Page 85 of Triple Jeopardy (Daniel Pitt)

“Oh. Did he not tell you? He went racing off because he had to get to Miriam fford Croft’s house in time to meet her and catch the boat. He thinks there’s some forensic evidence he could find on the island.” Even as she said it, she knew she was defending Daniel instinctively. Kitteridge deserved better than that. “Apparently, Miriam is very good.”

Kitteridge smiled suddenly. It was wide, lopsided, and surprisingly attractive, because he was totally unaware of it. “I know! I’ve seen her on the stand. She can make forensics seem interesting and understandable to jurors.” Then he was suddenly very serious again. “I don’t know what they’ll find in Alderney, if anything at all. But he’ll be back by Monday,” he added.

Jemima heard the edge to his voice. “He has to be,” she replied. Was she making a promise she had no power to keep? “He knows that. But if he’s a little late, please…keep going without him. Anything, any witness you rake up…”

“I will,” Kitteridge replied, taking the last piece of cake. Then he looked at it, suddenly aware that he had eaten all three slices.

She laughed at him. “I brought it for you! I’m glad you like it.”

“But…”

“There’s more at home, if I want it,” she said easily. “Please…”

* * *

—

JEMIMA SPENT THE afternoon with the family, except for Daniel. They had tea on the lawn, played with Cassie and baby Sophie, talked, laughed, shared memories. Dinner was early, then the children went to bed and were asleep in minutes. Later, Jemima went out into the garden to look for a favorite toy that had been left behind. She heard footsteps on the stone, then lost in the grass. She looked up, expecting to see Patrick. Instead, it was her father.

“Find it?” he asked.

“Yes. It was where I expected,” she replied. She stared around the evening garden, the wind whispering gently in the poplars, a last starling circling toward the nest. Suddenly, she was overcome with how much she missed this place. There was no question that she would go home with Patrick. That was where she belonged, probably for the rest of her life. But almost all of her life had been here, all the memories tied to these people, in this house, oddly enough, this garden. Emotion filled her too much to allow her to speak.

Her father put his arm around her. Did he know what she was feeling?

She was tired, afraid for the outcome of the trial—for Patrick, for Daniel, and also for Rebecca Thorwood.

“I like your Patrick,” Pitt said quietly. “And he’s a good policeman.”

“How do you know?” she asked, her voice almost level.

“Because I’m a good policeman, too,” he said, and even in the dark she could imagine a smile on his face.

“I’m glad you think so,” she answered, uncertain why he had mentioned it now.

“I do. I’ve been thinking of what an excellent addition he would be to Special Branch…one day.”

She was stunned. It took her a moment to realize what he had said, and what it would mean.

He did not prompt her.

“You mean…here?” she said at last.

“Yes. Perhaps for a while anyway. I haven’t said anything to him. Think about it.”

“You want Cassie and Sophie here, don’t you?” She was half joking, half needing it to be true.

“Of course,” he replied. “And you.”

“I’d be happy with that…if Patrick would be.”

CHAPTER

Twenty-four

DANIEL AND MIRIAM were accompanied by Dr. Mullane on the long drive back to London. Daniel felt ridiculous for resenting his presence. They needed him. In fact, Daniel hardly had a defense without him. Yet he would so much rather have been alone with Miriam, to talk of anything at all, as the mood took them, related to the case or not. Just to watch the light soften over the rolling countryside, the colors change in the sky and across the land, would have been perfect.

But of course, that was self-indulgent. Tomorrow morning, either Daniel or Kitteridge would stand up to defend Sidney, with only a dim idea of what had really happened and nothing to prove it. Only a collection of ideas that did not fit into a picture and the specter of Morley Cross’s corpse found in the Potomac. Would Sidney be charged with the murder, too?

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