A few minutes after Lewis and Hathaway arrived in the kitchen, the four people are gathered around the kitchen table, each with a steaming mug of tea in front of them.
"First of all, I'm no servant – not even working for party services – and he," Lewis points at Hathaway, "is not Mr. Alexander's personal assistant. We're detectives of the Thames Valley police. We were sent here to protect Mr. Alexander as he'd received credible threats to his life."
Jenny seems shocked by the news but at the same time her interest in Hathaway seems to grow. Hathaway offers her a quick smile but then hides behind his mug.
Agnes just nods. "Go on then, dear."
Lewis smiles, happy that she still calls him dear. Not everyone does it when they learn they've been lied to for days.
"We've been trying to find out who attempted to kill Mr. Alexander and at the same time protect him. Now my Sergeant here did a grand job of it when he pushed Alexander away from the flower pot Webster sent flying down from the balcony. Webster wasn't around when it happened. But he wasn't the only one who was at or around the house whom we couldn't place at the time. There was also Mr. Andrews and the gardener, Simmons, who were not with either of us at the time."
"Nor was Agnes," Jenny points out.
"No, but she was in the kitchen right before and afterwards and couldn't have made it upstairs onto the balcony and back in time."
Agnes nods and picks up her mug. "True. And I never go up there anyway, not my area. I never get any farther than the dining room really."
"For a while I thought nothing happened the next day. Which made us suspicious of Mr. Andrews again as he wasn't around that day and had been unaccounted for the other day. But neither of us," he nods at Hathaway, "could make out any motive for him."
Hathaway nods and casts a glance at Jenny who smiles back at him.
"I only realized tonight that Webster tried to poison Alexander. You remember the glass I scattered on the stairs, Jenny?"
"Of course. Oh, you mean that was..."
"Poisoned, yes, I'm sure of it. I'll have someone check out the carpet where I dropped the drink. I'm sure they'll find residue of some poison there. Rat poison probably, I saw some out in the shed where the ladder is kept."
"So if you hadn't tripped on the stairs, you'd have delivered the kiss of death to Alexander," Hathaway remarks.
Lewis glances at him. "So to speak. Maybe you'd like to go on, you had more action today than me."
Hathaway takes another sip of his tea, never letting go of the warm mug as he takes up the story. "Today I went to the future building site with Mr. Alexander and Mr. Olsen, the architect. I had feared something might happen there. Woods and a building site right next to each other, it sounded like a perfect place for an attack, but none came. I had backup around the place but didn't need it. Thankfully. Still, I asked for a car to placed close by as backup and they were outside the gates all the time. Which didn't help us much in the end. This evening, Webster came up to my room. I had expected it to be the Inspector, but it was Webster, pointing one of the vintage guns from the display in the main lounge at me. He kept out of range for me to strike out at him so all I could do was do as I was told. He made me get down on my knees and he knocked me out, I suppose with the gun."
"Oh you poor thing, you," Jenny looks at him with worry. "Are you OK?"
"Yes, only a bit of a headache and a bump on the back of my head, Hathaway reassures her. "Anyway, when I woke up again, he had me tied and gagged. He made me walk through the house all the way to Inspector Lewis' room whom he took just as much by surprise as he had done with me before. He locked us in after telling us we'd crossed his plans once too many and he'd stop Alexander now. Which really was the give-away."
Jenny is practically hanging on Hathaway's lips. "How did you manage to get out?"
"I climbed out of the window, down the espalier. Thankfully the side entrance wasn't locked so I could get back inside. I rushed upstairs to get the Inspector and ended up having to break down the door as Webster had taken the key."
"That explains the loud crash." Agnes sounds very matter of fact about it all.
"Yes. Sorry, but breaking down doors can't be done quietly."
"You could of course have used the spare key." Agnes points to a collection of keys hanging on the wall.
"I didn't even know what those were for so how should he?" Lewis knows that Agnes doesn't mean it as an accusation but still feels the need to protect his Sergeant. "Anyway, we rushed over to Alexander's room and found Webster just delivering him a drink. One that looked exactly like the one I had spilled the other day. That's when I made the connection. James here arrested Webster and locked him into the guest bath until the colleagues took him away. And Alexander has rushed off sulking because I dared to speak to him in my normal tone." He leans back and wipes a hand over his face.
"Shouldn't we get over to the station to question Webster," Hathaway asks.
"Oh, I think a night in a cell won't hurt him. I need some sleep before I feel like dealing with him. Why don't we stay the night and enjoy a last one of Agnes' marvellous breakfasts before questioning Webster?"
Hathaway nods. "As you say, Sir."
Jenny looks at him. "Sir, Inspector... shall I prepare the second guest room for you then?"
Lewis smiles at her. "Don't bother. I have a bed to drop down into upstairs. I don't need anything else right now." To prove it, he unsuccessfully tries to stifle a yawn.
"Right, why don't we all go to bed?" Agnes gets up and clears the mugs away. The others get up and head off to their rooms under the mumbles of "good nights".
