She paused, wondering just how wise it was to answer that question truthfully. Reticence was as natural to her as breathing, but she could not see the harm in it and perhaps it might be the vital clue that allowed the captain to solve the murder. She glanced at the axe on its shelf, a silent nudge to her conscience. “Because of the axe,” she said slowly. “The axe was hidden.”
“Was it?”
“Nobody saw it,” she said. “Eustace said he put it in the display, but nobody saw it because it was hidden, ready for the murderer to use.”
“Where was it hidden?” the captain said.
“In one of the urns, of course,” she said scornfully. “Where else?”
“I could think of scores of places where it might be hidden,” the captain said.
“No, it was in one of the urns.”
“What makes you think so?”
“I do notthinkso, Iknowso. I saw it there.”
The captain uttered an exclamation of surprise, and dropped his pencil. Even Mr Willerton-Forbes raised his eyebrows in astonishment.
“Miss Nicholson, you could not possibly have seen the axe in the urn. It must be taller than you are.”
She smiled at him. “Not from alongside it. From above. There is an alcove that overlooks the stairs, and when the sun is at just the right height, the light from the glass ceiling shines directly into the urn. I could see the axe inside it.”
“Show me! Show me at once!” Captain Edgerton cried, jumping up and grabbing the axe. “Pettigrew, will you be so goodas to take the axe down to the stairs and put it in the urn? Now, Miss Nicholson, show me your alcove.”
The alcove was a small rounded balcony overlooking the great hall, made with a carved stone balustrade. It was set to one side of one of the bedroom corridors, its great attraction being a curtain that hid anyone lurking there from those passing by in the corridor.
“When we were little, we were allowed to sit here to watch guests arriving for a ball,” she said. “Everyone used to gather in the great hall before going in to dinner or through to the gallery to dance. We could peer through the balusters and admire the gowns and jewels. Nowadays, I believe I am the only one who remembers its existence. It is an excellent place to hide if one does not wish to be found.”
“And it has a splendid view of the stairs,” the captain said.
Down below, Mr Willerton-Forbes waited with the axe, with Mrs Edgerton.
The captain leaned over the balustrade and called down, “Put it in the urn, Pettigrew.”
As he moved to do so, Tess cried out, “No! Not that one! The other one, Mr Willerton-Forbes.”
“But that is the one that Shapman said he used.”
“Well, he made it up, did he not?” Tess said, laughing. “It is only possible to see into the nearest urn, Captain, not the one at the other side of the half-landing.”
“Of course,” the captain said slowly. “And there is no balcony on that side. Very well, this urn, Pettigrew if you will.”
When he did so, the captain leaned over the balustrade. “No, I still see nothing.”
“The handle is too dark. It is the metal blade that shows up,” she said. “Mr Willerton-Forbes, can you place the axe so that the blade is on the side furthest from us?”
“Ah! Now I see it,” the captain said. “Excellent.”
“It shows up much better when the sun is directly on it,” Tess said. “Oh! I have just thought of another reason why Tom could not have done what he claimed. Those urns are fitted with a platform about halfway up so that a vase of flowers may be placed inside without damaging the urn itself with water. Without that, the axe would slip right to the bottom and be out of reach. Tom would not have known that.”
“Who would have known it?”
“The family, and the older servants. I cannot recall that flowers have been put in there for years — not since my grandfather’s day.”
“How very interesting,” the captain said, with a flash of gleaming teeth. “I shall make enquiries, but this does account for why Shapman knew about the axe being in the urn and yet chose the wrong urn. I suppose you did not happen to see who put the axe in there, Miss Nicholson?”
“If I had, I should have told you all this a very long time ago, Captain Edgerton, because whoever it was, he must have murdered my father.”
