The Incident Concerning The Alsatian Dog.

Chapter 7

Sadly, I had to wait until the morning to get any answers to my questions. I found out from Newham that Dr. Scott had grossly overexaggerated my illness that didn't even exist, so therefore I was stuck in bed hearing tales of Barnes plodding around asking everyone, even my friends, extremely awkward questions. I finished A Process Of Elimination, and afterwards vowed never to talk to Hettie ever again. She had been keeping the ending of the book as a closely guarded secret, and now I realized it was undoubtedly her revenge for what I had put her through when she read Mystery Man.

Still, it was a fantastic end.

Dr. Scott gave me his diagnosis over lunch, which he and Newham came to share with me in my room. Being my two oldest friends, they said it only seemed right.

"Well, I checked out the stain and the dog food" the doctor began, after we had explained the whole situation to Newham.

"And?" I prompted.

"They both contained quite large amounts of a rather nasty knockout drug. Lethal, in large doses. Even if you inhale it, it can still make for some pretty powerful effects" the doctor told us both.

I snapped my fingers together triumphantly.

"That's why I kept passing out! I sniffed the dog food and the cocoa stain a few minutes before, both times. It makes sense!" I exclaimed. Both Newham and the doctor smiled.

"I should have guessed it was something like that, Allie" Newham sighed. "You've never really been one for fainting."

"Thank you" I laughed.

"Is that what you expected?" Dr. Scott asked. I shrugged.

"More or less. I'll have to read up on it now, though. There's one thing that doesn't make sense, and only research can solve it."

"I'll go though the library for you, after lunch" Dr. Scott offered, and I accepted gratefully. We then put the murder to one side, and enjoyed the rest of our meal.

I was two thirds of the way through the pile of library books later on in the afternoon, when Isabel, Fisher and Amber came back to see me. I was now doing a very good job of pretending to be ill, with a little help from Hettie's face powder. She was much paler than I was, so her powder washed out my skin very well.

"So" I whispered. "What did you find?"

"Nothing was missing, no valuables, anything" Amber told me worriedly. "I checked all his usual places for hiding things, and went through all the drawers. There's nothing valuable missing that I know about, and I'd like to think I know about everything."

"Did you count sets of clothes?" I asked. Isabel nodded.

"We did. If Amber's right about how many sets of clothes he had, all that's missing is one set" she confirmed.

"What he was wearing when he died" Amber sniffed.

"But...but the jacket was different, er, wasn't it?" Fisher stammered. Everyone looked at him, surprised.

"What do you mean, Fisher?" Isabel asked.

Fisher blanched at being the centre of attention.

"I mean, er, Miss Gray, you said so yourself, when we were, er, looking around" the Deputy Inspector explained hurriedly. "You said that...well, that the missing jacket didn't match the, er, missing trousers."

"I...did" Amber agreed, as if only realising it for the first time. "But that's not like Matthew."

There was a silence, as everyone, including me, tried to work out what that meant, to no avail.