A photograph of Jezaille Brett's handbag was evidence in the trial of Ryunosuke Naruhodo for the murder of John Wilson. It showed a view of the open side of Brett's handbag.
The true cause of death[]
- Main article: The Adventure of the Great Departure
Wilson arranged a lunch meeting with Brett at the restaurant La Carneval on November 22. Unbeknownst to Wilson, Brett would use this opportunity to assassinate him without leaving a trace, using curare. Carrying a bottle of the poison in her handbag, and contaminating Wilson's drink with it, she originally intended to see Wilson take a sip, and then leave immediately. However, their table was visited by Naruhodo. Knowing that she could no longer slip away without leaving a witness to the murder, she planted Wilson's pistol on the floor nearby. As Naruhodo was leaving, he noticed the pistol and went to pick it up, at which point Brett drew a pistol hidden under her skirt and shot the already deceased Wilson. This plan to frame Naruhodo worked, and he was arrested and put on trial for allegedly fatally shooting Wilson. Meanwhile, the Imperial Police Bureau ordered that Brett be escorted out of the premises and all evidence of her presence there concealed, in order to prevent an international scandal.
Brett was eventually summoned to Naruhodo's trial once he had demonstrated that she had been present at the scene of the crime. Accusing Naruhodo of murdering Wilson, she made two claims: that the crime scene photograph showed the scene exactly as it had been at the time of the murder, and that she and Wilson had at one point said "cheers" over a glass of carbonated water. This led to asking why there was only one glass in the photograph, to which it was revealed that she had concealed it in her handbag. Naruhodo's hopes that this handbag could have concealed a weapon were immediately dashed, as Inspector Satoru Hosonaga produced a photographic print of the handbag; it was a meshwork handbag with no gun visible inside. Nonetheless, Naruhodo noticed on this new print a peculiarly shaped burn on Wilson's wrist, which he matched with an emblem on the steak plate that had been served to Brett. He wondered how Wilson could have burned his wrist on the steak plate without drawing any attention by screaming in pain, and concluded that he had already died by the time the burn had been inflicted, and before he was shot.
In the end, Naruhodo was able to demonstrate that Brett was the only one who could have shot Wilson. She admitted to poisoning the professor, having concealed a bottle of it inside her handbag.