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| Uh-oh; kitten has a WHIP. |
Elkins does not take kindly to Speed's rifling through his garbage for wire.
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| My interpretation of this panel is that Speed is warping space-time to prevent the whip from hitting him while simultaneously punching Elkins in the Animal Crotch. It's a real flex. |
Speed decides NOT to kill Elkins on the spot even though as a Detective Inspector Ace Investigator, he has every right to, of course.
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| Speed Fact: Speed himself is immune to trial by jury because he has no peers! |
Elkins is more prepared for immediate retaliation than you would expect from a man who had to steal two mammoth tusks from a museum to eliminate a rival.
But, say, isn't that Joe Samson The Circus Strongman, recognizable by his blue jodhpurs?
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| Not often you see someone save SPEED SAUNDERS, particularly someone whom Speed recently knocked on his patootie. |
Speed decides to arrest everyone in the immediate vicinity, for the sake of thoroughness.
Wow, Joe was being manipulated by the murderer into cooperating by threat of exposing previous financial crime? Are we quite sure "Fred Guardineer" wasn't just an Agatha Christie nom de plume?
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| They were NEVER seen TOGETHER, you know. |
And now: the Speedsplanation.
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| The Face of Judgement looks pretty darned sexy with whip marks. |
So... Elkins made Jumbo wear... silencers? Or tusk condoms, however you want to coin it. Instead of just... WASHING THE ELEPHANT'S tusks? Is it harder to wash an elephant's trunks than to unhook and dispose of bloodied mammoth tusks? Is Elkins simply too effete to wash the elephant's tusks, for fear of getting Bushland Bill's Gore And Blood-splash on his jodhpurs? As always, the Speedsplanation leaves me speechless.
Note that Rosita (did we ever even find out what she DID at the circus?) was dismissed from the plot as soon as she, having converted from an obstacle into a Useful Female Informant, conveyed the necessary background information ("Elkins The Animal Man was jealous of Bushland Bill Mercer, and possibly also of Bushland Bill's Hair And Mustache!"). I don't think that's her in the hat in the background because she's wearing a different outfit. I think that's just a random Observer of Justice or perhaps the character who will prompt Speed's next adventure. I can easily imagine that all of Speed's adventures can secretly be laid end-to-end in one big never-ending saga of dispensing judgement.
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| Just like the adventures of McBain or Kenneth Branagh's Hercule Poirot. |
3 comments:
Well, I was correct about the fake tusks used on Jumbo, but like you, the "why" eludes me. It's a VERY convoluted way to murder someone, and leaving the tusk behind makes it even more strange. And while I know we must never question a Speed plot, elephants in fact have very poor eyesight and it's not likely one would mistake one human for another based on sight. (I used to read tons of nature books as a child.) I'm going to assume that Joe also wore Bushland's clothes to fool the elephant's sense of smell (that probably still wouldn't work -- elephants have really good noses -- but it's the best I can come up with). Though it makes me wonder why Jumbo went after Joe when he wasn't in disguise. Fortunately, we have an Ace Investigator to unravel this Gordian knot.
The Gordian Knot is definitely the right analogy, given Speed's style of conclusion.
Let me see if I understand this:
1) Elkins murdered Bushland Bill by placing Mammoth tusks on an elephant (pachyderm prophylaxis, perhaps?)
2) An elephant he trained, in his very limited off-hours, to become enraged at the very sight of Bushland Bill.
3) He blackmailed Joe the Strongbody to dress as Bushland Bill, which means anyone wearing overalls could have been gored as well. Including Speed (who is saved by Plot Armor).
4) Bushland Bill didn’t drive, which is common among nearly-famous international archeologists, and his body was found quite a ways from the circus. Possibly in a canoe. Perhaps in a canoe in the middle of the desert (it IS a Speed story, after all). Point being, in a manner that is suspicious.
5) Literally no one realized Bill was missing until Speed told them.
6) Literally no one heard an elephant go into a rage and gore a person (who likely died soft and quite like a good Agatha Christie, uh, Speed Saunders, victim should).
7) Elkins chose to place the body in an improbable location to throw off suspicion, despite literally everyone knowing Bushland Bill didn’t drive. This instead of making the murder look like an accident at the circus and leaving town long before anyone is the wiser.
8) Rosita does…something at the circus, however we know it’s not “be observant” since she had no clue her “good friend” Bushland Bill was missing. Or that her boyfriend, Joe Large Pectorals, is dressing like him. And coming home smelling like elephant dung.
9) Speed tesseracts Joe to save him from Elkins, because it saves time.
10) Elkins’ motivation for it all was…Speed Plot.
In Summation: The only logical conclusion is that Speed was bored and tesseracted Elkins into murdering Bushland Bill using tusk-condoms and dumping the body in a manner that would REQUIRE Speed to investigate.
The moral of the story is: Keep Speed occupied lest he summon your demise due to his innate desire for swift investigation and nigh-godlike ability to generate mysteries from afar!
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