Breaks in the Pattern

[twinsrwe]

Len Rebello has not passed away. I am speaking with him now. This minute. Alive and well. Promise!

Thank you, Stefani. I'm glad Len is alive and doing well.

[Stefani]

I have previously spoken to Len about the cup and its provenance. He assures me he purchased it from the dealer who ended up with the Maplecroft contents once the will was probated. He also said you can feel free to give him a call. He is in the book. :-)

[Catbooks]

thanks so much, stefani. well, that clears that up, for me anyway.

[Curryong]

Yes indeed, though, (throwing a quick grenade into the discussion) is it possible that Lizzie, fond of picking up decorative bits and pieces for Maplecroft, bought the piece because she thought it was pretty?

[twinsrwe]

Thank you, Stefani. That certainly answers that question! Please thank Len for us, we appreciate this information.

[Catbooks]

Yes indeed, though, (throwing a quick grenade into the discussion) is it possible that Lizzie, fond of picking up decorative bits and pieces for Maplecroft, bought the piece because she thought it was pretty?

that doesn't seem likely to me because of the engraving. i can't imagine her going out of her way to buy something engraved with to a lizzie from an abbie. not unless she had a black sense of humor we're not aware of

[Curryong]

You never know!

[MysteryReader]

anyway, the character was dealing with an even colder case than we are, and something he said has stuck with me. it was: look for the breaks in the patterns. patterns of movement, behavior, things that are known and verifiable. i thought it'd be interesting if we tried this with this case. maybe it'd be helpful.

putting my head into the ruby cameron/david theory probably has me longing for something concrete.

so, here's what i can think of. add whatever known breaks in the pattern you can think of - things that are out-of-the-norm behavior - and maybe a clear overview will form.

- emma goes on a two-week trip, leaving lizzie alone with abby and andrew.

- lizzie stops at new bedford and rents a hotel room, despite new bedford being close enough to come home. (i'm assuming it was unusual for her to rent a hotel room this close to home.)

- uncle morse comes to visit, invited by andrew. he didn't visit often, and this time he came without even a change of clothing or toothbrush.

- abby goes to dr. bowen across the street, concerned that the family is being poisoned.

- lizzie has a very strange conversation with alice russell the night before the murders, talking about foreboding, poisoning, and worried about someone burning the house down over their heads. since alice didn't say lizzie had said anything like this before, i'm assuming this is a break in lizzie's pattern.

that's all i can think of at the moment.

In the testimony of Mrs Churchill, she says that while she was talking with Bridget, Bridget tells her that Abby left, mentioning a note but not where she was going but that she USUALLY told her (Bridget) where she was going.

I don't know if Bridget was telling the truth but it's an obvious break in the pattern.

[Curryong]

Yes, it is, MysteryReader. Well done! However, Bridget got her information about Abby having a note and gone out to visit from Lizzie. Lizzie said that Abby had told her she had a note from someone.

Abby was fond of Bridget, by all accounts, and when Bridget wanted to leave a couple of times, Abby upped her wages and told her she would be lonely without her. So no wonder Bridget was puzzled Abby had said nothing. Later Lizzie added stuff about Abby not changing her clothes to go out and asking her what she wanted for dinner as she was going shopping, when she gave statements to the police.

[MysteryReader]

Ah okay. I've not finished reading Lizzie's testimony. I have seen several mentions of Bridget wanting to leave in various threads but nothing concrete (yet!). I see the connection though between Abby and Bridget. Thanks for clarifying!

[Franz]

IMO, and according to my understanding of the source:

1. Uncle John hollered Lizzie's name and rushed into the dinning room where Lizzie was alone with Alice, but Uncle John didn't stop, didn't notice them, instead, he went into the sitting room.

2. No one, Morse himself included, testified to have informed Morse the location of Andrew's body.