The Riverboat Mystery (Jenny Starling #3)(69)

Jenny sighed. ‘I couldn’t find any proof that any of the others had been deliberately waylaid.’

Rycroft pursed his lips. ‘So that still left Lucas, Brian O’Keefe and Captain Tobias who could have come across her killing Olney? Not to mention yourself and Francis Grey, as well.’ He whistled softly.

‘Yes, that’s right, although she knew I was going for a walk that afternoon, and Francis makes himself so scarce he’s practically absent, so I don’t think she’d have been too concerned about us.’

‘She was still taking an awful lot of risks, though. By his own admission, Lucas had been wandering around the boat at random. He could have come across her at any time.’

‘Ah,’ Jenny said, ‘but that was one of the other things that made me realize that Dorothy Leigh was the only one who could have killed Mr Olney.’

This time it was Graves who frowned in puzzlement. ‘I don’t follow you, Miss Starling. How do you come to that conclusion?’

Jenny smiled. ‘Tell me, Sergeant, just what do you think Lucas would have done if he had seen Dorothy Leigh kill Gabriel Olney? Bear in mind that with Olney dead he gets to keep his boat and be rid of a blackmailer. And keep in mind too that Lucas was very fond of Dorothy. Do you think he’d turn her in, or pretend he’d seen nothing and keep his mouth firmly shut?’

Graves opened his mouth, then shut it again.

Jenny nodded. ‘Now, what do you think would have happened if Brian O’Keefe had seen her? Could you seriously see a good Irish God-fearing Catholic handing over a pregnant woman to the cops? Bear in mind too that Brian O’Keefe, like most men of his sort, do their best to avoid the police as a matter of principle. Much the same could be said if Tobias Lester saw her. Both Lester and O’Keefe stood to lose their jobs and their homes. But with Olney dead . . .’

Rycroft nodded. ‘I begin to see what you’re getting at. She relied on the fact that everybody had reason to want Olney dead.’

‘And that nobody — or at least, none of the men — would want to see a pregnant woman go to prison for it,’ Graves said. ‘Not if avoiding it meant that they only had to keep their mouths shut.’

Jenny nodded. ‘Right. As outrageous as it might sound in this day and age, she was actually relying on male gallantry to keep her safe, if she was seen,’ she admitted. ‘But that’s not really out of character for her. For all her life, Dorothy Leigh has been treated like delicate china. Her petite build and fair colouring has guaranteed that men have always placed her on a pedestal. She’d take it for granted that, if the worst did come to the worst, and she was seen killing Olney, that the men would band together to protect her. Especially when she could tell them what Olney had threatened to do to her and David. Only Jasmine Olney might want to see her husband’s killer get caught,’ the cook pointed out, ‘and then, not so much out of a desire for justice, but more likely because it would put her in the clear.’

Jenny thought about the widow for a moment and smiled wryly. ‘That’s why Jasmine had to be got out of the way. And, incidentally, why the note stressed that Jasmine should stay by the door. Dorothy wanted her as far away from the window as possible. The freshwater butt, remember, was on the starboard deck. It was the one thing that could have caught her out if Jasmine had happened to hear anything outside. But even in that, Dorothy Leigh was lucky. Brian O’Keefe shut the window as he escaped down onto the lower deck. So, as it was, Mrs Olney didn’t hear a thing as her husband was being drowned just yards away, more or less right under her window.’

Graves sighed. ‘That’s another thing that gets me. In fact, it’s the only thing that makes me glad that we actually caught her. It was such a cold-hearted way to kill a man.’

Jenny sighed. ‘She was desperate. And, no matter what you feel about it, you have to admit that it was very clever.’

Rycroft nodded. ‘How do you think it was accomplished, Miss Starling?’

The cook shrugged. ‘Very easily, I should imagine. She got the trolley and the plastic sheet from the engine room when O’Keefe was elsewhere and took them to the water butt. Then she hunted out Gabriel and told him some pretty story — something along the lines that an earring had dropped off and fallen in the water butt and that her arms weren’t long enough to reach the bottom, and could he help? You must remember that Olney had been pursuing her for some time. He’d jump at the chance to perform such a simple, gallant little task. It would earn him brownie points with the lady, if nothing else. And you must also remember the kind of man Olney was — he no doubt thought it was only a matter of time before Dorothy Leigh fell for his charm. He probably thought that her request to come to her aid was just her way of flirting with him.’

Graves snorted. ‘So she takes him to the water butt, and he leans in and starts fishing around for the bauble, but can’t find it.’

‘So he has to stand right up on tiptoe and lean even further in. Yes,’ Rycroft said softly. ‘I can see how that would work.’

‘Then,’ Jenny finished, ‘it was a simple matter to grab his legs and upend him head-first into the butt.’

‘I wouldn’t have thought she’d have had the strength though,’ Rycroft said dubiously.

‘Oh, but there you fall into the usual trap of all men,’ Jenny said complacently. ‘You assume that if a woman is thin and dainty, then she must also be mentally and physically weak. Whereas, in fact, Dorothy Leigh was neither. I saw for myself how good a swimmer she is, that first day on board the Swan. And she said herself that she often took their dog for long walks. She may have been three months pregnant, but she was also an extremely fit young woman. Besides, as you pointed out yourself, Gabriel Olney was a thin man. It wouldn’t have taken much just to hold his legs whilst he thrashed about in the water butt. The butt itself is four feet deep and narrow. A man, submerged head-first, with somebody holding his legs so that he can’t get a good purchase, would very quickly drown. He would have only his hands with which to try and lift himself up, and on a smooth-sided, round wooden barrel . . . well. As the medical examiner said, he broke some fingernails and bruised his knuckles. But that was all. It would have been over very quickly.’