Why Not Murder

23. Same Man

23. Same Man

The gardeners were raking the leaves without power machines because the Mrs couldn't stand loud noise. At least twenty-five huge paper bags were filled already and there was much more to do. The fall garden was gorgeous with all the red maple leaves. Conrad and Jim were taking their coffee break with Maya as she had questions for them. Hudson set it up so that Maya would be able to view the house security videos from the computer in the kitchen. Cook was far too involved with her duties to take an interest in what they were doing. Hilda was attending to Winnie who was out of sorts and Harriet was at the office.

"Take a good look," Maya said. "Is that either of you?" She was showing the pertinent video section of the unknown man. They only saw a single shot of him by the house wall in the dark.

The gardeners were both looking at the screen closely. "Jim," Conrad said, "could that be you? It's definitely our uniform and he looks slimmer than me." Jim wasn't sure. "I think it's the time you were going back for a screwdriver," Conrad said, "We'd promised our landlady that we would put up some shelves for her. After we'd left for the day, on the way home we remembered we didn't have the right screwdriver at home and so we returned to the Laymuirs' for it. I waited in the car while you got it."

"Oh yeah," Jim confirmed, "I remember now. Nice set of shelves we did. We brought the screwdriver back with us the next day. We do not normally take anything from the house, but in this case it was a whole lot easier to borrow the screwdriver for one night. The hardware store would have been closed at that time anyway. I just went to the tool shed and back. I didn't want to be seen though. It would have been too much explaining."

"Was that the night the Mr's car went missing?" Maya asked.

"Heavens no," both the gardeners exclaimed simultaneously. "That was nigh on a month earlier," Conrad said.

"What about this?" Maya asked and she switched to the man putting his hand on the camera.

"That was a totally different night," Conrad said, "I noticed that the camera had been moved, by squirrels or birds most likely. There are lots of seeds caught in the eaves and in between the roof shingles. I just moved it back so that it would have the view it I think it was meant to, that is of the front of the house. That was a day or so before the Mr's car was missing. I've done it many times." Jim said he'd done it on occasion too and said, "We have easy access to the ladder so we figured best to be helpful and just fix it right away."

"Is the tool shed locked?" Maya asked.

"We lock it at the end of our day and open it in the morning," Jim said.

"Are you ever asked to do work inside the house, such as repairs?" Maya asked.

"Sometimes," Jim said, "I'm good at carpentry. Conrad used to be an electrician and we can both do plumbing if need be. If we can be of service to the boss, we are."

"I switched to gardening because I prefer to be outdoors," Conrad said.

"Do you have keys for the house?" Maya asked.

"Certainly not," Conrad said, "The girls do though, in case the Mr and Mrs are away."

That's one reason there are security cameras inside the house Maya thought. After the gardeners went outside to continue raking, Maya took a look at the video of the time she first came to this house. She was amazed at her own audacity to pick open the back door and simply enter without any apparent regard for the security cameras. Other cameras showed that the servants were about their work and the gardeners were working in the garden. She hadn't seen any of them at the time, likewise when she was observing the house off-property. Then too, it amazed her what Hudson's attitude at the time was. The security company informed him of her entrance and yet apparently they did not consider her threatening. She was so interested in all the people her investigations had brought into her life that she felt they were each a part of her.