The Kaikoura Horror

4

"One of these days, Dusang, you'll lose your head!" snapped Uxbury several hours later, following the arrest of Paul Bethany for murder and property destruction.

Dusang massaged his neck carefully. "Fortunately, I am skilled in the martial arts, and was able to subdue Bethany before he throttled me. The risk was considerably small, I'm sure."

He drew on his tomahawk pipe. Uxbury groaned, shaking his head, and then said, "Now, explanations! How the devil could Bethany be behind that destruction?"

Dusang chuckled carelessly. "It is ridiculously simple. Bethany was being blackmailed by Proust. As such, he destroyed the pagoda and framed Dr. Truly for the crime."

"But how did he do it?"

Dusang drew on his pipe. "You mentioned before that Bethany's art studio smelt of gas. That is a clue in itself. Why would there be gas in an art studio? That was suspicious, to say the least. Then you mentioned that there were rocks in the destroyed pagoda that did not belong there. At once the method of destruction becomes clear. Bethany inflated a hot air balloon, then loaded it with rocks. Once the balloon floated above the pagoda, Bethany punctured the balloon from a remote location, causing the rocks to fall onto the pagoda and destroy it. The balloon, floating in mid-air, would resemble a squid-like creature to some viewers. The pagoda, as well, was located on a mountain, which meant that the fog was thick. As such, it would have been easy to mistake that balloon for a giant squid. As for how he framed Dr. Truly, he had the doctor brought to his art studio. That separate studio must have been made like a film set, one that was an exact duplicate of Proust's tower. He allowed Dr. Truly to be clothed in a squid-like costume, causing him to think that he had transformed into a squid. This effectively baffled the police and drew suspicion away from himself."

Uxbury stared in disbelief. "Thunderation! A diabolically clever plan!"

Dusang nodded. Uxbury shook his head. "But how did you manage to figure out it was him?"

Dusang laughed once more. "Oh, that was the simplest part of it all. What first heightened my suspicions was when you mentioned his studio smelt of gas. Then you mentioned he had come into financial trouble, and that Proust had earned a considerable amount of wealth abruptly. That further elevated my suspicions. But I needed to make sure, which was why I scheduled a visit to his art studio. I laid a trap for him, inquiring about the separate studio. He was reluctant to show it to us, another point which corroborated my theory. But the final clue came in the time when I 'accidentally' spilt water on the painting."

"What!" Uxbury gazed at him astonishedly. "That was intentional?"

"Indeed. As you may recall, Bethany mentioned that on the day of the crime, only waterproof paint was available. And yet when I spilt water on the painting, the paint ran together, and caused the painting to become blurry. That effectively demolished Bethany's alibi. That painting must have been done on an earlier date, to provide Bethany with an alibi when he committed his crime. But he was unlucky enough to run out of paint on the day of the crime, having only waterproof paint at his disposal. If that painting had indeed been done with waterproof paint, it would not have been ruined when I spilt water on it. That was how I managed to catch him, the final link in my chain."