Chapter 14 of 17 · 3'05"
Wadsworth walks the room through Mr. Boddy's murder, then turns the questions on the guests: "Everyone here tonight was either Mr. Boddy's victim or accomplice." But the scene's real reveal is his own — pressed about how he made his money, he admits to selling stolen air force parts on the black market.
Reconstructing Mr. Boddy's Murder
Wadsworth reconstructs how Mr. Boddy was killed: the murderer slipped through the secret passage and struck from behind while everyone waited in the kitchen. The questions then turn to motive and money. Cornered at last, Wadsworth admits he was a war profiteer who stole air force radio parts and sold them on the black market.
The scene closes the trap it has been building. Wadsworth can explain every step of the killing, including how the murderer 'crept up behind him' and returned to the kitchen in under half a minute. His summary line — 'Everyone here tonight was either Mr. Boddy's victim or accomplice' — makes the whole dinner party a conspiracy. Then the logic turns on him. Asked how he knew so much about the motorist, he admits he invited him, and asked what the man was holding over him, he finally answers: 'He knew that I was a war profiteer.' The detective has become a suspect, and the confession is matter-of-fact.
A1–C2 is the CEFR scale. Cards above the level you pick fade, and playback will not auto-pause on them.
“Everyone here tonight was either Mr. Boddy's victim or accomplice.”
One line reclassifies the whole party: nobody in the room is merely a bystander.
Formal
“I stole essential air force radio parts, and I sold them on the black market.”
A flat confession with three clean verbs, offering no excuse for how the fortune began.
Informal
“I got them here so they'd give evidence against him and force him to confess.”
The whole scheme lands in one sentence, with three verbs stacking toward a forced confession.
Neutral
“Then he threw him into the toilet and nonchalantly rejoined us besides the cook's body in the kitchen.”
The killing is described like a chore, and the flat tone is exactly what makes it horrifying.
Neutral
Up next · 15whistling DixieThe scene: Wadsworth Recaps the MurdersThe murderer slipped back through the secret passage, picked up a candlestick, and struck from behind while everyone else waited by the cook's body in the kitchen.
He knows too many details, so the guests ask how he learned them. He admits he invited the motorist and finally confesses that he was a war profiteer.
From crime. He stole essential air force radio parts during the war and sold them on the black market, which is how he made his fortune.
The driver Wadsworth used during the war. He is the one who knew Wadsworth's secret — that he had been a war profiteer — and was thus a threat.
