Have His Carcase: Chapters 16-18
I'm fairly certain I've got the chapter headings right this time, so there will be no more wrong chapter recap shenanigans.
Chapter 16 - The Evidence of the Sands
Peter and Harriet meet back up for a picnic to discuss the case and to spy on the police down at the Grinders. The cipher letters stump them a bit, and they decide that Alexis definitely was involved in something possibly unsavory.
Then they go down to the beach and search for clues. It's written in an amusing play style, and I really love the way they relate to each other. And of course, Peter tries to propose again. Then Harriet finds a horseshoe which gets Peter all in a dither, and he tells Harriet exactly the type of horse it was thrown from and generally impresses her with his deductive skills.
There's talk of kissing her, but Peter informs her that when he kisses her for the first time it will be a monumental event, and not "an unimportant sideshow attached to a detective investigation."
Peter talks of horses, and Harriet suddenly pictures him on a horse looking very impressive, and then she pictures herself beside him looking equally impressive, while impressing everyone else. Then she tells herself she's being foolish and forces herself to stop.
So, off they go to Darley to find the horse. They make their way to Hinks Lane where the suspicious Mr. Haviland Martin was camping, and they find evidence that a horse was lured with oats. Naturally, Peter climbs into the field and figures out exactly which horse was likely the one Mr. Martin used to ride to the beach to commit the murder.
But of course, the problem is still the timing. With Harriet being right on the spot at the murder, and Mr. Martin's schedule, it's just doesn't work. It's all very vexing.
Off they go to a blacksmith, and Peter determines that it was the horse in question, and it was Friday, the day of the murder, that the horse was found without his shoe.
Chapter 17 - The Evidence of the Money
Harriet takes Mrs. Weldon for a day at the Turkish bath, and subtly get the information she's looking for from Mrs. Weldon. Basically, Mrs. Weldon grew up wealthy, married young, and had a lazy son. Then her husband died and left all his money to Henry as Mrs. Weldon had plenty of money of her own, but Henry had no self-control or discipline or whatever with his money and went through it, so he kept going to Mrs. Weldon for more. She finally got fed up with him and stopped giving him money. When Henry discovered that she was going to marry Paul Alexis, he was rather upset over it all. Mostly because his inheritance would be going to Alexis if the marriage went through. So, according to Mrs. Weldon, Alexis would have had no motive for suicide with regards to his financial situation as she was going to be giving him quite a bit of money.
While Harriet was interrogating Mrs. Weldon, Peter is off detecting. He's traced Bright and determined that while he's still suspicious, there's no way he did the actual murdering.
He also learns that a police constable had bluffed his way onto old Pollock's boat and determined that there was no way any murdering was done on that boat.
Peter discusses Alexis' passport with the police and the fact that he was apparently planning on traveling to France in the near future.
The gold that Alexis was carrying is causing some consternation for Peter. He decides that the killers wanted the body found, but it hasn't been found yet because of the gold. Which means that Alexis wasn't murdered for the gold. Then he makes up a song about it.
Finally, Peter sends Bunter off to discover whatever he can about Henry Weldon and his financial situation.
Chapter 18 - The Evidence of the Snake
Harriet is going shopping. Particularly, she is shopping for a dress to wear on a picnic with Mrs. Weldon and Henry, with whom she intends on flirting. While wearing a dress that waves "tempestuously about her ankles" and a big hat.
Harriet proceeds to fawn all over Henry, complimenting his driving and demurring to his opinion, and proclaiming Peter to be just all right. Naturally, Henry takes all this shocking behavior at face value and asks her to ask Peter to back off, so to speak, with the Alexis being murdered nonsense. She continues to vamp him and tells him that he should call on her in London sometime, and "oh, Mr. Weldon, you're just so knowledgeable about everything and let me bat my eyes at you."
Of course, Henry is such as ass that he truly believes any woman would choose him over Lord Peter, and when he tells Harriet why he would be so much better for her than Peter, she is temporarily rendered speechless with rage. But she rationalizes that Henry really is a complete moron if he believes that, and that will make it that much easier for her to manipulate him.
So, they have their picnic, and Harriet keeps Henry at bay by making him do all sorts of little things, but he eventually tries to kiss her and she screams and boxes his ears. She tells him that she saw a snake, but it's obvious that something really has frightened her. Once they return to Wilvercombe, she calls Peter, but he's out, so she leaves a message for him to call her ASAP. She waits, perfectly still, for about an hour when Peter finally arrives, when she tells him that she thinks she's been kissed by a murderer.
Peter tells her that it serves her right for letting anyone but him kiss her, and that she shouldn't gloat over him with information like that. He says, "Take off that vulgar and idiotic hat and tell me who this low-down, bone-headed, bird-witted, dissipated murderer is who can't even keep his mind on his murdering, but rushes about the country embracing and hugging painted-faced females that don't belong to him."
So, Harriet tells him that it was Haviland Martin. Which, of course, astonishes Peter, and he asks her to explain. Harriet calmly tells him that Henry Weldon is in fact, Haviland Martin, the camper from Hink's Lane.
When Henry Weldon had tried to kiss her, she saw a snake tattooed on his arm, and she realized that Haviland Martin had the same tattoo, and that they were both the same person. Of course, she panicked a bit at the thought of being embraced by a killer, hence the screaming.
They both realize that this means he must have had something to do with the murder, because why else would he be in the area in disguise right at the exact time his future step-father who is younger than him and who will take away his inheritance is murdered.
