Page 133 of Marble Hall Murders

‘And under French law, he would have inherited nothing. It was not just about the money. It was the control of the money and so, by extension, their lives. And that was Elmer Waysmith’s greatest crime. He was a man who always had to be in control.’

‘So they all came together to get rid of the stepfather!’ Voltaire exclaimed. He was staring at the family in disgust. ‘But which one of them killed Alice Carling?’

‘That, of course, was Harry Lyttleton.’

Sitting next to his wife, Harry jerked upright as if he had been electrocuted. ‘No …’ he gasped.

‘There can be no doubt of it,’ Pünd said. ‘You pretended to be in love with her. It was from her that you learned the details of Margaret Chalfont’s will and, as a result, this entire scheme was born.’

‘It’s not true!’

‘She had your photograph. She believed everything you told her. It was you who played the part of Elmer Waysmith in thepharmacieand it is you who likes to wear white tennis shoes. You are wearing them even now. Unfortunately, when poor Miss Carling heard that Lady Chalfont had been poisoned with aconitine, she understood her part in what had occurred and threatened to go to the police. That was why she had to die.’

‘You’re wrong.’

‘I am never wrong, Mr Lyttleton. And it is certain that you will face a terrible death, your head removed from your shoulders by the deadly fall of the guillotine.’

Harry Lyttleton had gone deathly pale. His wife was on the edge of tears. ‘It wasn’t Harry! He has an alibi. He was with me when I gave my talk at the Church of Saint-Jean-Baptiste!’

‘You gave the talk. He was not present.’

‘No!’ Harry Lyttleton had got to his feet. ‘It was him! He was the one who killed her. I had nothing to do with it. He was the one behind it! It was all his idea!’

He was pointing at Robert Waysmith.

Pünd smiled. ‘And so, at last, the truth comes out.’ He turned to Voltaire. ‘You will forgive me, but I had to put the fear of death into him to force him to tell me what I already knew to be the case.’

‘Robert Waysmith …’

‘Yes. Robert Waysmith. He is the evil genius who concocted this entire plan.’

Harry Lyttleton sank back into his chair. Judith was crying now, clinging on to her husband’s hand. Jeffrey Chalfont was scowling. His wife was in shock. Elmer Waysmith was staring at his son in disbelief. But Robert Waysmith had only contempt on his face. ‘You bloody fool,’ he muttered, addressing Harry. ‘Why couldn’t you keep your mouth shut? Don’t you see? You’ve landed us all in it.’

‘You’re the devil,’ Harry gasped, struggling for breath. ‘You should never have come here—’

‘That’s enough!’ Voltaire snapped. He nodded at Pünd. ‘Please continue, Monsieur Pünd.’

Pünd began again. ‘It was you, Robert, who impersonated your father at thepharmacieand purchased the aconitine before you joined him for lunch.’

‘You’re wrong, Mr Pünd. I told you. Before I met my father, I was with a client, Lucas Dorfman, in Antibes.’

‘That may be true. But you also suggested that it took you a great deal of time to return to Nice because of the traffic and that was most certainly a lie.’

‘How can you possibly know?’

‘Because you were followed to the house by Mr Harlan Scott. He told me that he was unable to follow you back as it would be too easy for you to see his car. This suggests to me that the road must have been empty.’

The investigator leaned forward. ‘You’re right, goddammit,’ he growled. ‘There wasn’t a single other car in sight. I had no choice but to let him go back on his own.’

‘You stayed briefly with your client and raced back to Nice. This gave you more than enough time to enter the Hôtel Lafayette, change into your disguise, purchase the aconitine and then change back again, getting rid of the suitcase and walking stick before meeting your father at half past twelve as agreed.’

‘You’re suggesting I deliberately framed my father. Why would I want to do that?’

‘On every occasion I have met you, you have defended your father and spoken up for him while at the same time making clear your hatred of him. It is evident that the way he has controlled you has considerably harmed your life. You wished to be an artist. That was your dream. But he refused to acknowledge your talent and forced you first into a career in law and then, when that did not succeed, into his own business, as a junior partner. You were terrified of him when you were a child. You told us this before the reading of the will. “He’s not quite the monster you think.” That waswhat you said. But you were telling us that he was a monster nonetheless.’

‘Robert …’ Elmer couldn’t believe what he was hearing. ‘I always cared for you. I never did anything to hurt you.’

Robert said nothing.