Excerpt from the book called The Frisby Waterless Murders

“Yes, that’s correct sir, and nobody recalls seeing anyone shake his hand after 9:40 a.m. which is slightly too early isn’t it, sir? We’re looking at a time around 9:50 a.m. aren’t we?”

“We are, Linda, we are indeed – oh my what is going on here? How could someone jab the Major in the hand other than via a handshake?”

“Well, when he was putting his tray away, when he was picking up his stick perhaps, when he was opening the window in the carriage. After Sergeant Barnes and I had left, Mrs Harkness remembered the Major opened a window and phoned me just now to tell me.”

“Did she now – but wait a second, which window did he open?”

“His wife indicated it was the one on the opposite side of the carriage; it was the one behind Mrs Cridge’s seat – he opened it or tried to around 9:50 a.m. – his wife opened the window above her seat. It was right after he’d been served coffee, she was trying to open the window above her seat and he put his coffee on her tray and tried to open the other window.”

“And most people wouldn’t notice because either they were being served their beverage and muffin or there were one or two serving trolleys in the way. When you say ‘tried’ what does that mean?”

“Well, Mrs Harkness said the opening mechanism on her window was stiff and the stewards had to help her and together they opened it. She gathered that her husband was having similar problems because she heard his window open and then he said ‘Thank you for your help’ to someone.”

“Who would that someone have been – who wasn’t in their seat at that time?”

“That is something to ask the stewards, sir, it would be very noticeable wouldn’t it, because they’d have a spare cup on their trolley?”

“Indeed they would – from what you said, Linda, it seems like both stewards helped Mrs Harkness with her window, so anyone walking down the carriage would have been baulked by the trolleys and would have been noticed as being out of their seat.”

“So the person who helped the Major would have waited in the kitchen/dining car or perhaps in the toilet?”

“Yes, unless it was the Trimbles of course, who were in the seats closest to the dining car, but I am not sure they would have helped the Major with anything, though they might have seen something of course – I will have to ask them about that. What else did you find out from the people on the train?”

“Well I still have to find out about The Riverbank incident; I phoned up their clubhouse and the secretary said the chairman of the committee could answer my questions at 7:30 p.m. this evening, so I will head over there later. Marie Stellen talked to Josef Casimir about his wife’s drinking habits, which are endangering her participation in the group apparently – she has been slurring her lines sometimes and looking the worse for wear, so Marie was asking Josef to make sure Zoe wasn’t going to mess things up again. Speaking of Zoe, she did arrive in the dining car after the smoke came in before most other people, but she thought she saw Daisy Arnold coming the other way. Two of the women from the Round Table were already there; one of them was from Seat 19, Pat McMaster, and the other was Mrs Trimble. They weren’t talking to each other according to Zoe. The person creating the lunch was there mixing a salad dressing.”