Deadly Clementine

“The brandy also conceals the taste of the mushrooms,” Moss added. “Now, let me see if I can piece together how you have been working. You stole your mother’s fruit cakes that she made for the Autumn Fair. You then laced them with some toxic mushrooms.”

“She must have made the cakes in her mother’s kitchen, Moss. The mushrooms have been baked into the cakes,” Clementine corrected.

“Indeed.” Moss nodded his thanks. “Then you baked them and explained to everyone in your family that they couldn’t touch them because they were for the Autumn Fair, but really it was because they were baked with a very special ingredient. You then selected your victim based on who you were most jealous of and delivered a cake to them having carefully penned a poorly written note supposedly from Clementine, who was supposedly gifting it to the recipient – the murder victim.”

“Once the victims were dead, you returned to the house and collected the cake so nobody could link the deaths to poisoned cake and start to ask questions,” Billsdon continued.

“What about Sally? Why did you keep going back there? Don’t deny it. You have been seen by several people,” Moss demanded.

Elaine glared but refused to speak.

“Let me guess then. Sally was sick. This poison renders a person violently sick. Sally must have thrown up a lot and managed to get some on her clothing and bed. Not long after her death, you returned to the house to remove all traces of the cake but knew that there were pieces of cake in the vomit. You then removed Sally’s dress and put her in a nightgown. Once her body had been removed from the house by the undertaker, you knew that the house would be empty, so returned to clean up and remove all traces of vomit and the mushroom laden cake. Because it was raining the night that Sally died, you borrowed her cloak so you could get home without getting too wet. It would make things difficult if your family raised issue with you returning home late in the evening and soaked to the skin. The following morning, when you went back to Sally’s to clear up the last traces of the vomit, you returned Sally’s cloak, which is why it was put away wet.”

“I think I have just realised why she has been rummaging in Sally’s house,” Clementine whispered in horror.

Moss nodded. “Think about it. Sally was a fine, upstanding member of the community. I know for a fact that she was friends with Mr Cavanagh. The Captain told me. Sally also knew Mrs Riverton having served on the Fair Committee with her.”

“Sally kept keys to people’s houses and looked after their homes when they were away visiting relations,” Clementine whispered.

Moss nodded. “A small tin box is tucked away in a drawer in the kitchen dresser in Sally’s house. Inside it are several keys.”

The Captain nodded. “She kept the keys to the victim’s houses in Sally’s secret hiding place.”

Moss slowly shook his head. Without saying a word, he removed the small tin box from his pocket and placed it onto the table. He then opened the lid to reveal the contents: several keys.

“What has she done with the leftover cakes she removed?” Cameron asked. His gaze lingered on Elaine, but she didn’t once speak or remove her eyes from the ground.

“I expect they will be found in the woods somewhere,” Billsdon suggested. “I will send some men out to go and search the woods and the farm.”

“You cannot tell my father,” Elaine gasped suddenly, looking horrified at the notion.

“You cannot expect to keep something like this quiet. Of course he must know, you stupid girl,” Cameron snapped. “Don’t be anymore foolish than you have already been. Word will get out about this. What did you expect? To be able to just disappear off to gaol, serve your time, and then reappear back at the farm like nothing has happened?”

“Your sentence is going to be for life, so the chance of you ever being allowed out again is remote,” Billsdon informed Elaine dourly. “You can consider yourself under arrest for the murders of Mrs Walcott, Mrs Riverton, Mr Richardson, Mrs McGaffney, and Mr Cavanagh.”

“God, how could you?” Clementine hissed. In that moment, she hated Elaine herself. “How could you be that cruel?”

“You can also add my attempted murder to that list, Billsdon,” Moss growled. “Seeing as she tried to murder me too, I think we have one very sly but very stupid criminal.”

“Don’t forget her trying to kill me,” the Captain ordered.

Elaine tipped her chin up to a defiant angle and glared down her nose at them. “Prove it. You are all a bunch of raving lunatics if you think you can accuse me of something like this. You have no proof. It is ridiculous. I won’t be accused of something I have not done. Just because I stepped over the Captain doesn’t mean I am guilty of anything. Why, one look at him was enough to know he was faking it.”

“Why did you just walk into my house then?” the Captain challenged. “This isn’t an open house and I don’t believe we are well enough acquainted for you to be so familiar. I guess you can add trespassing to that list of yours, Billsdon, because I have never given her permission to be in my home.”

“She is here to take the evidence away. Having carefully packaged the evidence back up, she was going to wash everything down and take the incriminating evidence with her when she left. Then, she would invariably have stepped over your body on her walk to freedom, aware that the lazy local doctor would put the Captain’s death down to natural causes as well as well,” Moss said.

“The cakes will prove your guilt. We have all witnessed what you have done,” Billsdon said to Elaine.

“Why Sally?” Clementine whispered. Something inside her refused to allow her to take her eyes off Elaine. The woman before her didn’t even resemble the young girl Clementine had spent many hours with. Consequently, she looked upon Elaine as one would a stranger, but could only be very glad of the ability to do so. “I can understand your need to kill Mr Richardson, not that he deserved it. But you said to me in the meadow that you thought he was going around the village telling everyone there was a murderer here. You also said you didn’t like Mr Cavanagh because he ‘sees too much’. Nor did you try to hide your dislike of Mrs Riverton, but you always chatted with Sally.”

“It is jealousy, my dear,” Mr Billsdon assured her. “Pure and simple jealousy. You are the popular one whereas Elaine is not.”

“At the last committee meeting, you were the one who made decisions that nobody objected to. If you think about what happened at the meeting, everybody rejected the things Elaine suggested. You, however, suggested a delay to the meeting and, quite frankly, everyone was grateful for it. It was more than enough to tip your unhinged acquaintance over the wall, as it were.”

“Sally had to go because Elaine wanted to rule the world, didn’t you? You thought you could take over the running of everything and kill everyone who objected to your way of doing things,” the Captain drawled. “You carefully chose the people in the village you really didn’t like, and cleverly used Clementine’s name to try to make her face the blame for your heinous crimes. God, you are vile.”

Elaine’s cheeks turned florid. It was the only outward sign of her inner fury but still, Elaine didn’t speak. Suddenly, she turned a glare on Clementine that was full of malicious hatred and evil intent. It was so sharp, so sudden, so threatening, that Clementine instinctively stepped back.