Cold case files - The Riddle Case

[meriaugust]

No: HPFGUIDX 106984

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "wickywackywoo2001" 
<wsherratt3338 at r...> wrote:
snip
> 4.  The house wasn't broken in to.  Either the murderer got in with 
a
> key (as Frank is accused of doing), or else got in by magic (the
> police wouldn't know that was a possibility), or was admitted by the
> Riddles.  
> 
> 5.  Is it just accidental that the cook says that Frank could have
> crept into the house "while we was all sleeping..."?  Is "we" the
> servants, or the village?  Did the servants sleep in the house, or 
did
> they come and go every day?  If they were IN the house, then three
> murders took place without anyone hearing any disturbance.  The cook
> assumes it's because they were all asleep, but why were all 3 
Riddles
> up so late, fully dressed, in the drawing room instead of going to 
bed
> like the rest of the household?  Did they have an appointment, 
perhaps?

Meri now: So many interesting questions to ponder. I like these last 
two though, because they sparked something in my mind. What if young 
Tom revealed himself to his long-lost father and grandparents before 
killing them? What if there was a sort of confrontation, where Tom 
enters the house (or is let in by the Riddles on false pretenses), 
says something along the lines of, "Hey, Dad, I'm your long lost son, 
where the hell have you been for the last seventeen years?" and then 
proceeds to have a little fun with his wand and his hated Muggle 
family. That might explain why they were in their dinner things so 
late at night. As far as we know (other than insanity in certain 
prolonged cases) Crucio and Imperio leave no physical traces, so the 
Riddles may very well have been tortured and humiliated before they 
were killed, and their voices Silencio-ed to keep the villagers or 
Frank from hearing anything. Young Tom also seems to have been able 
to get to the house without attracting anyone's attention except 
Frank's, so maybe he deliberately showed himself to Frank (whom he 
intended to frame for the murders) in order to give Frank a wholy 
implausible story to tell to the police. I mean isn't that exactly 
what someone accused of murder would say? That they and they alone 
saw a stranger around the crime scene prior to the incident? Just a 
few thoughts, and sorry that I can't answer your questions about 
upper-crust Brits, as I am a decidedly blue-collar American. 
Meri - who would have loved to be in the room listening to Tom berate 
his dear old dad...