Once or twice in my career I feel that I have done more real harm by my discovery of the criminal than ever he had done by his crime. I have learned caution now, and I had rather play tricks with the law of England than with my own conscience. Let us know a little more before we act. -- Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Adventure of the Abbey Grange

Phil's household spent the morning in a state of chaos. All she had said was that Yo-han had invited Lord Kilskeery and his valet over to discuss the murder. Everyone took that as an invitation to act as if the judge, jury and lawyers from the Old Bailey had decided to hold a capital trial in her house.

The maids cleaned the living room so thoroughly that they might have been preparing it for display in a housekeeping magazine. The cook set about preparing enough sandwiches to feed them all for the rest of the week. Vi ran around straightening pictures that didn't need straightened, placing vases in various locations then deciding they looked better on the other side of the room, taking away some ornaments and replacing them with ones she thought looked more stylish, and generally behaving like an idiot.

"You're behaving like an idiot," Phil told her.

Vi glared at her. Her hair was falling out of its bun. Leaves and petals from the vases had gotten caught in her hair and collar. She looked as if she'd just lost a fight with a tree. "Go and do something useful! Bring out the best china!"

"They're coming to discuss a murder," Phil said. "It's not a social call. No one will care what china we use."

Máté wisely stayed out of the way. He took his books into the nursery where he could work and keep an eye on Johnny at the same time.

Yo-han, even more wisely, left the house entirely. He disappeared after breakfast, saying something about an important clue to investigate.

Phil went out to the garden and helped the gardener with the weeding.

By noon Vi had run out of things to rearrange. The chaos died down. Máté ventured out of the nursery and Phil returned from the garden. Yo-han reappeared from wherever he'd been. He didn't say a word about the clue.

He checked his watch. "They'll be here in two hours. Miss Patton, could you give the servants the rest of the day off?"

Phil's eyebrows shot up. What an odd request. The murderer's identity would be all over town as soon as the police arrested him — and her, though Phil couldn't figure out how the woman was involved. What good would it do to get the servants out of the house?

"Should we call the police?" Vi asked.

"No," Yo-han said, smiling as if he knew something she didn't. "I don't believe that will be necessary. We aren't dealing with a cold-blooded killer."

Vi frowned. "I don't know, I'd say two murders makes someone pretty cold-blooded."

Yo-han looked very thoughtful. "Not necessarily."

Phil couldn't make heads nor tails of this, but she gave the servants the afternoon off anyway.

----------------------------------------

"This is the most ridiculous thing I've ever done," Máté grumbled in the background.

Vi giggled. "Don't be silly. I think it's a good idea."

"It's certainly the easiest way I can think of," Yo-han said.

Phil was watching the front gate. A car pulled up and stopped. She turned to the other three. "They're here!"

Yo-han got up and went to the door. Máté went into the next room. Vi went to the kitchen and got the plate of sandwiches. Phil got up from the window-seat and sat down in an armchair. She didn't feel comfortable there, so she moved to a different armchair. She still didn't feel comfortable.

Good gracious, I'm getting as fidgety as Vi, she thought.

The door opened. Indistinct voices sounded in the hall. Footsteps approached. Phil and Vi exchanged glances — apprehensive on Phil's side, excited on Vi's. Phil stood up. Then the living room's door opened. Lord Kilskeery stepped in. He bowed to Phil and Vi. Eames followed close behind. He nodded to them. Yo-han came in last.

He closed the door behind him.

There was a brief exchange of stilted pleasantries, then everyone sat down. Everyone except Yo-han, that was. He walked over to the fireplace, turned, and faced the other four like an actor about to begin a soliloquy. He and Mr. Lennox exchanged a look.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Phil couldn't help thinking of that day on the ship, almost two years ago, when Yo-han had proved her innocence and Leo's guilt.

Yo-han addressed them all at first. "This has been an odd case. Easy to solve, but very odd. For one thing there were three separate crimes in it: a robbery and two murders. We have already solved the robbery, and I believe the police have tracked down the head groom. Your grandmother's necklace is in a pawnbroker's shop in Belfast, Mr. Lennox."

Vi looked at Phil in confusion. What? she mouthed.

Later, Phil mouthed back. She should have remembered to tell Vi about the missing necklace.

"Now, the murders. From the start I knew there must be two murderers. Nothing else fit the facts. It was tempting to believe Mrs. Lennox had been the target. They had both hated her, so they had planned to attack her together. Çelik Bey died because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time."

Yo-han paused. He glanced at Eames, then looked very hard at Lennox. "So why was Çelik Bey's body mutilated?"

No one answered. Vi looked at Phil again. Phil held a finger to her lips. She had a feeling that Yo-han wasn't really asking questions at all. Or at least, he wasn't asking the ones he wanted them to think he was asking.

