Death on the Nyle

The Killer Revealed

"No, darling. Tell me it isn't true!" Melanoma Branston ran to her husband and pulled him into a tight hug. "I still love you, Elbert, even if you are a killer! I should never have left you. Oh, my poor, poor Elbert!" Elbert hung on tight to his wife, a defiant look in his eyes.

Lieutenant Rideout took a pair of handcuffs from her belt and proceeded to put them on Elbert Branston. "Great work, Beckett. They say you always get your man. And yes, I did say man. I find sometimes that dropping gender specification in a statement makes lose its impact. Don't you agree? Anyhow, this was an easy one. I think we all guessed that Elbert was the killer from the start."

Melanoma Branston fell to her knees as Rideout led her husband towards the library door where Büttler stood, looking pale and shell shocked by proceedings.

"Elbert," whispered Cedric. "I just can't believe it. I never thought he had anything like that in him."

Drawing himself up to his full height of 175 cm Beckett, stepped into the centre of the room and thrust back his shoulders. "STOP!" he boomed. "Stop, please, Lieutenant, the game is not yet won. Cedric is right. Elbert is not the killer. He does not have a murderous bone in his body."

Elemeno Pee's eyestalks twitched furtively. "But he said he did it, Mr Beckett. He confessed!"

Beckett placed his hands on his rather substantial waist. "Indeed he did madam, but as Oscar Wilde once wrote, "The truth is rarely pure and never simple." There is more to this case than meets the eye."

"Ooh!" said Rideout excitedly, thrusting Elbert down on a chair. "This is getting good! Please continue."

"Elbert Branston. The younger son. The one who has spent his life trying to live up to the expectations of first his father and then of his wife. In both instances he failed, not because he was not good enough, but because his father and wife set impossibly high standards that were simply unattainable."

"How dare you!" shouted Melanoma, furiously.

"Oh shut up, Melanoma," replied Spoon, quickly. "Let the man continue."

Beckett nodded calmly. "Thank you, Professor. Elbert's efforts suited Richmal perfectly. Elbert believed that if he worked hard enough he could make his father love him, or at the very least acknowledge him. Sadly, Richmal knew that fact and he manipulated his son to work harder and harder for his company and as a result Branston Corporation's profits grew."
"It was the same with Melanoma," said Ms Pee, sadly. "She always wanted more from poor Elbert. A bigger house, more clothes, a new spaceship. He never had a chance of keeping her happy"

"Precisely," agreed Beckett. "In many ways, Richmal Branston and his daughter-in-law were very similar."

"You don't know anything!" screamed Melanoma, almost in hysterics now.

Beckett smiled knowingly. "I know enough. I know for example that, beyond a shadow of a doubt, you murdered Richmal Branston."