Sounds to me like he looked at the web of cause > event chains (which I have reason to believe is how spirits see things, UPG there though of course) and pushed at the most likely probability, which was this guy dying (he could have croaked any time, with a missus like that prone to neglecting him) but it still didn’t quite work.
I also non-sarcatsically have heard and been told myself that he likes to be addressed as King Paimon even in speech and writing, so not giving him his honorific and not even a capital P may have made him take a similarly “meh” approach, I mean spirits don’t technically have human emotions and reactions, but they can appear pretty similar in matters of dignity and ego - I say that supportively and not being snarky to ya! 
E.A. gave some good advice regarding a time King Paimon didn;t deliver the exact result he asked for here, don’t know if anything in it may be applicable here?