The Arrest

Thirty-six hours after the discovery of the body a suspect was found in the form of one Freddie de Marigny, an enigmatic and rich, middle-aged Count, who was also Oakes’ son-in-law. A fingerprint found on the Chinese screen was believed to be his and Marigny was arrested and imprisoned in the local jailhouse. His wife, Nancy, the eldest daughter of the Oakes, refused to believe her husband had anything to do with her father’s murder and enlisted the help of private detectives. They requested that Freddie be subject to a lie detector test. When the fingerprint and lie detector experts arrived at Nassau they were shocked to find police officers scrubbing away the handprint and other miscellaneous forensic evidence. Also photographic plates taken of the bloody handprint were ruined by daylight contamination so that the identity of the print would never be known.