Crooked House

Inside Three Gables, Edith leads Charles to the library, where Taverner converses with Philip Leonides. They are briefly interrupted by his wife Magda Leonides (stage name Magda West), a melodramatic actress who is delighted by the drama of the morbid situation. Once Taverner gets him talking, Philip is a “cold fish,” giving curt and noncommittal answers. He claims that Aristide’s failing eyesight might have led him to accidentally fill the fatal syringe with eserine himself. He suggests the servants as possible suspects, but Taverner finds this unlikely as Aristide increased their salary with each year they worked for him.

Although Philip disapproved of Aristide’s “unwise” second marriage, he claims to have had a good relationship with his father. He recounts the morning of the murder. Aristide lived in a separate section of Three Gables connected to the servants’ quarters. After greeting his father at breakfast, Philip went about his day in the main house and only found out about the murder when Roger came running in yelling that the old man was having a seizure. He is emotionless in his recall and claims to have had no motive for the crime.