The Body in the Library

The questioning of the hotel staff sheds very little light on the movements of either George Bartlett or Ruby Keene: No one noticed Bartlett entering or leaving the hotel, and no one saw Ruby after her dance with him. Since Ruby seems to have changed clothes in her room after her dance, the police surmise that she left the hotel by way of a side exit, so as not to be seen. After questioning the bartender, Melchett is “accosted” by Peter Carmody, Adelaide’s nine-year-old son, who excitedly tells him that he’s a big fan of detective stories. Peter is thrilled to have known a murder victim (Ruby Keene) and can’t wait to tell his friends at school. However, he says, he didn’t much like Ruby, a sentiment shared by his mother and uncle, Mark Gaskell: He says that both of them hated Ruby’s pushiness and her influence over Mr. Jefferson, who was always making a big “fuss” over her. In fact, he thinks, the two of them are “glad” she’s dead.

When Melchett finally meets Mark Gaskell, a “tall, restless” man, he distrusts him at once, finding him arrogant and “unscrupulous”-looking. On the other hand, Conway, who has awakened from his nap, impresses the policemen with his vigor and “magnetism,” despite his disabled condition. He tells Melchett and Harper that his interest in Ruby Keene arose from his deep loneliness after losing his children and wife in the plane crash; Mark and Adelaide, he says, are good company, but they have their own lives to live. For a while, he’d wanted to adopt a child, and then Ruby came along. He only knew her for a few weeks, but loved to listen to her talk: Her rough upbringing in the entertainment world fascinated him, and her childlike lack of pretense or self-pity touched his heart. He planned to adopt her and leave her most of his money. Mark and Adelaide didn’t like it, but he’d already settled large sums of money on them, so they would still be comfortable. If Ruby had lived and the adoption had gone through, he says, she would have inherited £50,000 upon his death.

The conversation turns to the house where Ruby’s body was found. Conway seems stunned by the connection to the Bantrys, since he happened to meet them abroad years ago. He says he had no idea they lived in the area or that the Colonel dined at the Majestic the previous week. Nevertheless, Conway doubts they have anything to do with the murder, which he thinks was probably the work of a random sex maniac. If Ruby had had a boyfriend, he says, she surely would have told him. After the policemen leave, Conway tells his butler to contact a person named Sir Henry Clithering and ask him to come down at once.

Once alone, Harper and Melchett discuss the possibility of one or both of Conway’s in-laws having murdered Ruby for the £50,000. Mark Gaskell and Adelaide Jefferson seem to be financially well-off, as well as having a rock-solid alibi: Both were seen playing bridge from about 10:30 pm to midnight, the window of Ruby’s disappearance and murder. Though Melchett clings to his sinister impression of Mark’s character, he concedes that the two are probably not guilty. Rather, Harper theorizes that some as-yet-unknown boyfriend of Ruby’s killed her in a rage, then drove the 18 miles to St. Mary Mead to dump her body in the Bantrys’ house (Gossington Hall) as a red herring. Agreeing, Melchett adds, “Cherchez l’homme” (look for the man).

As the two policemen head for their rendezvous with Inspector Slack, they are “waylaid” by George Bartlett, who stammers to them that his car has disappeared. As before, his memory is very foggy, but he thinks he last saw his car around lunchtime the previous day, in the hotel’s courtyard, where he parked it. He says his car was a Minoan 14, a fictional make and model described as popular and inexpensive.

Ruby’s and Josie’s rooms are by far the “poorest” in the hotel, at the end of a “dingy” corridor, and Melchett notes that their obscure location would have made it easy for Ruby to slip away without being seen. No useful evidence is found in her room. The “foamy pink” dress she wore for dancing still lies on a chair, as if hastily discarded for a quick change and departure. Slack concurs with the other detectives that Ruby was seeing a “tough guy” on the sly, keeping her dates with him a secret from both Conway and Josie. Searching Ruby’s bathroom, Melchett is astounded by the abundance and variety of her makeup and beauty aids, but Slack says that’s typical for female performers, who create a different “look” for each routine. Melchett tells Harper to question Raymond Starr, Josie’s dancing partner, and reiterates his suspicions about George Bartlett, whose story about his car seems “fishy.”

