My employer looked around the room, and her posture and expression told me that this was it.
"I'm going to ask a series of rhetorical questions, of all of you," she began, "but first I need to ask Dorothy one direct question. Dorothy, I am especially sorry to have to ask you this under these circumstances, but it's a vital part of solving this. Was Felix faithful to you?"
"No," she said simply. "We don't expect complete fidelity, but even within our expectations, he was . . . unreliable."
Jan nodded. "Thank you. I didn't want to blindside you if you had any illusions. So, here are my questions:
"Who set up the rooms?
"Who brought the coffee for Rafe?
"Who had access to sleeping pills?
"Who had access to the cabinet to break it?
"Who was the last person we know was in Felix's room?
"Who asserted that the adjoining room here was the only one of the three suitable for Dorothy to rest in?
"Who admitted to having a casual affair with Felix (or at least she said it was casual) and tried to claim that Dorothy had found out about it, to throw suspicion on Dorothy?
"Who had a reason to kill Felix, and then to frame Dorothy?" She looked around. "Motive, means, and opportunity."
"Wait a minute," Mona said. "You mean Lucy? She brought the coffee to Rafe after Marshall left, right? After he came downstairs?" Several of us nodded. "But she came down only a couple of minutes after Marshall, long before the pills could have taken effect. Then she was with Marshall and me the whole time after that. She didn't leave, even for a minute, let alone long enough to come up here and murder somebody."
Jan smiled. "But what's to say that she murdered him while Rafe was unconscious? She could easily have done it before. She was the last person in his room, after all."
"But then why..." Neil demanded, his voice trailing off.
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