by Anne Perry
Daniel hesitated. It sounded good, but his stomach was churning. “Just tea, please. But I would like to speak privately with Sir Thomas first.”
“Yes, sir. Of course. And may I take the opportunity to wish you well, sir.”
“Thank you.”
Pitt came downstairs within moments and led Daniel to his study. He looked far more worried than he probably meant to reveal.
Daniel felt vulnerable and protected, belonging and alone, all at once.
Daniel shut the study door to the hall as soon as he was inside. “I know what it’s about,” he said immediately. “I’m telling you not because I want you to help, but because I think you need to know. I might even call you…I don’t know.”
For a moment Pitt look startled. Then he composed himself and waited for Daniel to continue.
“I went to Alderney,” Daniel told him. “I looked at the house May Trelawny bequeathed to Rebecca Thorwood. Someone else was very keen to buy it, but May wouldn’t sell. She died soon after that. I’m sure she was murdered, and I intend to prove it.”
Pitt stared at him levelly, his attention total now.
“I think they killed May to get the house,” Daniel went on. “It’s nothing in itself, but it overlooks and has sole access to a perfect deep-water harbor.”
Pitt looked slightly surprised. “Smuggling?”
“Would that interest you?” Daniel asked dismissively.
Pitt relaxed a little. “No.”
“How about a deep-water harbor, in British waters, for submarines?”
Pitt breathed out slowly, but his attention was even more acute. “Yes, that would interest me very much indeed. Are you certain?”
“I expect to be, one way or the other, by the end of this trial,” Daniel told him. “Will you…will you please come to court, in case I need to call you?”
“Yes. I was coming anyway.”
“Did you know about this?” Daniel did not know whether he was hurt or not. He was certainly wrong-footed.
“I was coming because it’s your case,” Pitt replied. “The first important one you’ve had, where you are definitely leading. Even if you’ve got Kitteridge to back you. You have, haven’t you?”
“Yes. But that isn’t an answer.” Daniel felt a warmth nonetheless. He wanted to believe his father would have come for that reason alone.
Pitt smiled. “It’s the only one you’re going to get.” Then the smile vanished. “Be careful what you ask Jemima…or Patrick. At least, be careful how you do it.”
“They’re not witnesses, I think.”
Pitt started to ask something, then changed his mind.
For a moment their eyes met and they were equals. Then Daniel smiled and went out into the hall, and then into the dining room.
Jemima and Patrick were both there now.
“We are ready,” Jemima said, her expression a little uncertain.
Patrick simply gazed at Daniel.
“I’d like you to come,” Daniel said quietly. “I don’t think I shall need to call you…either of you.” He glanced for a moment at Patrick, and then back to Jemima. “But Rebecca might be glad of your comfort. Please don’t ask me anything. It’s all going to unravel but I’m not sure how. I think I know, but…”
He saw Patrick’s arm go around Jemima, and she moved a little closer to him. It said everything Daniel needed to know, all about love, doubt, trust, and pain.
For an instant, he even envied them. Then he thanked them, forgot about his tea, and turned to leave. He had a great deal still to prepare. In the hall, he met Cassie with one of the maids. She ran to him excitedly. “Uncle Daniel! Are you going to argue? Are you going to make a big argue?”
“Yes, I am.” He hugged her quickly, then let her go.
“Are you going to win?” Her eyes were bright and full of certainty. She could not imagine him losing, or what that would mean.
“I don’t know, sweetheart, but I’m going to try very hard. Wish me luck.”
“Aren’t you right?”
“I think so.” Should he say “right” didn’t always win? She was three! This was too soon.
“Grandmama says you’re very clever,” Cassie went on.
“Nobody wins all the time. But I’ll try very hard.”
She looked uncertain for a moment, and then she smiled. “I wish you win.”
“Thank you.” He leaned again and kissed her cheek very gently. “Now, whatever happens, it won’t hurt too badly.”
