Everything was so damned convenient, Roy Auckland thought: the poisoned
soup which was sure to have been discovered because Phrecle always
brought the thermos bottles to the party when they knocked off for
lunch; the obvious bomb, placed _after_ suspicion had been aroused by
the first attempt. Careful questioning had revealed that anyone might
have put it there during the lunchtime siesta when no one was paying
much attention to where anyone else went.
Dr. James had said that he hadn't considered the possibility of another
attempt so soon, and that he had been trying to give the appearance of
normality. Yes, it was in character.
But others might have tried to open the fatal box, which must have been
substituted for the original before supper. Burleigh and Edholm had not
gone out; either might have gone to the lab, seen the box there, and
started to fool around with it. If your fingers happened to cover both
solid black squares simultaneously, and you squeezed, the top flew
open. It wasn't likely to happen by accident, but it could happen.
The obvious conclusion was that three persons knew how to open the
boxes: Shirley, who had made an imitation; Dr. James, the intended
victim; and Glamis, the actual one. Shirley or James could have told
Glamis how it was done.
And there was one more possibility: the person who had rigged the
needle, if that person were neither James nor Shirley. But he had to
consider the possibility that Howard James had planned the murder
of Kenneth Glamis from the start, that the preliminary matter was
stage-dressing.
But, if so, it was such bad stage-dressing. He had interrupted Edholm,
who was getting too close to stating something that Auckland didn't
want to come out into the open as yet.
Either way, one thing seemed clear: one murder, while an end in itself,
had been planned as the means to another end. Someone was being framed,
and cards were being forced upon Auckland. He had the feeling of having
been meant to find everything he had discovered so far.
Was there anything which might not be knowledge common to several
people here?
Glamis had known about Shirley's imitation of a Vaec box; he had taken
photographs of an original, while visiting Ekem-ve at the Carolinian's
dwelling, for her to use as a model. She had destroyed the photographs
after finishing. The basic patterns on the box that Ekem-ve had brought
were the same as on Shirley's copy, but there were small variations.
Auckland took the photos out of his pocket and compared them to the
genuine box. At a quick glance, they seemed to be the same, but close
inspection showed minute differences in shading and line.
But why didn't Glamis recognize the imitation when he saw it? And who
else not only knew about Shirley's project, but remembered it? Edholm
claimed he didn't know in the first place. Burleigh and James both
acknowledged that they had seen it or heard about it in early stages,
but had forgotten. Amelia apparently neither knew nor cared.
Coincidence: Shirley Mason had a wooden box the general size, shape and
weight of a Vaec box. It took a little ingenuity to engineer it so that
the top would fly open when the sides were pressed. Ken had done that
part of it, Shirley said. The painting was her contribution.
Then why, _why_ hadn't Glamis recognized the box?
It would have been simple enough had Glamis prepared the death trap for
James; then his apparent nonrecognition would make some sort of sense.
He could claim that it was just a joke and that he knew nothing about
the poisoned needle. But he wouldn't have committed suicide in order to
prove his innocence.
Or could it be that it _was_ a childish joke, and that he didn't
suspect the needle of being anything but a sterile, harmless needle
which would prick someone's finger, but nothing more? In that case, he
surely wouldn't have opened it to photograph the inside, stinger and
all.
Obviously, the plan was to substitute the Vaec box with his deadly
imitation, then resubstitute the original early in the morning. Someone
had gone to the lab and made the change. Had that person been surprised
to find the body of Kenneth Glamis, rather than Howard James, on the
floor?
"Does this thoughtless one disturb flow of thoughts, excellent Roy?"
Auckland looked up to see Ekem-ve and Hcent, their single hairs
standing stiff at the bottom, but drooping and not moving at the top.
This, then, must be how the Vaec displayed regret.
"The thoughts flow, but the stream is muddy, Ekem-ve. Disturbing them
couldn't make things any worse than they are."