# In the Garage explained — The Crime at Black Dudley > Chapter companion for The Crime at Black Dudley by Margery Allingham. ## What happens Dr. George Abbershaw, uneasy in the dark and foreboding Black Dudley, slips out to the garage to check his car. There he discovers that Colonel Coombe's antique brougham is actually fitted with a modern Rolls-Royce engine, a puzzling anomaly. Albert Campion joins him, feigning idiocy, and they return to the house to find chaos: Colonel Coombe has suffered a suspected heart attack during the ritual game. Meggie Oliphant, terrified, reveals to Abbershaw that someone handed her the ritual dagger in the dark and that its blade was covered in fresh blood before a hand silently took it away. She gives him a blood-stained handkerchief as proof. ## Themes in this chapter ### Deception and Disguise The Colonel's antique car conceals a modern Rolls-Royce engine, symbolizing hidden truths; Campion's feigned idiocy masks his true nature; the ritual game itself is a cover for violence. ### Isolation and Entrapment The dark, labyrinthine house and locked servants' door create a sense of entrapment; Meggie's terror and the bloodied dagger heighten the atmosphere of inescapable danger. ### Crime and Detection Abbershaw's discovery of the anomalous engine and Meggie's revelation of the blood-stained dagger set the stage for a murder investigation. ## Character check-ins ### Dr. George Abbershaw Feels foreboding; inspects his car and discovers the Colonel's hybrid Rolls-Royce; comforts Meggie and learns of the bloodied dagger. ### Albert Campion Appears in the garage, speaking in an idiotic manner; avoids the ritual; later tactfully leaves Abbershaw and Meggie alone. ### Meggie Oliphant Terrified after being handed the blood-stained dagger during the game; confides in Abbershaw and shows him the bloodied handkerchief. ### Colonel Gordon Coombe Suffers a suspected heart attack during the ritual; his car's hidden Rolls-Royce engine is discovered by Abbershaw. ### Dr. White Whitby Finds Colonel Coombe after the attack and carries him upstairs with Gideon. ### Jesse Gideon Helps carry the Colonel upstairs and later announces the heart attack to the guests. ## Key lines > The absurd old body, which looked as if it belonged to a car which would be capable of twenty miles all out at most, was set upon the chassis and the engine of latest 'Phantom' type Rolls-Royce. The antique car's body was fitted with a state-of-the-art Rolls-Royce engine, a surprising and suspicious modification. _Highlights the theme of deception and Abbershaw's detective instincts._ > I saw the blade was covered with something dark. I touched it, it was sticky. I knew it at once, it was blood! Meggie saw that the dagger's blade was dark and sticky, and realized it was blood. _Key revelation that transforms the ritual game into a potential crime scene._ ## Links - HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_crime_at_black_dudley_se/chapters/iii-in-the-garage - Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_crime_at_black_dudley_se - All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_crime_at_black_dudley_se/chapters