She looked at him very seriously for an instant and touched her cheek where he had kissed her, then turned and ran into the dining room, where Charlotte was holding the door open for her, Sophie in her arms. Daniel’s eyes met his mother’s and Charlotte blew him a kiss. Then Sophie turned her big blue eyes to look at him and smiled a beautiful baby smile full of love and trust, so that Daniel thought it was all he needed to sustain him through this most difficult day.
He went out the front door and walked swiftly to the nearest main street, where he could catch a taxi to the courthouse.
* * *
—
DANIEL FOUND KITTERIDGE almost immediately. He looked as if he had been pacing back and forth waiting for Daniel, perhaps wondering if he would ever show up. His relief was palpable.
“At least you’re here, for whatever that’s worth!” Kitteridge exclaimed. “Did you find anything in Alderney?” If Kitteridge was trying to hide his tension, he was making a poor job of it. “For God’s sake, tell me! Your brother-in-law’s been sending wires back and forth to his people in Washington, but they still can’t say when Morley Cross was killed. Hillyer won’t wait much longer. If he has to, he’ll just think we’re stalling, and we will have to be clever to persuade the jury that Cross was killed after Sidney left. I don’t believe it myself!”
“There’s plenty I found out on Alderney.” Daniel took him by the arm, primarily to keep him still. “May Trelawny was murdered.”
“What? I thought she fell off a horse or something.”
“She was kicked to death by it, or at least that was what it was made to look like. But the medical evidence doesn’t fit together. She was killed because she wouldn’t sell her house. I’ve brought the doctor over to testify.”
“Never mind that! Was it Sidney?” Kitteridge demanded.
“No. It was somebody considerably older.”
“Okay then, what is so special about the house? I mean, to commit murder for. It’ll have to be something pretty big.”
“It is. Trust me. I’ll bring it out. It’s murder…and treason!”
Kitteridge looked at him narrowly, suspicion, disbelief, and hope struggling in his face.
“I’ll bring it out! I promise!” Daniel knew the risk he was running even as he said it, but he felt he had nowhere else to go. Caution now would lose him everything.
Kitteridge grasped him by the arm. “Well, come on, then, you’d better lead. And please God you know where you’re going!”
CHAPTER
Twenty-five
COURT RESUMED AND, in agreement with Kitteridge, Daniel rose to his feet to open the case for the defense.
“Gentlemen of the jury, I’m going to show you a long and twisted story of a man accused of two crimes he did not commit. And that story involves a far greater and more terrible crime that he did not even know of. Two crimes that did not actually happen—or not as you may see them—and one that did, and was so well hidden that you did not know of it. A triple jeopardy, if you like.”
He saw in their faces that he had their attention, if only because they did not understand.
The judge leaned forward. “Mr. Pitt, make this brief, to the point, and with proof of all of it. This is a petty embezzlement, not a great crime…a case of a young man acting stupidly and ruining a very promising career. A tragedy, b
ut unfortunately not an uncommon one. It will not serve your client well for you to attempt to make a grand drama out of it.”
Daniel made himself stand very straight and face the judge squarely. “Your Honor, with the court’s permission, I shall be as brief as possible, but I shall need to call several witnesses to trace this story from the first crime to this point. I may need to call Sir Thomas Pitt, Head of Special Branch, and I have asked him to be available.” Was that too soon? The judge’s face had darkened.
Kitteridge was squirming in his seat.
“I am aware of who your father is, Mr. Pitt.” The judge’s displeasure was clear. “I do not admire your drawing my attention to it!”
Daniel felt the heat burn up his face. “I mention it, Your Honor, so that the court may know that this appears to be a petty embezzlement, but it leads to the crimes of treason and murder. And I beg you to allow me to present the whole story, as I can now prove it.”
He glanced quickly toward Sidney, and for the first time he saw hope in the man’s face.
