everything. They were to have met in London. She was to pretend to join this travelling company. But both fought shy in the end. He was scared, I expect, of Burt, and she didn’t trust Burns too far. They changed their minds, but Burns couldn’t meet her at the Bungalow as arranged, and has not seen her since. Is obviously frightened. Wants to persuade me that he thinks she did go to the show and join the company after all.
August 25th: Shall inform the police of my suspicions.
August 26th: She could have thrown Cora’s body into the sea.
Later: Or buried it in Meg Tosstick’s grave, if she could get the people at the inn to change the bodies for the undertaker. But there is nothing at present—Why, of course, there is! Whose suggestion was it, I wonder, that Meg should be cared for at the inn? Suppose it came from Mrs. Coutts! Suppose there is some very strong connection between Mrs. Coutts and the people at the inn! The Lowrys, of course, must be related by blood as well as by marriage. They are very much alike in appearance.
August 27th: Solved it, I do believe! Exhumation order asked for. Now for it.
August 29th, 5.0 a.m.: Cora’s body, not Meg’s, exhumed. The Lowrys must be implicated. The funeral took place from the inn, and the coffin had obviously been made for Cora, a much bigger and taller girl than Meg. Now, what hold could Mrs. Coutts have had over either or both of the Lowrys, that they should become accessories after the fact of the murder? Oh, yes, I can answer that!…
October 20th: Trial of Candy begins to-day.
October 24th: Candy found guilty of murdering mother and child. I must find some proof of Mrs. Coutts’ guilt, I suppose, that will satisfy the authorities, but I don’t want the poor woman to be hanged. If Candy is reprieved, I shall kill her by shock. She obviously has a weak heart, and sudden death is the best gift I can present to her. If she isn’t hanged she will be sent to Broadmoor. I will kill her, unless Candy is not reprieved. In that case, I shall have to save him by denounting her to the police.
October 25th: Good heavens! I’m wrong about the whole thing! The passage has no outlet at the inn. It has been bricked up these fifty years or so!
I must be right! That passage must have a new outlet made by Lowry. He may have been a lover of Cora before Burns came upon the scene with his money and his more gentlemanly (!!) ways.
October 26th: Mrs. Gatty to the rescue. Marvellous woman! The ground floor bathroom! Now to twist Lowry’s tail and save that wretched woman, if only Candy is reprieved.
October 29th: Candy set free. Sending him to Kent almost immediately.
November 5th, 2.30 a.m.: Guy Fawkes’ Day. And I have committed my second murder.
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[scanned anonymously in a galaxy far far away]
[A 3S Release— v1, html]
[August 21, 2006]