So Peter and Harriet have to decide how to proceed now. Should they confront Henry Weldon with what they know? Or do they want to keep it to themselves?
Chapter 16 - The Evidence of the Sands
Peter and Harriet meet back up for a picnic to discuss the case and to spy on the police down at the Grinders. The cipher letters stump them a bit, and they decide that Alexis definitely was involved in something possibly unsavory.
Then they go down to the beach and search for clues. It's written in an amusing play style, and I really love the way they relate to each other. And of course, Peter tries to propose again. Then Harriet finds a horseshoe which gets Peter all in a dither, and he tells Harriet exactly the type of horse it was thrown from and generally impresses her with his deductive skills.
There's talk of kissing her, but Peter informs her that when he kisses her for the first time it will be a monumental event, and not "an unimportant sideshow attached to a detective investigation."
Peter talks of horses, and Harriet suddenly pictures him on a horse looking very impressive, and then she pictures herself beside him looking equally impressive, while impressing everyone else. Then she tells herself she's being foolish and forces herself to stop.
So, off they go to Darley to find the horse. They make their way to Hinks Lane where the suspicious Mr. Haviland Martin was camping, and they find evidence that a horse was lured with oats. Naturally, Peter climbs into the field and figures out exactly which horse was likely the one Mr. Martin used to ride to the beach to commit the murder.
But of course, the problem is still the timing. With Harriet being right on the spot at the murder, and Mr. Martin's schedule, it's just doesn't work. It's all very vexing.
Off they go to a blacksmith, and Peter determines that it was the horse in question, and it was Friday, the day of the murder, that the horse was found without his shoe.
Chapter 17 - The Evidence of the Money
Harriet takes Mrs. Weldon for a day at the Turkish bath, and subtly get the information she's looking for from Mrs. Weldon. Basically, Mrs. Weldon grew up wealthy, married young, and had a lazy son. Then her husband died and left all his money to Henry as Mrs. Weldon had plenty of money of her own, but Henry had no self-control or discipline or whatever with his money and went through it, so he kept going to Mrs. Weldon for more. She finally got fed up with him and stopped giving him money. When Henry discovered that she was going to marry Paul Alexis, he was rather upset over it all. Mostly because his inheritance would be going to Alexis if the marriage went through. So, according to Mrs. Weldon, Alexis would have had no motive for suicide with regards to his financial situation as she was going to be giving him quite a bit of money.
While Harriet was interrogating Mrs. Weldon, Peter is off detecting. He's traced Bright and determined that while he's still suspicious, there's no way he did the actual murdering.
He also learns that a police constable had bluffed his way onto old Pollock's boat and determined that there was no way any murdering was done on that boat.
Peter discusses Alexis' passport with the police and the fact that he was apparently planning on traveling to France in the near future.
The gold that Alexis was carrying is causing some consternation for Peter. He decides that the killers wanted the body found, but it hasn't been found yet because of the gold. Which means that Alexis wasn't murdered for the gold. Then he makes up a song about it.
Finally, Peter sends Bunter off to discover whatever he can about Henry Weldon and his financial situation.
Chapter 18 - The Evidence of the Snake
Harriet is going shopping. Particularly, she is shopping for a dress to wear on a picnic with Mrs. Weldon and Henry, with whom she intends on flirting. While wearing a dress that waves "tempestuously about her ankles" and a big hat.
Harriet proceeds to fawn all over Henry, complimenting his driving and demurring to his opinion, and proclaiming Peter to be just all right. Naturally, Henry takes all this shocking behavior at face value and asks her to ask Peter to back off, so to speak, with the Alexis being murdered nonsense. She continues to vamp him and tells him that he should call on her in London sometime, and "oh, Mr. Weldon, you're just so knowledgeable about everything and let me bat my eyes at you."
Of course, Henry is such as ass that he truly believes any woman would choose him over Lord Peter, and when he tells Harriet why he would be so much better for her than Peter, she is temporarily rendered speechless with rage. But she rationalizes that Henry really is a complete moron if he believes that, and that will make it that much easier for her to manipulate him.
So, they have their picnic, and Harriet keeps Henry at bay by making him do all sorts of little things, but he eventually tries to kiss her and she screams and boxes his ears. She tells him that she saw a snake, but it's obvious that something really has frightened her. Once they return to Wilvercombe, she calls Peter, but he's out, so she leaves a message for him to call her ASAP. She waits, perfectly still, for about an hour when Peter finally arrives, when she tells him that she thinks she's been kissed by a murderer.
Peter tells her that it serves her right for letting anyone but him kiss her, and that she shouldn't gloat over him with information like that. He says, "Take off that vulgar and idiotic hat and tell me who this low-down, bone-headed, bird-witted, dissipated murderer is who can't even keep his mind on his murdering, but rushes about the country embracing and hugging painted-faced females that don't belong to him."
So, Harriet tells him that it was Haviland Martin. Which, of course, astonishes Peter, and he asks her to explain. Harriet calmly tells him that Henry Weldon is in fact, Haviland Martin, the camper from Hink's Lane.
When Henry Weldon had tried to kiss her, she saw a snake tattooed on his arm, and she realized that Haviland Martin had the same tattoo, and that they were both the same person. Of course, she panicked a bit at the thought of being embraced by a killer, hence the screaming.
They both realize that this means he must have had something to do with the murder, because why else would he be in the area in disguise right at the exact time his future step-father who is younger than him and who will take away his inheritance is murdered.
So Peter and Harriet have to decide how to proceed now. Should they confront Henry Weldon with what they know? Or do they want to keep it to themselves?