“You had better prove it, young man!” the judge warned. “Very well, proceed. And you, Mr. Hillyer, don’t bother to object to every seeming irrelevance. I will stop Mr. Pitt if he wanders too far off the path, without your assistance.”
“Yes, Your Honor,” Hillyer acceded, looking displeased and thoroughly puzzled.
The judge nodded at Daniel. “Proceed, Mr. Pitt. Call your first witness.”
“I call Miss Rebecca Thorwood.”
Hillyer started to his feet again, but sat down before the judge could direct him. The judge glared instead at Daniel.
Rebecca, looking confused and highly vulnerable, took the stand and was sworn in. Daniel could feel Jemima’s eyes on him, suspicious and already a little hostile.
“Miss Thorwood,” Daniel began. “I believe you were the goddaughter of Miss May Trelawny, originally of Cornwall? Is that correct?”
“Yes.” Rebecca’s voice was barely audible.
“She lived recently in the Channel Islands, I believe. On Alderney, to be precise?”
“Yes.”
“Have you ever been there?”
“No.”
The judge leaned forward. “Mr. Pitt, you had better prove the relevance of this very quickly. I am prepared to indulge you, but only to a certain degree. This trial has already taken far longer than it should have. This is hardly the theft of the century.”
“Yes, Your Honor.” Daniel was sorely tempted to tell him that he would get there a lot sooner if he were not needlessly interrupted, but it would serve him badly, and he knew it. He turned to Rebecca again. “Miss Thorwood, Miss Trelawny died recently, not even two months ago, and is it true you are her only heir?”
“Yes, I believe so.”
Now the jury at least was paying attention.
“And the estate includes a manor house with its own private bay, on the island of Alderney?”
“Yes, so the solicitor told me.”
“And some jewelry. Miss Trelawny was interested in semi-precious stones, particularly one piece of carved rock crystal. Did she give that to you?”
Hillyer fidgeted in his seat, stretching his legs, turning round, but he did not actually stand up.
“Yes, she did, but…”
“But what?”
“It was stolen.”
“From Miss Trelawny, or from you?”
This time Hillyer did rise, but the judge got there before him.
“Mr. Pitt, if you have a point, please get to it now!”
“Yes, Your Honor. Was it stolen from you, Miss Thorwood?”
She looked very pale and very young. Daniel knew that if he bullied her he would lose the jury’s sympathy entirely.
“Yes,” she stammered. “It…a man broke into my bedroom, at home in Washington, at night. He attacked me and took the pendant with the piece of crystal in it. He tore it off my neck and escaped into the hallway, outside my bedroom…” She was clearly distressed.
The jurors were concentrating entirely on her, sympathy on the faces of every one of them. This time, the judge did not interrupt.
“Do you know who did this, Miss Thorwood?” Daniel asked.
Rebecca looked wretched. She sent a begging glance in the direction of her father, or to where he had sat on Friday, but he was no longer there.
“Did you recognize him, Miss Thorwood?” Daniel persisted.
“No.”
“Did you cry out?”
“Yes.”
“And did anyone come to your assistance?”
“Yes, my father…I mean…I mean my mother was first, then my father.” She was stumbling over her words now.
“Did either of them see this man fleeing from your room? After all, he went into the corridor, not out of the window.”
“Yes…my…my mother saw him.”
Hillyer shifted in his seat but he did not stand this time.
“And did she recognize him?” Daniel asked.
“Yes.” Rebecca’s voice was little more than a whisper.
“And did she say who it was?”
Rebecca’s voice was inaudible.
The judge looked toward her. “You must answer so that we can hear you, Miss Thorwood. I realize this must be extremely unpleasant for you, but please try.”
Rebecca cleared her throat. “She said it was Philip Sidney.”
There was a rustle of movement through the gallery, and several audible gasps. There was no doubt that she had everyone’s attention now.
“Are you quite sure?” Daniel persisted. “Did you see him yourself?”
