Everyone just stared at her.
"What?" Naomi said gently.
"Boy, did we get it wrong," Jordan shrugged.
She continued to nod her head gently. "It is well that I sent for you. It is the providence of the good God that Jane told me what you were up to. Listen, children, my son was an evil man. He persecuted the church. He lied, cheated and gambled. He dragged down other souls beside his own. But there was worse than that. As I came out of my room in this house one morning, I saw my daughter-in-law standing at the head of the stairs. She was reading a letter. I saw my son sneak up behind her. One swift push, and she fell, striking her head on the marble steps. When they picked her up, she was dead."
Naomi gasped when hearing this. Her eyes were near to tears.
"My son was a murderer, and only I, his mother, knew it," He continued.
The Musketeers could do nothing but stand there and hear the confession.
She closed her eyes for a moment. "You cannot conceive, children, of my agony, my despair. What was I to do, renounce him to the police? I could not bring myself to do it. Besides, would they believe me? My eyesight had been failing for some time. They would say I was mistaken. I kept silent."
Naomi had tears in her eyes, Jordan at her with pity, Declan with understanding. Bennett watched her intently, urging her to go on.
"But my conscience gave me no peace. By keeping silent, I, too, was a murderer. My son inherited his wife's money. He flourished from his evil deeds. And now he was to have more power than he ever dreamed of. And there was Jane. Poor child, beautiful, naturally pious, was fascinated by him. But she was also naive. He had a strange and terrible power over women. I saw it coming. I was powerless to prevent it. He had no intention of committing to her. Soon, she would have come ready to yield everything to him."
The others watched Bennett. Jane was like another sister to him.
"Then I saw my path clear. He was my son. I had given him life. I was responsible for him. He had killed one woman's body. Now he would kill another's soul! I went to Mr Griffin's room and took the bottle of tablets. He had once said laughingly that there were enough in it to kill a man! I went into the study and opened the big box of chocolates that always stood on the table. I opened a new box by mistake. The other was on the table also. There was just one chocolate left in it. That simplified things. No one ate chocolates except my son and Jane. I would keep her with me that night. All went as I had planned-" She paused, closing her eyes a minute, then opened them again.
"Children, I am in your hands. They tell me I do not have many days to live. I am willing to answer for my action before the good God. Must I answer for it on Earth also?"
The Musketeers looked at each other. This was something they definitely had not expected. They did not realise the enormity of their findings and what it would mean.
Bennett hesitated. "But the empty bottle, madame," He said to gain time. "Why did Stephen Elliott have it?"
"When he came to say goodbye to me, I slipped it into his pocket. I did not know how to get rid of it. I cannot move about much without help, and finding it empty in my rooms might have caused suspicion. You understand," She drew herself up to her full height. "It was not to cast suspicion on Stephen Elliott! I never dreamed of such a thing. I thought his valet would find an empty bottle and throw it away without question."
"I understand," Bennett said.
"And your decision?" She asked, her voice firm and unfaltering, her head held as high as ever.
******
"The whole time, we had the clue in our hands," Naomi said, exasperated.
"What clue?" Jordan said in between mouthfuls of food.
"The chocolate box! Would anyone in possession of their full eyesight make such a mistake? Susan Reed had cataracts. That's what the Atropine drops were for. There was only one person in the household whose eyesight was bad enough that she could not see which lid to replace the box with. It was the chocolate box that put us on the track. Yet, up til the very end, we failed consistently to realise its real significance," Naomi said, sitting down after her little vent.
"Also, had it been Stephen Elliott, he would never have kept an incriminating bottle. Finding it was proof of his innocence, more than anything," Bennett added.
"Jane was right. He never did pay attention to anything. He found the bottle in his coat pocket and kept it," Jordan said with a laugh.
"But wow, the old lady commits a crime in such a simple and clever way that everyone is completely deceived, and she almost would have gotten away with it, too," Declan started.
"If it weren't for us meddling kids," Jordan finished holding his glass up to a toast.
The others laughed and toasted with him.
"But she did get away with it," Naomi reminded them.
"It was good of you to let Jane handle the matter," Declan told Bennett.
Bennett shrugged. "I don't know about you, but I was not going to be responsible for putting an old lady in prison."
The others nodded, agreeing. "Plus, Jane and John will handle it accordingly, but there really isn't anything to do. As far as everyone is concerned, Henry died a tragic and untimely death."
"So Jane is really ok with it?" Naomi asked him.
He thought it over. "I think her perception of him changed when she learnt what he did to his ex-wife,"
"Makes sense,"
"So," Jordan began. "Where to now? Off to solve another mystery?"
"Jordan,"
"Yeah,"
"Take that ridiculous monocle off."
