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“If anyone had a reason to kill him, it was probably you,” the major snarled.
“Me? We were best friends!”
“You were jealous of him. He was better than you at everything. You were always in his shadow, always playing second fiddle, and it ate at you, didn’t it?Didn’t it?”
Mr. Hardwick’s chuckle sounded forced. “You know nothing about us.”
“Butwedo,” I said.
Both men turned to me. “I suppose you’re going to accuse me of doping the horses again?” Mr. Hardwick sneered.
“Yes, and this time we have a motive, as well as a motive for you killing Rigg-Lyon, and it’s not jealousy.”
Mr. Hardwick planted his hands on his hips and arched his brows, challenging me to present evidence.
“As agent to your father’s business, you wanted to make a name for yourself. You decided to put Panther and Leopard up for sale. You were considering retiring anyway. You talked Rigg-Lyon into following suit and selling his horse alongside yours. You needed Panther to make a splash. As the better horse, he’d be the one to garner all the attention. But first, you needed to make them the best polo horses on the market. So you decided on one last season in which Panther and Leopard would be the stars. You achieved success by doping them before matches.”
“Vernon doped Panther. Not me, and not Leopard.”
The major snorted. “Everyone knows you two were joined at the hip. Where he went, you followed.”
“At the end of the season, Rigg-Lyon decided he wasn’t retiring, and nor was Panther,” I went on. “I saw you on the day he announced it, the day of his murder. You were angry, because it put an end to a scheme you’d been planning for some time, and would result in much less money for you.”
“I didn’t own Panther. He did.Hewould get the money for the sale of Panther, not me.”
“Panther came from your father’s stables. He was sired by your father’s own horse, and would probably attract a record sale price for a polo horse. Leopard wouldn’t. He was in his brother’s shadow.”
“Just as you were in Rigg-Lyon’s,” the major sneered.
“The attention the sale would bring to your family’s business was potentially enormous. As agent, you would reap the rewards too, of course, but it would bring worldwide acknowledgement for your parents’ stud farm. Withdrawing Panther from the auction was devastating. It made you angry when you heard. Were you angry enough to kill your best friend, Mr. Hardwick?”
“No! Good Lord, it wasn’t me! I was here, in the privy.” He waved at the door that led to the restaurant. “I told you that.”
“No one saw you leave,” Harry said. “You don’t have an alibi.”
I frowned. “Where is the privy?”
“Through the restaurant,” Watkins said.
“Not here, off the foyer?”
He shook his head.
“But in the minutes before the murder, the restaurant was busy. Everyone was cleaning up. When you told us you were in the privy and saw no one when you left, I thought it was located off the foyer since this area was empty at the time. But if you came out of the privy at the back of the restaurant, then you needed to walk through the restaurant to leave. Is that so?”
Watkins’ sharp intake of breath was the only sound. “He would have been seen.”
Mr. Hardwick swallowed.
“You claimed you saw no one, so no one could have seen you and given you an alibi,” I said.
Mr. Hardwick glanced at the exit. I moved to stand in the way of his escape.
“Where were you really?” Harry asked.
“I can’t recall,” Mr. Hardwick said with a sniff.
The major stabbed a finger in his direction. “You murdered Rigg-Lyon. You must have, otherwise why lie? Arrest him, Armitage. Watkins, telephone the police.”