Rebecca shut her eyes. “I didn’t see him myself, just a shadow. It could have been anyone. But Mother swore it was Philip Sidney.”
“Did she swear to it? In court?”
“No, my father said he would to save her the distress of—”
“I see. Did he lay any complaints about this assault and robbery? The pendant must have been of great sentimental value to you, as a gift from Miss Trelawny while she was still alive.”
“Yes, but I have got it back.”
“We shall get to that,” Daniel assured her, but he had no objection to her explaining. The jury would need to hear, and if Daniel was prevented from asking her, then Kitteridge surely would be.
“Did your father accuse Philip Sidney of the robbery and the assault on you?” he continued.
“Yes. But…”
“But what?” he asked gently.
“But Mr. Sidney worked at the British Embassy, and he had diplomatic immunity if he wished to claim it. He did, and left America. He…” Studiously she did not look at where he sat in the dock. “He came back to England.”
“Where he was accused of having embezzled money while still at the British Embassy in Washington?”
“Yes.”
“Miss Thorwood, were you acquainted with Mr. Sidney, socially?”
“Yes…a little.”
“Did your parents approve of him?”
“I…” She looked embarrassed. That in itself was an answer.
“Never mind.” He smiled at her. “Were you fond of Miss Trelawny? I have heard many things about her. I believe she was brave, eccentric, at times very funny.”
“Yes.” All the shadows passed out of Rebecca’s face. For a brief moment it was filled with the joy of memory. “We wrote to each other often. She would tell the most wonderful stories.”
“Will you sell her house in Alderney? Or will you live in it one day?”
The idea seemed to distress her. “Oh, no! I wouldn’t dream of selling it!”
“Thank you, Miss Thorwood. I would like to hear some of these stories from Miss Trelawny, but this is not the time or place. Will you wait there in case Mr. Hillyer has some questions for
you?”
Hillyer stood up, straightening his shoulders. For a moment, he seemed undecided what to say. He did not even glance at Daniel. “Thank you, Miss Thorwood. My sympathies for the death of your godmother, but I cannot see how it is relevant to this miserable affair, except that Mr. Pitt has felt it appropriate to draw the jury’s attention to the other wretched crime Mr. Sidney is accused of, for which he saw fit to evade all responsibility by fleeing Washington and using his diplomatic immunity to escape the country altogether. It paints an even blacker picture of him. It is for your legal adviser to deal with, as to whether Sidney has been…adequately represented.” Hillyer sat down, looking surprisingly wretched.
Daniel felt guilty for putting him through this, but to have told Hillyer of his plans would have been a far deeper betrayal of Sidney, and of the law. He had to advise him of additional witnesses, but that was all. Hillyer had to tell him, as well, if he intended to call someone to advise him of Morley Cross’s time of death.
Daniel dared not look at Sidney himself.
The judge addressed Daniel grimly. “I hope this is not as ugly as it seems, Mr. Pitt? I warn you, it is your duty to defend Mr. Sidney, whatever may be your personal opinion of him. I cannot believe that you don’t understand this. I hope you have no such misguided plan as to ask for a mistrial? The consequences for you would be very grave indeed.”
Daniel stood up. He was embarrassed that he was trembling. “No, Your Honor. I believe Mr. Sidney is innocent of all charges, but I have to show the whole story, or it will not make sense.”
“Then you are off to an excellent start,” the judge said drily. “So far this makes no sense whatsoever! Call your next witness.”
Daniel’s mind raced. Could he tell the story without either Tobias or Bernadette Thorwood testifying? He must keep it as simple as possible. The charge was theft by embezzlement. The real crime was the murder of May Trelawny. And if they brought it up, as they were bound to do, the murder of Morley Cross as well. He must not make any claims he could not justify, but neither must he be so oblique that he lost the jurors’ understanding. He needed to make the decision quickly. The judge was already growing impatient. He must keep it together. Do something dramatic. “I call Dr. James Mullane.”
