Among+Those+Present

A Murder is Announced Chapter 7 Summary

 * When trying to find Mrs. Haymes at Dayas Hall, Craddock runs into a rather unpleasant (and uneducated) elderly man, named Mr. Ashe, who does not know where Mrs. Haymes is.
 * News of what happened at little paddocks has spread through Chipping Cleghorn.
 * Ashe talks about Miss Blacklock's pearls being "costume jewelry" (55).
 * He also mentions that "Mrs. Blacklock don't keep much money in the 'ouse"(55).
 * Ashe continues to go off on a tangent about how he thought the events went down, and Craddock decides that he "didn't think there was anything there to help him in his task", and therefore he disregards Ashe's statements (56).
 * Craddock finally finds Phillipa Haymes and interviews her in the apple orchard.
 * Haymes is not like Ashe because she was behaving herself and giving respectful responses to Craddock's questions.
 * Phillipa basically gives the same report as everyone else: she was standing by the mantelpiece when the shooter arrived, she does not own any objects of significant value and she does not know whether or not the man planned to commit suicide.
 * Philipa shares that she "thought it was just fun" and regarded the intrusion as something she suspected for the party. She says she was "bored by the whole thing" until she heard the shots fired (58).
 * Craddock runs into a nasty lady named Mrs. Lucas in the kitchen garden who is disgusted by the detectives presence during their work hours
 * The Swettenham's are next to be questioned.
 * Although the shooting took place the previous night, for some strange reason, Mrs. Swettenham seems confused about the events.
 * She even asks, "did the man hold it still or did he move it about from person to person?" (60).
 * Unless she has short term memory loss, her account seems rather sketchy.
 * Edmund was the one to release the bellowing Mitizi from the dining room after the shots were fired, he was positive the door was locked from the outside.
 * Colonel Easterbook and his "poor little kitten" of a wife were visited next by Craddock (63).
 * The Colonel rambles on and on about "the psychological approach" to the case. He tries to connect with his inner detective and figure out the motive of the shooter (62).
 * Colonel Easterbrook believes too that the shooter fired blindly into the dark, he thinks he has the whole case figured out.
 * Beside a lovely pigsty, Craddock asks Miss Hinchcliffe about the shooter.
 * She thought is was that "damned young fool Patrick Simmons" who was pulling the prank (64).
 * Miss Murgatroyd just casually plays off the detectives questions and thinks the process is pretty comical.
 * Miss Hinchcliffe keeps interrupting and correcting Miss Murgatroyed during the interview... a little fishy.
 * Mrs. Harmon was the last to be interviewed.
 * She isn't much help to inspector Craddock since she "shut her eyes" during the entire crime (66). She can only tell accounts of what she heard, which mostly consisted of three shots and screaming women.
 * Mrs. Harmon also mentions that people are "different in the dark" (66).
 * Both agree it doesn't all add up and make sense, Inspector Craddock leaves the interviews stumped and worried.

