The Incident Concerning The Alsatian Dog.

Chapter 5

The rest of the afternoon mainly consisted of Barnes walking around asking questions, and me following him around while he was walking around asking questions, to see if I could pick up anything useful. Fisher joined Barnes, scribbling away in his notebook, and Isabel came with me to, I quote, 'keep me out of everyone's way'.

I found out that Lincoln Gray had been in the study of the house at eight thirty that morning, the time when Oscar barked. Ellie Gray had been in the kitchen. I had assumed, and Barnes had agreed, that Oscar's barking had been because someone was walking down to the boathouse, since the path led right by the front of his kennel. It made sense, and I was in no mood to contradict.

Barnes had narrowed down the suspects to a well-rounded four, Mr. Gray, Mrs. Gray, Linda Luck and Henry Klaus. Everyone else had an alibi-Hettie and Broker had been together in their room, Newham, Isabel, Dr. Scott, Amber and Caleb had all been in the breakfast room, and I-well, I had still been in bed, but I didn't fancy telling anyone that.

As for the why, I thought to myself, as I sat down tiredly in the drawing room with Newham after tea, well that was a whole other question, and undoubtedly the part of the case which I struggled with. I much preferred riddling out the hows and the whens of a case, since the whys tended to bore me slightly.

There were a few things on my mind, and Newham knew it, sitting quietly by my side and asking no questions as I delved deep into my thoughts.

My first big question was, why did the murderer choose to go down to the boathouse? Why didn't he just kill Matthew in his room, or somewhere closer to home? There had to be some reason for it.

Secondly, why kill Oscar? There was no reason for it as far as I could see, as Oscar had given away the time of the murder before he was killed. Revenge on the dog was pointless, if anything, it would just be another risk for the murderer to take. Again, it made no sense.

Thirdly, how did Matthew and the murderer get past Ellie in the kitchen without being seen? This was a bit of a curious question, one I hadn't really thought about much, but it was when we were interviewing Ellie in the kitchen that I had realized. The back door down to Oscar's kennel and the boathouse could only be accessed through the kitchen, then down a little tiny passage, and as everyone else would be milling around the house, going out the front door was far too risky. So how was it done? I was determined not to tell Barnes this, as if I did, Ellie would be arrested, sure as sure. I wanted to be a bit more sure before I got the Chief Inspector to step in.

My fourth point was the state of Matthew's room. In the little time I had known him, he hadn't struck me really as the messy type. I wanted to think his room had been searched, but then another part of me thought that was silly.
I shook my head, putting my thoughts to one side for a little while.

"Have you got any ideas yet?" Newham asked. I shook my head, curling up next to him on the couch. He sighed, slipping an arm around my shoulders.

"It's only the first day, Allie. I know you're a fan of the quick finishes and everything, but someday you're going to have to learn that these things sometimes take time" he said meaningfully, and I pulled a face. He laughed.

"You're always on the go, all the time" he said. "I dread to think what's going to happen when you find a case that takes you longer than a week."

"There won't ever be any" I replied confidently, but when he raised an eyebrow, I relented a little.

"Hopefully."

"You know" Newham mused, running his fingers gently through my hair. "It bothers me that I didn't hear Oscar barking. I was in the breakfast room, at half past eight with everyone else who heard it, but I still can't remember hearing a thing."