, then stuff him in the couch? I always end up looking at this thread in bed under the covers on my tablet so it's not easy to review the timing but I'll go back and look. We still don't know a drat thing about Stodart but he's untouchable since the apparent time of death according to Kettering, despite any evidence, has been set at a time that Stodart has an alibi. Stodart's only alibi is himself though since no one else ever saw Blane alive.
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Oct 6, 2015 18:58
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Weekend at Bernies has been in the back of my mind since the very start... But the murderer didn't have time to dismember a body and hide them in a couch without making a mess. The couch is stuffed with the pieces of the dummy that Stodart was carrying in weekend at Bernies style (and Blane is Stodart, and the bishop is keeping true to the threats he has received and not turning him in). He was putting some kind of fake blood on the curtain and accidentally spilled it on the carpet which is why one stain was cleaned up and the other wasn't. Slick the criminal knows of Blane but we don't know that he actually knows what he looks like. I still can't work out why though, unless his master plan to avoid being killed was to fake being dead.
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Oct 6, 2015 19:07
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There are way too many suitcases for one man to carry alone, though, especially if he's also lugging around some kind of dummy. Additionally, the chief steward went with them to the cabin - he could've carried some of the luggage, but surely would've noticed one person not quite being... a person. Speaking of which, why has Kettering still not interviewed that guy?  Stuffing a body under the cushions is unlikely too. If you're going to claim someone threw themselves out the window, why not just actually do that? They were miles out to sea, it would've been much less risky. Plus, I don't think you can actually fit a whole body under there. Just for the sake of it, things in Stodart's cabin I can see: Floor/chair: - One pair shoes - One pair slippers - One pair suspenders, I think - One pair socks - Two towels? - Dress jacket? Table behind chair: - Two unidentified objects. I can't make them out. Sink: - Hair or clothes brush - Bottle, contents unknown - Straight razor - Shaving brush - A sponge of some kind? Bed: - Blanket? Coat?
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Oct 6, 2015 19:14
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Well assuming Stodart is real, he had from 7:05 to 7:30 to do whatever he liked without scrutiny and that's plenty of time for any amount of shenanigans to go down. According to the bishop Blane saw him straight away, which Stodart must be lying about unless he is actually Blane. I can't get away from this idea that Stodart is really Blane. I also can't work out what all the crazy schemes are in aid of unless he is in league with Rocksavage to get his shares bought back cheaply after purposely crashing Argus suds. Edited to add: The sash of the dressing gown/jacket whatever it is there on the end of Stodart's bed is very chunky looking, I bet you could silently choke someone out then strangle them to death with that! Stoca Zola fucked around with this message at 19:21 on Oct 6, 2015 |
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Oct 6, 2015 19:15
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Stoca Zola posted:According to the bishop Blane saw him straight away, which Stodart must be lying about unless he is actually Blane How so? According to Stodart's testimony, Blane started unpacking his items at about 7:05, and then told Stodart to leave the cabin and get changed. Plenty of time for Blane to slip out and see the bishop.
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Oct 6, 2015 19:24
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Hyper Crab Tank posted:How so? According to Stodart's testimony, Blane started unpacking his items at about 7:05, and then told Stodart to leave the cabin and get changed. Plenty of time for Blane to slip out and see the bishop. Hmm I did read it fairly quickly but Stodart says he went back to see him sitting looking out the porthole and I thought that was before he got sent away. I have trouble with all of Stodart's testimony though because none of it can be verified so I just don't feel like any of it is true. We only have Stodart's word that Blane didn't just drop dead of worry after seeing the bishop. A secondary theory, the bishop did it, and Stodart is his confederate, the murder happened in the bishops room but then Stodart throws him out the window back in Blane's room and the blood soaked clothes are stuffed in the cushions. The bishop has plenty of time to clean up any mess in his room while he is "reading". The carpenter didn't show up until just before 7:30. I still think whatever happened, did so earlier than 7:30. Looking at those photos of the room and the ship plan again, the door from Stodart's room seems to lead into Blane's drawing room and that is the direction that the drag marks on the carpet go, too. He could have hidden a body in his room when he reported Blane missing, meaning he had extra time to deal with it later on. Argh this is frustrating because it doesn't make sense that the bishop would kill Blane just over some vague threats. He should know that keeping his mouth shut would make sure everything was fine. Which is what I think he's doing now! Can you shave with a straight razor without the bristle brush and the bowl of foamy stuff? Are the little flat brushes in Blane's bathroom on the shelf more like denture brushes than tooth brushes? Maybe we're supposed to look for what's missing rather than what's there? Stoca Zola fucked around with this message at 20:01 on Oct 6, 2015 |
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Oct 6, 2015 19:50
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