In the Style of P.D James: "Let them eat cake."

A man lay face down in his cake when Chief Inspector Skinner arrived at the scene of the crime. The victims hands hung limply from his body, and Skinner believed the death was quite sudden.

"Ms. Summers" Skinner called his assistant who was a middle aged woman with good fashion sense.

"Yes Chief Inspector," She replied while taking notes on the scene.

"I'd need to setup appointments with all the guests here at this country house," Mr. Skinner began, "I need to know the time and places of their whereabouts this afternoon and early evening. I suspect fowl play."

"Not a problem Inspector," Summers said, "I'll set up an office for you in the study." And with that Ms. Summers left the room. Mr. Skinner found himself in a room with the doctor who was performing the post-mortem on the victim.

"So what was the mans name?" Skinner asked.

"I believe it was an Mr. H. Corpus. He seems to have choked. You can tell by the lack of colour in his face; he has almost has a bluish tinge. The problem with that conclusion is that there is nothing lodged in his throat," the doctor explained. The chief inspector began to check the room out for himself, making sure that all the clues would be found. According to the preliminary reports, Mr. Corpus died at approximately 7:00 p.m, while eating dessert with his companions. What Skinner needed to know was why did someone kill Mr. Corpus?

About twenty minutes later Mr. Skinner was setup to interview people in the study, or what he considered his new office. Ms. Summers sat beside him in a chair with a pad and pencil to take note of the important facts of the case. The door opened and in walked a well dressed middle aged man with graying hair. He sat down gracefully in the chair presented to him by Ms. Summers.

"Well, I just need to ask you a few questions about your day, sir," Mr. Skinner began, "but first could I get your name."

"I'm Mr. Strand and I was a business associate of Mr. Corpus. He and I had a large bank merger in the works."

"Where were you this afternoon during the time you were given to unpack?" questioned Skinner.

"Well, let's see" began Mr. Strand, "First I spent a good hour unpacking my belongings and organizing myself. Then I went to the library to read a good book. That was about 4:00 p.m I'd say. The maid checked in on me around 5:30pm, and told me I should start getting ready for dinner, so I left for my room to freshen up. The gong rang at 6:00 p.m and I went to the dinning room. That's about it." Ms. Summers was frantically writing down times and places when Mr. Skinner said, "Did you notice anything unusual about your host at supper?"

Mr. Strand thought back to dinner, which had been a few hours back, "I really don't remember anything. He seemed like himself." Ms. Summers nodded to Mr. Skinner, informing him that she had written everything down.

"Thank you very much for your time, Mr. Strand," Mr. Skinner said, "I appreciate your through answers." With that Mr. Strand left the room and called in the next person. An elderly couple arrived next, wearing their evening clothes, which were now wrinkled. Mr. Skinner recognized them as the only couple staying at the country house, Mr. and Mrs. Pike.

"Well, what is this all about Inspector. I don't see murder in this death, Mr. Corpus just choked on his cake. What's the big deal?" Mr. Skinner and Ms. Summers looked at each other, an unasked question in both their faces.

"Sir, I just need you and your lovely wife to tell us where you were and when you were there this afternoon." Ms. Summers said easily.

"Well my wife and I arrived here around 3:15 p.m or so. We met our host and were then shown to our rooms by his gentleman's, gentleman around 3:40 p.m. Mr. Gray, the butler, said the dinner was served at 6:00p.m and that we would know because of the dinner gong. Mrs. Pike and I decided to say in our room until we were summoned," Mr. Pike said.

"We actually left our room directly at 6:00pm, because I checked the clock on the way to the dinning room," added Mrs. Pike, "but I still don't see who would murder our host. He was a nice man, we had business with his bank."

"So you knew the deceased?" questioned Mr. Skinner.

"Why yes, he was our personal banker, and friend," replied Mr. Pike. Ms. Summers once again nodded to Skinner telling him the information was complete, and yet again Mr. Skinner dismissed the interviewees.

"What do you think so far Ms. Summers?" Skinner asked his partner.

"I'm not sure, but I know that the Pike's did not commit the murder," Ms. Summers explained, "she was very forth coming with information."

"That is a pretty weak reason Summers" Mr. Skinner said, then added, "I believe that we have two more interviews. Next on the list seems to be a Ms. Gates."

When Ms. Gates entered the room ten minutes later she was warring a black evening gown and a diamond necklace. She seemed to be middle aged, but she kept good care of herself.

"How can I help you Inspector?" she asked.

