Chapter 20
The Umbrella at the Door
The umbrella was not for weather. It carried the documents Beatrice could not risk folding.
Police found paper fibres inside its sleeve and a faint ring of purple stamp ink on the handle. She had used it to move the forged release and original map without displaying either.
June rebuilt Beatrice's path from Elsie's frames. Enter potting room. Place umbrella. Confront Arthur. Remove extended-release capsule from bottle. Insert emergency-stock capsule. Add violet date to ledger. Take map. Pour cordial. Leave.
Four minutes was tight until June stopped performing the steps in that order.
"The ledger was altered after Arthur collapsed," she said. "The medicine was switched at Friday's reception. On Sunday she needed only to make certain he swallowed it and take the papers."
The gloved hand behind Arthur's chair belonged to someone in Beatrice's campaign gloves. The council emergency strip supplied the substitute. The potting room completed the plan.
Asha requested an arrest warrant.
The magistrate wanted stronger proof of intent.
At six, Beatrice announced an emergency council vote to demolish the potting room and begin survey work the next morning.
The best remaining crime scene had twelve hours left.