Shades of the Butcher's Boy (Challenge 38: Psych) [Miss Marple]

[smallhobbit]

Title: Shades of the Butcher's Boy
Fandom: Miss Marple
Author: smallhobbit
Rating: G
Challenge: #38: Reverse Fandom: Psych - There Might Be Blood
Spoilers: None
Summary: Miss Marple has a suggestion to make to Inspector Craddock

 

“Good morning, inspector,” Miss Marple said.  “I wondered if I would have the pleasure of your company with my coffee.”

“What gave you that idea, Miss Marple?” Inspector Craddock asked, as he took the armchair next to her in the hotel lounge.

“Well, poor Williams was clearly murdered.”

“Nothing of the sort has been stated.  Indeed, I understood general opinion was that he’d had a tragic accident.”

“Well, of course, one doesn’t want to alarm people unduly.  But the accident was with a sharp knife.”

“Correct.”

“And when I sympathised with Betty, one of the maids, you know, and said how awful it must have been for whoever had to clean his room, she replied by saying, ‘He’d been very considerate, there was nothing worth speaking of to clean.’  Now, in those circumstances one would have thought there might be blood.”  Miss Marple looked directly at the inspector, as if daring him to contradict her.

“A very reasonable assumption,” Craddock said with a smile.  “And what have you concluded from all that?”

“That Williams didn’t die in his room, but elsewhere.  Which means, even if it was an accident, someone else was involved, and the likelihood is that it was murder.”

“And have you come to any conclusion as to the identity of the murderer?”

“Obviously it is far too early to know anything at this stage.  From what Betty told me, Williams was unpopular, and it seemed likely he was going to be sacked by the end of the week, but that wouldn’t be a reason for him to be killed.  Unless…”

“Unless?” Craddock prompted.

“He reminds me of the butcher’s boy.  He was most unsatisfactory, and the butcher told him his job was finishing on the Friday.  Well, he used the week to threaten a number of the other shopkeeper’s, by saying he would reveal various misdemeanours if they didn’t give him money to keep quiet.”

“And what happened to him?”

“Oh, he hadn’t realised the baker’s wife was the sister of the local police constable.  So, of course she told her brother, who had a word with the miscreant in the middle of the high street, loud enough to be quite clearly heard.  No real harm had been done; the boy had invented most of the misdemeanours anyway and he subsequently joined the army.  I understand he has done quite well there, having learnt his lesson.”

“And you think Williams may have tried a similar scheme.  Only, unlike the butcher’s boy, he threatened someone who had something valuable they wished to hide.”

“I do think it’s a possibility.  Although I know so little about these matters.”

“Your little, Miss Marple, is considerably more than most people’s lot,” Craddock said.  “I shall most certainly look into it.”