7
It was pouring. The sound of the rain mixed with the waves and reverberated throughout the island, as if composing a melody to send them off to a different time and space.
Ellery ran through the rain, not caring about getting soaked.
He didn’t take the roundabout way through the arc of pine trees, but ran straight for the remains of the Blue Mansion. He would need to run straight through the trees.
He stopped once to look behind him. Making sure Poe and Van were following him, he yelled:
‘Hurry! The rain will destroy the footprints!’ He put on another spurt.
His feet got caught in the undergrowth a couple of times, but he finally made his way through the trees. Arriving in the front garden of the Blue Mansion, he saw that the footprints around the place where Leroux had lain were still intact.
Poe and Van arrived soon after. Ellery pointed at the footprints as he caught his breath.
‘Just memorise everything here as if your lives depended on it.’
They stood there, following the lines of footprints left on the ground with their eyes, while the cold rain pelted them. They desperately tried to memorise the scene in front of them as puddles started to form and rivulets started to erode the prints.
After a while Ellery turned around, brushing away his wet locks of hair.
‘Let’s go back. We’ll catch cold.’
✦ ✦ ✦
After changing their soaked clothes, the three gathered once again around the table in the hall.
‘Would you two mind coming a bit closer? This is important,’ said Ellery as he opened a notebook he had brought from his room and grabbed a pen. Poe and Van hesitated, but got up from their chairs and walked to Ellery’s side.
‘Let’s draw the plan while it’s still fresh on our minds, okay?’
Ellery drew a vertically long rectangle that covered the page of the notebook.
‘This represents the grounds of the Blue Mansion.’
Inside that, Ellery drew an oblong rectangle in the upper half.
‘The remains of the building—the pile of bricks. And this is the staircase that goes down to the rocky area beneath the cliffs.’
He marked the place in the centre of the left side of the large rectangle.
‘The Decagon House is in the lower-right direction. The bottom line here is the row of trees. And Leroux was lying in the front garden, around here.’
Slightly to the right and below the centre, Ellery drew a human figure, representing the corpse. Ellery then looked up at the other two.
‘And now the footsteps. Where were they?’
‘First, there was a line of footprints which went from the entrance to the grounds—the arch of pine trees—to the staircase on the cliffs,’ answered Poe, restlessly brushing his beard.
‘And then three disorderly lines of footprints which went from the entrance to Leroux’s body and back.’
✦ ✦ ✦
‘Precisely. Like this, I think. Van, this right?’
‘Yes. I think it was like that.’
‘Okay, done.’
Having finished marking the figure, Ellery placed the notebook where all three of them could see it clearly. (See Figure 3.)
‘I discovered Leroux’s body right when I had gone through the arch of pine trees and arrived on the Blue Mansion grounds. You two arrived soon after and we ran straight to the body. Poe and I carried the body, and with Van behind us, we went back to the Decagon House the way we came. Therefore the three chaotic sets that went up to the body and back were made by the three of us, naturally. So if we remove those sets from our investigation….’
Ellery paused and brushed his wet hair back.
‘Don’t you see anything odd?’
‘Odd? About these footprints?’ Poe asked, frowning.
‘Yes. The only people who entered the crime scene are Poe, Van and I, and of course the murderer. Including Leroux, there should be five sets of footprints going to the body. And indeed, there are five sets. However—.’
‘Ellery, wait,’ said Poe, glaring at the figure.
‘If we ignore the sets we made when we discovered Leroux’s body, there remains one set going from the entrance to the staircase, two sets going from the staircase to the body and one set from the body to the staircase.’
‘So you see our problem?’
‘Yes.’
‘I think we can safely assume the footsteps from the entrance to the staircase are those of Leroux. One of the sets going from the staircase to the body naturally belongs to Leroux himself. That means the remaining two lines were made by the murderer going to Leroux and back. But where did the murderer come from?’
‘The staircase.’
‘Precisely. But there is nothing but sea down there. You remember? There were only sheer cliffs on both sides of the rocky area beneath the staircase. The only way to get onto this island is either from that staircase, or from the steps from the inlet with the pier. So how did the murderer make his way to that rocky area? And where did he go from there? He’d have to go all the way around that projecting cliff if he wanted to get back to the inlet. The water is deep, too. He would need to swim in this weather. I wonder what the temperature of the water is.’
Poe got out his cigarette case and groaned softly. Van’s eyes were fixed on the notebook on the table.
‘And?’
‘So the problem is: why did the murderer do that? Well?’
Ellery was the only one enjoying these riddles under the tense circumstances.
Van remained silent, slipping both hands inside his down jacket.
‘Hm.’ Poe cleared his throat and spoke.
‘The murderer is one of us three here in this house. So why would he go down to the rocky area to swim back here? Walking would have been easier. He could easily have just trampled on his own footprints to obscure their size and shape. It’s not as though we have a forensics expert around here. So the fact he didn’t do that means he had an important reason to return by sea.’
‘Exactly. And the reason is obvious, I think.’ Ellery nodded in satisfaction and stood up. ‘So let’s get something to eat now. It’s already three o’clock.’
‘Eat?’
Van looked suspicious. ‘How can we eat now, Ellery? Why did the murderer…?’
‘Later, later. No need to get all worked up over the question now. We haven’t eaten since morning.’
Ellery turned round and went to the kitchen.