"It was obviously an attempt to mislead the investigation. Everyone would assume Çelik Bey was the main victim and the murderers never meant to kill Mrs. Lennox. But review the facts:

"The murder weapon in the first place was an oar. It was removed from the boat-house by someone who had a key. A rope was taken at the same time. Only someone in the household could do that.

"Mrs. Lennox recently dismissed a maid. That maid would want revenge. Her father certainly did; Miss Patton and I had a most unpleasant meeting with him."

As Yo-han spoke, the door to the hall opened. Máté stood in the doorway, just out of Lennox's sight. Eames would have had to turn his head completely to see him.

"Mr. Lennox had suffered an unhappy marriage for months. He believed his wife was poisoning him. And he may have either known or suspected she was pawning jewellery to pay her gambling debts."

Phil looked at Lennox. His body was tense and he was frowning, but he didn't look nearly as worried as someone should when they were about to be accused of murder.

Yo-han continued, "The solution is obvious."

His voice was oddly light. Nothing at all like how he had sounded when he laid out the evidence against Leo. There was something going on here that Phil wasn't in on.

"Mr. Lennox conspired with either the maid herself or with her father. They knew Mrs. Lennox would meet Çelik Bey in that place at that time. They killed both of them, then cut Çelik Bey's body to make it look like he was the target."

Stunned silence followed this announcement. Vi stared open-mouthed at Yo-han. Phil kept her eyes on Lennox. He was still tense. He looked...

He looked like someone who was expecting an unpleasant surprise. Not like a murderer who had just been revealed.

Beside him Eames had his hands balled into fists.

Light dawned on Phil, right as Yo-han said, "Officer, arrest this man."

Máté obediently stepped forward. He'd rehearsed his line several times earlier. The only difference was that now he used the accused's name. "Alexander Lennox, I am arresting you for—"

Eames leapt up with a shriek. "Stop! You bloody idiot!" He was practically snarling as he looked at Yo-han. "Alec had nothing to do with it! I killed them!"

Phil, Vi and Máté looked at Yo-han in unison. Yo-han met Eames' gaze steadily. He was half-smiling. Phil looked back at Eames. She saw the exact moment he realised he'd been led into a trap. His shoulders slumped. He sank down onto the arm of Lennox's chair. He buried his face in his hands.

Lennox stared at him. His eyes were very wide and he was trembling faintly, but he didn't look as shocked as Phil would have expected.

"David," he said softly. He reached out and put his hand on Eames' shoulder. "David, why?"

Eames made a noise somewhere between laughter and choking. "You ask me that?"

He lowered his hands and straightened up. He and Lennox stared each other in the eye. Eames took Lennox's hand in both of his.

He looked over at Yo-han. "How did you know?"

"From your behaviour before and after the murder. From your relationship with Mr. Lennox. From the murder weapon and how you were one of the few people who could have taken it. From the photos in your room. From the cross you draw in your notebooks. But most importantly," Yo-han added, "from something Miss Patton said."

Phil's mouth dropped open. "Me? But I don't know anything about this!"

"You mentioned an incident a month ago. Mr. Eames punched someone for insulting a woman's appearance. You assumed he was her sweetheart. When I discovered Mr. Eames' preferences, that assumption no longer made sense. So who was the woman? You said she was foreign, and so is Mr. Eames. Who else could she be but a relative?

"You also said she was scarred." Yo-han turned and looked at Eames. "And when I say that Mr. Eames is Armenian and survived the Adana massacre, it becomes obvious how the woman got her scars and why Çelik Bey was targeted."

Eames drew his breath in sharply. "You know almost everything," he said, apparently to himself. He still hadn't let go of Lennox. He rubbed his thumb almost absently over the back of Lennox's hand. "How did you find that out?"

"The photos in your room. They had 1909 written on them, along with a name that at first I couldn't read." He smiled wryly. "Ironically it was by remembering Leopold Colman that I learnt the truth. I saw Armenian writing in the Armenian quarter of Tbilisi. When I realised the name was written in Armenian, it was easy to realise 1909 referred to the Adana massacre. And those crosses surrounded by flowers? Armenian crosses, of course."

"I don't know who, what or where Adana is," Vi complained.

Eames looked at her coldly. "Then you should thank God every day." He turned to Yo-han. "You may as well know everything now.

"I was adopted by an English couple named Eames. They changed how my first name is spelt. My real name is Davit Altounian. And yes, that woman is my sister Dzovig. I killed Gwladys and Dzovig killed Çelik Bey."

He hesitated. He looked at Lennox. Whatever he saw in his eyes gave him courage to continue.

"You call it murder, I call it execution. Both of them deserved to die. But I have to start from the beginning to make you understand.

"I was born in Adana in 1897..."