Why Not Murder

31. Afterwards

31. Afterwards

The police took statements of the household members separately. The servants weren't able to exchange information about what they told the police until they were back at the Laymuir residence. They were informed that Hudson was dead. It was not a suspicious death so no autopsy was required. The cause of death was excessive intoxication in combination with pharmaceutical prescriptions. The doctor had repeatedly tried to influence Hudson's consumption and there were witnesses to collaborate that but Hudson was not about to let anyone interfere with his celebrating the birth of his daughter.

The cleanup was long. Hilda stayed with Gwen and Harriet stayed with Winnie who could not be left alone in the state she was in. Conrad and Jim began by cleaning up the grounds and then went inside to help Cook and Maya with the mess there. The gardeners found two lady's purses, a man's wallet and a single man's shoe in the yard. There were no wallets in the purses or anything of value. The man's wallet turned out to be Hudson's doctor's. It was recognizable from the medical logo that had been worked into the leather. The ID, credit cards and cash were gone. The single shoe was a mystery because a man had left the premises wearing only one. These things were put aside and the doctor was phoned to tell him his wallet had been found. He hadn't noticed yet that it was gone.

When the dishwasher was running and there was not any space left to bring dirty dishes, glasses and cutlery to, Cook declared a break and she, Maya, Conrad and Jim sat outside at the picnic table in the sun. It was sunny but cold so they went into the kitchen to sit there. They held their mugs of coffee in one hand and perched paper plates with left-overs on their knees.

Cook started, "The cops were asking me all sorts of questions which I could not answer because I never left the kitchen. The questions I could answer were 'did anyone besides household members and staff enter the kitchen?' and I said 'yes, guests were coming in all the time and I was having to keep shoeing them out, just so I could keep up with what was expected of me. 'Did I ever leave the kitchen?' they wanted to know. 'No,' I told them and that if I had to go to the washroom I used that one there," and Cook pointed to the one with a door into the kitchen. "I even told them," Cook continued, "that I only went there twice the whole time. I think there's something strange about all those questions they had, like maybe they were wondering about a possible poisoning."

"They were asking me too," Conrad said, "if people were wandering outside of the property bounds."

"Same here," Jim interrupted.

Conrad continued, "I said I couldn't say. People were wandering around the grounds but who they were, I couldn't even guess, they could have been guests or drivers. Plus they were all strangers to me including all the guests inside. I don't know any of them. I was so busy I didn't notice anything out of the ordinary, considering it was a huge party. They asked about the flash power-out, but I don't know the cause of that either."

"They asked me that too," Jim said, "And they asked about the security cameras and where is the central panel. In the basement I said but you need the password."

"It's possible the Mr turned off the security cameras," Maya said, "for privacy reasons. After all, most of the guests were consuming recreational drugs and not all legal."

"What about the police?" Jim asked.

"They were guests," Maya answered, "not there in a professional capacity at all and likely enjoying themselves as much as the others. Were any of you asked if you saw any fighting or arguing?"

"I was asked," Jim said, "but it was in reference to the guests."

Cook said, "One of the women drivers came rushing in here because a fight had started between two drivers. I sent Jim out."