Reconstruction+of+the+Crime

Chapter 19: Reconstruction of the Crime
 * The chapter opens with Miss Marple knitting with Bunch, only to be interrupted by Bunch's crazy cat, Tiglath-Pileser, who begins knoshing on a nearby lamp. The cat "put out a mischevious paw and clawed Bunch's arm," and Bunch to spills some water from a vase onto a section of frayed the electrical cord (p. 171)
 * This incident inspires Miss Marple to see "quite suddenly which I ought to have seen before," and she begins to make "monosyllabic notes," and it seems she is finally"getting" it (p. 172)
 * Miss Hinchliffe and Miss Murgatroyd argue about the slightly scatterbrained Murgatroyd's inability to remember anything about the crime at Little Paddock (p. 172)
 * Miss Hinchliffe complains about their inability to compete in their detective work with their neighbors (because, of course, murder is a game) because of their lack of a gossipy maid has given them a "bad start" (p. 173)
 * Miss Hinchliffe thinks "it was the revolver we ought to have cut out," rather than the door (p. 173)
 * She believes that Rudi Scherz didn't fire the revolver, and the person who did was also the person who placed the poisoned aspirin tablets near Miss Blacklock's bed that killed Bunny- someone who was at both the incident with Scherz and the birthday party
 * Hinch believes the only person who fits that description is Mrs. Harmon
 * Murgatroyd questions whether the killer really left the tablets there the day of the party
 * Hinch points out, not exactly kindly, that while they were in the bathroom, "little Sweetie Easterbrook powdered her grubby little face in Blacklock's bedroom," but expresses doubt that Ms. Easterbrook is the killer, deeming it too obvious (p. 173)
 * When Murgatroyd points out that the men didn't go upstairs, Hinch mentions the back set of stairs could have made it possible
 * Hinch, in an attempt to yank out what Murgatroyd saw, starts breaking down the events: whoever wanted to kill Blacklock was among the guests and had oiled the door beforehand. Then, when Scherz came in, a second person snuck up on him and fired at Blacklock and killed Scherz
 * Hinch points out that "by choosing my time, I could walk into any house in Chipping Cleghorn and do anything I liked there for half an hour or so with no one being the wiser" (p. 174).
 * Murgatroyd insists she has no recollections of that night's events, despite having stood right behind the door
 * Hinch reiterates where everyone was positioned in the room: herself by the mantelpiece, Blacklock by the table near the archway, and Patrick having gone through the archway to get a drink. She says that someone followed Patrick into that room, and asks Murgatroyd if she can remember whether it was Easterbrook or Edmund, but Murgatroyd (unsurprisingly) does not remember.
 * Hinch points out that Phillipa Haymes also went into the small room, and decides that one of the 3 people in that room (Phillipa, Patrick, and Edmund/Easterbrook) did it, because "if anyone wanted to get out of that far door, they'd naturally take care to put themselves in a convenient place when the lights went out" (p.175)
 * Hinch is about to let Murgatroyd off the hook in her quest for information, but she insists Murgatroyd must have seen something from her position by the door because she wasn't "dazzled" by the flashlight that Scherz was slinging around (p. 176)
 * Finally (!!), Murgatroyd begins to reveal what she saw: Bunny, "her mouth wide open and her eyes popping out of her head," and Mrs. Harmon sitting with "her eyes shut and her knuckles doubled to her face" (p. 176)
 * Just when the two start making progress, they're interrupted by a phone call. As Hinch goes to answer it, Murgatroyd, having remembered something, exclaims "but that's extraordinary!" (p. 177)
 * Hinch leaves to pick up a red setter dog from the train station before hearing Murgatroyd's epiphany, only catching "but, Hinch, she wasn't there. . ." (p. 177)
 * Murgatroyd watches Hinch drive away, and then goes to hang clothes on the clothesline
 * Murgatroyd is approached by someone invisible to the reader, but whom she greets with a friendly "hullo-do go inside" (p. 178)
 * The unknown speaker offers to help Murgatroyd hang clothing, and then offers to wrap her scarf around her neck (TOTALLY not suspicious), and "suddenly, pulled tight" on the scarf, choking Murgatroyd (p. 178).
 * Hinch, driving back from the train station, stops to pick up Miss Marple, who is walking down the street, and invites her to join her and Murgatroyd in "a bit of reconstruction of the crime" (p. 178)
 * As Hinch and Miss Marple pull up, Hinch notices that Murgatroyd didn't feed the ducks and fowl their corn
 * Hinch and Marple head into the cottage, and Hinch begins calling for Murgatroyd
 * The red setter begins sniffing something lying near the clothesline, and Hinch, somehow blind to a dead body in her yard, wonders why Murgatroyd didn't bring in the wash and heads over to where the dog is still sniffing.
 * Miss Marple runs after Hinch and hugs her as they both look down at Murgatroyd's dead body. Hinch promises "I'll kill whoever did this. . . if I once get my hands on her. . ." believing it is one of the 3 people she identified earlier who murdered Murgatroyd (p. 180)
 * Hinch calls the police, and tells Miss Marple she feels responsible for Murgatroyd's death because she "made a game of it . . . Murder isn't a game . . . " (p. 180)
 * Hinch, acknowledging that she heard from Edmund that Miss Marple had "been mixed up in this sort of business before," offers to share what she and Murgatroyd were doing (p. 180)
 * She summarizes her conversation with Murgatroyd, and says she knows the killer is a woman because she heard Murgatroyd call after her as she left, lamenting that she did not stop to hear who exactly "she" was
 * Hinch remembers hearing that "something tapped against the window," and believes that the killer was there during her conversation with Murgatroyd (p. 180)
 * According to Hinch, the suspects include Mrs. Swettenham, Mrs. Easterbrook, and Julia Simmons
 * Miss Marple asks whether Murgatroyd had emphasized any of the words in her phrasing of "she wasn't there," which could indicate it was a personal acquaintance, confirm a suspicion, or simply express surprise
 * Hinch cannot remember the emphasis exactly, but believes that it was placed upon "she"
 * Miss Marple believes that this determination "makes a lot of difference," leaving the reader testing out the phrase for the next 10 minutes trying to figure out just what's going on (p. 181).

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