All about life

This is my entry for BlogAdda's contest Who dunnit. You can find the contest details and case here.

MY ANSWER

The three logical possibilities:

1. Suicide

2. One of the 5 guests killed her : M, Author, R, G, Sia

3. A subset or all of the guests conspired

Lila killing herself or suicide is not a possibility. She was a woman who believed to live her life to the fullest. She had always been able to work out a favorable situation for herself in the past, by finding a new person whenever the earlier one left her. So we eliminate option 1.

Guests coming together to conspire against Lila is a big NO, because each held a personal grudge against the other guests too. At some time in her life, Lila had been close to each one of them and then left them for one of the others. So, option 3 is eliminated.

My answer: Author (Second husband) killed Lila.

How did he do it?

The thought which triggered off this answer is the fact that cops found everything in the room except the yellow rose which the author gifted Lila.

In my opinion, this is how he did it:

· He sprinkled poison/or hidden it somehow in the rose.

· He made an excuse of headache.

· Lila offered him tea.

· Avoiding Lila’s eye, he poisoned tea.

· I assume that Lila had the tea.

· As the poison started showing its effect, Lila became anxious and withdrawn.

· She went back to her room thinking it’s the effect of the virus, to take medicines.

· Due to poison’s increased effect, she couldn’t control her walk.

· She takes the medicines from the bejeweled case on her bedside cabinet. Her hurried actions lead to the dropping of porcelain cup which breaks.

· She moves towards the bathroom as she is not feeling well now, twisting the rosary beads in her hands which become mis-shapen and drops to the floor near the bathroom.

· When Lila didn’t come out for a long time, guests went inside to check.

· In the hustle-bustle of the initial few moments, the author very cleverly removed the yellow rose. This is the reason that cops found everything at the crime scene except the yellow rose.

Justification:

The murder has been done in a very subtle manner. This is the signature style of author. The author wanted to complete his incomplete task of killing Lila and achieve the satisfaction of the final WIN.

I think I saw the following mug at Lila's place.