 Pedersen has described the manipulation of the legal machinery as near "virtuosic", and wondered whether Maud—assuming she was a guilty party—double crossed her accomplices.Perhaps, he queries, Gyse and Cooke being "neither wealthy nor influential had something to do with it".Pedersen suggests that not only was de Cantilupe's murder cleverly planned over a long period, "it also bears all the hallmarks of...having been put on hold until everybody was in positions of power where they could cover for each other."