The+Letters

Chapter 18: The Letters
 * Detective Craddock interviews (a reluctant) Phillipa Haymes once more.
 * It is revealed that Phillipa’s husband did not die while fighting in Italy, but deserted from his regiment. Phillipa is really annoyed that Craddock knows this, asking him if it was necessary for the detectives to “rake up everything.” (159)
 * Phillipa refuses to tell her son Harry the truth about her husband because death is “what it [his desertion] amounts to.” (160) In other words, Mr. Haymes really is dead – to her.
 * Craddock then uses this opportunity to suggest that Rudi Scherz is Phillipa’s husband and that they last met at the summerhouse two weeks ago. Phillipa denies this, refusing to say anything else. Craddock thinks that Phillipa is lying to him.
 * Later on, the Detective returns to Little Paddocks. He wonders what Julia was doing in the attic earlier. (See chapter 17)
 * Craddock goes up to the attic, where he discovers a trunk full of letters that were exchanged between Miss. Blacklock and her sister, Charlotte. Miss. Blacklock was very kind to her sister in these letters, writing Charlotte “long accounts of happenings” (162) as well as reassurances that her deformity (which Craddock remembers Letitia mentioning) was not that bad.
 * Realizing that this “faithful picture of the past” (162) can help him learn more about Sonia Goedler, Craddock takes the letters with him. As he’s leaving the attic, however, he bumps into Miss. Blacklock herself.
 * Miss. Blacklock gets very angry when Craddock asks if he can study the letters, but lets him take the letters anyway because he has the power to do so.
 * Blacklock is clearly frustrated – but who can blame her? Everyone around her is dying simply because she is still alive. She tells Craddock to take the letters “and afterwards burn them” (163) because they no longer have any value.
 * The next day, Craddock gives Miss. Marple the letters, the most significant of which talks about Sonia and Randall Goedler's disagreement over the man whom Sonia wanted to marry.
 * When Craddock asks Miss. Marple what she thinks of Sonia, Miss. Marple says that she is determined, angry, and “wanting the best of two worlds.” (166)
 * The revolver from the night of the stick-up still hadn’t been traced. Bunch mentions that Colonel Eastbrook (a former military man) owns a gun.
 * Miss. Marple suddenly remarks that people can’t say everything they want to the police. She gives Craddock a note from Miss. Blacklock, which asked someone to leave something for her “in the usual place.” (167)
 * Bunch starts laughing. She explains that Miss. Hinchcliffe receives butter from other farmers, often when one of her pigs is killed. Sometimes pigs did have to be killed, but it wasn’t something to tell the police about.
 * So, how is that relevant? Well, Miss. Blacklock’s note was likely for Miss. Hinchcliffe, who often stopped at Little Paddocks to drop off some butter in this “usual place” (an empty flour bin). It is unlikely that Hinchcliffe is the murderer, but she does make regular visits to Miss. Blacklock for this reason.
 * Craddock, meanwhile, is focused on Sonia – none of the photos attached to the letters matched Miss. Blacklock’s descriptions of her.
 * The Detective apologizes to Miss. Marple for the lack of information contained within the letters, but Marple says that she did find a clue in the part of the letter where Randall Goedler asked about Stamfordis (Sonia’s husband).
 * Craddock then receives a call from Rydesdale, who tells Craddock that Phillipa Hayme’s real husband was found and identified.
 * This would have been good news, were it not for the fact that said husband died after saving a child from getting hit by a lorry (truck).
 * Phillipa Hayme’s husband is thus ruled out as a suspect, since he was taken to the hospital the day before the holdup.
 * Both detectives are glad that Mr. Haymes had a “good death” (170) in which he saved a life, but the death does open up new possibilities.
 * Craddock plans to tell Phillipa about her husband, but he decides to go talk to someone else first.

Next Page: Chapter 19 Pravious Page: Chapter 17