Superintendent Harper, who has never enjoyed collaborating with the police of other counties, is relieved to be able to question Raymond all by himself. Raymond tells him there’s little to say about Ruby, whom he knew only a month and found to be “rather stupid,” but upon hearing of Conway’s plan to adopt her, he says, “The clever little devil! Oh well, there’s no fool like an old fool” (86). He adds his own suspicion that Ruby’s (smarter) cousin Josie planned Conway’s infatuation with Ruby from the very beginning so they could share the inheritance. Harper agrees that this theory could explain why Josie invited Ruby to fill in for her and why Josie seems angry at Ruby even after her death. In fact, when Ruby didn’t show up for her dance at midnight, Raymond remembers Josie saying, “Damned little fool. […] It will ruin all her chances” (87). Then Josie asked him about a “film man” who’d danced with Ruby once or twice at the hotel, a “theatrical”-looking character with long dark hair. Josie’s query puzzled Raymond, who thinks Ruby hardly knew that fellow, whose name he doesn’t recall. Then, Josie told him that it was very “important” that they smooth Ruby’s absence over with the audience, particularly Mr. Jefferson.

Leaving his interview with Raymond, Harper hears from an underling that a burned-out car has just been found in an abandoned quarry a couple of miles away, with a charred body inside. The make is a Minoan 14, the same as George Bartlett’s missing car.

Later that day, Sir Henry Clithering, former head of Scotland Yard, arrives at the Majestic Hotel, summoned by an urgent request from his old friend Conway Jefferson. Sir Henry is stunned to hear that their mutual friends the Bantrys are somehow connected to the murder of a young girl. Conway, not believing in coincidences, feels that his own acquaintance with the couple must be the link. Though Sir Henry considers this “far-fetched,” he agrees to put his Scotland Yard expertise to work as a sort of private detective for Conway, whose mobility is greatly limited by his disability. Then Sir Henry surprises him with the news that an amateur detective named Miss Marple has just arrived at the hotel, apparently for the same reason as himself: to solve the murder of Ruby Keene. Marple, he tells his friend, is also a friend of the Bantrys, and has had enormous success at solving cases by way of “parallels from village life” (93). Even though Ruby Keene grew up in a “theatrical milieu” far from any village, Sir Henry asserts his total confidence in Marple, who he says is a far better detective than himself.

In the lobby, Sir Henry learns from Miss Marple that she and Dolly Bantry have checked into the hotel to have a go at the case. Colonel Bantry, however, has secluded himself at home, like a “tortoise,” as he often does when troubled by misfortunes. When Dolly marvels at Conway’s strong attachment to Ruby Keene, Marple cites the case of an elderly neighbor named Mr. Harbottle, who, feeling lonely and neglected by his sister, became infatuated with a young housemaid. She adds that well-to-do gentlemen often enjoy elevating a lower-class woman in their affections. Conway Jefferson, she thinks, sensed that his two in-laws, Mark and Adelaide, had become less attentive and affectionate to him as they began to yearn again for the married life. This growing distance led to his infatuation with Ruby. As for her murder, Miss Marple agrees that the “most plausible” culprit is a secret boyfriend who resented being thrown over for a rich old man.

Miss Marple stresses the importance of solving the murder before local gossip destroys Colonel Bantry’s standing in the village—tarring him as Ruby’s adulterous lover, at the very least. Before long, the Bantrys will find themselves snubbed and avoided by their neighbors, which will “break” both of them; especially the Colonel, who, like most retired military men, is “abnormally sensitive.” Summarizing what they know, Marple says that within the span of an hour and 20 minutes—between 10:40 pm and midnight—Ruby, whether living or dead, was somehow transported 18 miles, from Danemouth to Gossington Hall. She thinks that her removal was carefully planned, up to a point, but then that something went wrong. Before Marple can fully explain what she means, Mrs. Bantry arrives with Adelaide Jefferson.