Nevill's Movements

[Erik Narramore]

To be honest, I'd simply assumed that Nevill running downstairs was not part of the plan.  I can't imagine that Jeremy would let him run out the master bedroom on purpose.  It may also be that this was what triggered Jeremy's idea for the phone call, in order to explain why Nevill's body was in the kitchen, or that may be down to something else.

The sticking point is how Nevill was able to escape the master bedroom and why Jeremy is putting five bullets into June instead of stopping Nevill.  Even if you are right about Jeremy running out of ammunition, I would differ to you in the explanation.  Jeremy was clearly firing at Nevill from the landing, and this would explain why Nevill didn't then turn and fight Jeremy when it became clear he had run out of ammunition: Nevill was already on his way down the stairs.  To that extent, the theory is coherent.

But you also still have the problem that there is very little blood along the path you say Nevill took, and I don't really understand why Nevill only made it to the kitchen and didn't try to ring 999: he wasn't injured in the legs and he had one arm available to make a call.  Maybe that was ambitious, but then why not make it to the back door and leave blood in the back hallway?  Why not barricade himself in the den?  In my view, the time-and-motion doesn't favour Jeremy catching him.

[Erik Narramore]

Actually, I'd like to re-phrase that last remark of mine.

In my view, the time-and-motion favours one of two outcomes of 'the chase':

(i). Jeremy catches Nevill before they reach the kitchen.
(ii). Jeremy doesn't catch Nevill and Nevill reaches the back door or the den or maybe the kitchen phone to make the call.

Which applies depends on how much of a head start Nevill has on Jeremy.  Nevill has the advantage, for several reasons - the steepness and narrowness of the stairs, the awkwardness for Jeremy of carrying a long rifle down the stairs, the fact that Nevill is motivated to escape and (we assume) has no leg injuries at this point.

The flaw, as I see it, is this:

If we accept (i), then Jeremy must catch him before they reach the kitchen.  Now, it could be that this is what really happened and Jeremy dragged him or cajoled him to the kitchen, but why is there almost no blood and signs of struggle on the main stairway and in the main foyer, other than two isolated blood spots?  We simply can't put that down to the police missing it because the police were observant enough to find the blood they found.

If we accept that Jeremy doesn't catch him and we consider (ii), then we're left with what I consider to be a paradox: Jeremy has failed to catch him, but somehow does catch up with him in the kitchen.  That's strange, isn't it?  It doesn't quite cohere.

It suggests that Nevill, for some reason, has hesitated in the kitchen.  I would have thought the obvious reason would be the phone, but there's no blood on the phone.  So what was he doing?  Why didn't he just run to the back door, then on realising that was locked, run to the den?  He knew the house.

Is it that he got to the back door, realised that was locked, and ended up going back in the kitchen?  Maybe, but why is there no blood in the back hallway?