One may have been forgiven for thinking that Macavity's move had not involved Bailey in any way. Certainly the detective appeared to show no signs of shock or ill nerves for having survived an almost successful attempt on his life. One may even say he was chipper as he dashed about the scene of his near demise. A large piano lay upon the pavement, smashed beyond repair, a hook hung high above it and the remains of a rope lay among the wreckage of the piano. The weight of the blasted thing would have been enough to kill a human, a Jellicle would not have stood a chance. It appeared that only Bailey's quick reactions were responsible for saving his life.
The detective stopped for a moment and as if suddenly recalling my presence turned to me and asked,
"Well, what do you see, Doctor?"
"The rope and hook were holding the piano high, and the rope snapped."
Bailey chuckled, "Not snapped, cut." he held up the ropes end so I could see, "The end is far too straight to have been snapped." He then dashed over to a spot a few metres away, which I had managed to overlook. A sturdy metal drainpipe had a loop of rope tightly wound around it, one end dangled free. "This is where my assailant stood as I passed. He concealed himself in the shadows until the opportune moment, cut the rope and made his escape along this alleyway. Come along, Doctor."
In an instant he was off again his eyes taking in the tiniest details of the alleyway as he kept up his quick pace. If I had believed he was blessed with some kind of super power before, then it was only confirmed now, for surely no normal Jellicle could have found any clues while moving at such speed. Towards the dead end of the alleyway he slowed down and jumped onto a dustbin, peering over the other side of it.
"You must forgive me, Doctor, for I did take the liberty of examining the scene before leaving to find you. However one can never be sure if one has overlooked anything."
He paused for a moment, "My attacker had dark fur, a very dark gray according to this," he held a small tuft of fur that appeared to have been caught on the fence above, "This confirms my own impression, from the moments after the piano crashed to the ground, I saw a large dark figure run down this alleyway. By the time I had recovered my wits he had unfortunately made his escape."
"That is understandable enough, you were shocked by it all, I expect."
"It was a moment I could ill afford, Doctor," he replied dryly, "Now we are hindered by a lack of evidence."
He jumped back onto the ground beside me and began to walk out of the alleyway, talking as he went.
"The question is, why would Macavity charge someone so obviously inept with a task of high importance such as this?"
"Inept? Bailey, you could have been…" I trailed off, gesturing towards the piano to make my point.
"But that is not the case, the task was not completed. If Macavity had indeed been a man of his word then surely I would be under that wreckage. So why am I not?"
"Your quick reactions, I suppose."
Bailey chuckled, "Macavity would find a way, an inescapable plot for my demise, a trap which would require my brainpower and not my reactions to survive it. This was haphazard, too much was simply left to chance." He paused for a moment to collect his thoughts. "A simple murder would have sufficed, I have a great many enemies, too many in fact for me to believe good old Scotland Yard would ever be able to pin it down to just one, so why try to create the appearance of an accident?" His voice dropped to a mumble, "Something isn't right here."