"I'd like to know about your whereabouts this afternoon." Mr. Skinner said, "any information will be helpful."

"Let's see I arrived about 3:00 this afternoon and met with Mr. Corpus, a very nice man. He welcomed me, introduced me to the other guests who had arrived, then had his valet showed us to our rooms," Ms. Gates replied.

"What happened after that Madam?" Ms. Summers asked.

"Well I unpacked for a good two hours, then toured the house with Mr. Corpus and Ms. Yvette until 5:30 p.m when I went back to my room and dressed for dinner," Ms. Gates finished, "That's about it."

"Did you notice anything unusual about your host?" The Chief Inspector asked.

"No, he was normal, just like himself. At least to me. I believe that Ms. Yvette would know more." Mrs. Gates concluded.

"Why do you think Ms. Yvette would know?" Ms. Summers asked.

"That's because she was his mistress." The last guest arrived for questioning. This guest was Ms. Yvette who was a young lady in her mid- twenties. She seemed to be carefree and had obviously changed into something more leisurely since dinner.

"How do you do Ms. Yvette. We have heard that you and Mr. Corpus were rather close," Ms. Summers said, "could you tell us about your arrival?"

"Lets see now, I arrived early so I could be with my honey-bunch, and that was about 2:45 p.m I'd guess. We talked until the guest arrived, then he began to welcome and introduce the people," Ms Yvette began, "I was already settled in because I spend a lot of time with Horace on the weekends, so we sat down in the lounge to chat. That is where Ms. Gates found us around 4:30 p.m or so. We toured the house, and then parted about 5:30 p.m to ready ourselves for dinner."

"Was there anything abnormal about Mr. Corpus?" Mr. Skinner questioned.

"No, he was cute as always," she replied as the stood up from the chair to leave, "He was really sweet" As Ms. Yvette left the study, Mr. Skinner and Ms. Summers could hear her reminiscing about the past.

"Well what do we do now Inspector?" asked Ms. Summers. The Inspector rubbed his chin and grimaced, "I think we should talk to his butler."

Mr. Skinner decided that he should first check out the kitchen to see if anything was out of the ordinary, and to see if there were any poisons in the cabinets. Not finding any, Skinner proceeded to asked the cook about if she kept her bleaches in different places.

"No Chief inspector I keep everything under the sink, including my bleach." The cook said, "It should still be there." Now that the forensic report had come back Skinner knew the cause of death was poison and, he also knew that it was found in the cake Mr. Corpus had eaten, but non in the other slices. According to the cook, Mr. Gray the butler had served dinner and was the one who cut and served the cake.

After leaving the kitchen, Mr. Skinner walked to the servants quarters to find the elusive butler. When Skinner arrived he found the door open and Mr. Gray lying dead on the floor, and knife wound in his back. There was no doubt in Skinners mind who had committed the crime, he just had to share his conclusions with Ms. Summers and the group of guests.

Ms. Summers gathered Mr. Corpus' companions in the dinning room the next morning. Mr. Skinner was waiting to tell how the murder was committed.

"Well now that we are all together I can start," Skinner began, "Since talking to all of you yesterday evening I have found the body of Mr. Gray the butler with a knife wound. I have also discovered a motive." The guests all took a set around the large oak dinning room table.

"Do tell us Mr. Skinner," said Ms. Gates.

"Yesterday evening after I had interviewed you all I talked with the cook who told me that her chemicals had disappeared from under the sink the day of the murder. When I found this out I knew that non of the guests directly killed Mr. Corpus," the Chief Inspector started, "but it did not rule out the fact that one of you may have bribed a staff member to kill your host. All of you knew Mr. Corpus in business except you Ms. Yvette."

"Well that is true but" Ms. Yvette began but was cut off by Mr. Skinner.

"No.. It was you who bribed Mr. Gray to poison Mr. Corpus' icing with cyanide. I found a note in which you told him to complete his job. I searched his room and also found the missing chemicals from the kitchen," Skinner said triumphantly.
"You have no proof" said an outraged Ms. Yvette.

"But I do. Your dinner clothing was found blood stained by you maid this morning, and according to Ms. Gates you had change your clothing for the interview," Mr. Skinner paused motioning to the police to take this murderess away, but on her way out the door she screamed, I killed that bastard because he wouldn't let me in on the money. He told me I was a stupid woman who knew nothing about business but I proved him wrong."

"Quite impressive Chief" Ms. Summers replied, "Now let's go get some food."

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