The Garden Wedding

An English manor garden · a June wedding · the cake was never cut · Difficulty: Detective 6 · 9×9

A sunny June afternoon in the garden of an old English manor. The ceremony under the flower arch was over, a string quartet played in the bandstand, and the guests drifted between the marquee, the dance floor and the orchard while the wedding planner kept an eye on the cake. Only Uncle Vaughan – who had paid for everything and never let anyone forget it – was missing from the toasts. The butler found him in the rose garden, dead beside the fountain. Everyone describes where they were – find the one who was alone with him.

Rules

Every row and every column holds exactly one person. As soon as you place someone, cross out their whole row and column.
“Beside” = directly left, right, above or below, and in the same area. Squares with objects (the flower beds, the flower arch, the harp, the wedding cake, the champagne tower, the round tables, the music stand, the fountain and the apple trees) cannot be occupied; the chairs, the aisle runner and the bench can.
The murderer was alone with the victim: nobody else was in that area.

Statements

Arabella (the bride): The wedding cake was somewhere in her column.
Bertie (the groom): A chair was somewhere in his row.
Cressida (the bride's sister and bridesmaid): She was the only woman beside the music stand.
Digby (the groom's brother and best man): A chair was somewhere in his column.
Esme (the bride's old school friend): She was the only one sitting in a chair. She was alone with a member of staff.
Freddie (the groom's university friend): He was the only man beside an apple tree.
Geoffrey (the butler of the manor): He was neither on nor beside the aisle runner. He was the southernmost person in his area.
Hannah (the wedding planner): She was beside a round table. Somebody in her area was beside a chair.
Vaughan (the bride's wealthy uncle): The victim. He was found in the Rose Garden, beside the fountain – alone with the murderer.

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