Page 31 of Triple Jeopardy (Daniel Pitt)

Daniel was going to offer to clear away the dishes, but Blackwell gripped his arm, and he sank back in the chair.

“What’s happened?” Blackwell demanded. “Don’t lie! It’s bad, isn’t it?”

“I don’t know,” Daniel replied, more or less honestly. “But I do know that if I don’t mount the very best legal defense possible, Marcus will fire me. And when I look at it honestly, he should. It’s…it’s so easy to be partisan.”

Blackwell looked straight at him. “Philip Sidney didn’t do it, did he?”

“I don’t know. I really don’t know.” This time he was totally honest. “And that goes for both assaulting Rebecca Thorwood and embezzling money from the British Embassy. And it’s not because I like him, or because I don’t want an Englishman to have done that, but because the whole thing doesn’t make any sense…yet.”

“And you like your sister’s husband, and you love her. She’s been your sister all your life,” Blackwell went on. “And you can’t make sense of it.”

“Yes.”

“What does Sidney say?”

“That he didn’t do any of it, which is what most accused people say, to begin with. Either that, or they insist they were justified. The blame is always somebody else’s. But Sidney’s no help, because he has no idea who has done these things, or why,” Daniel admitted. “And you’re right. It doesn’t seem to fit with his past behavior, or his reputation. Not that that means a whole lot.”

“What else?” Blackwell asked.

“The papers showing the embezzlement come from the British Embassy in Washington. A man called Morley Cross compiled the evidence. It’s all personal expenses

and bookkeeping. It’s only a hundred pounds that’s gone, over a period of time.”

“Not exactly ambitious,” Blackwell observed.

“That’s probably why he wasn’t caught for three years.”

“Or because he wasn’t doing it!” Blackwell said.

“Yes.”

“Did the real thief forge Sidney’s name?”

“Probably, yes. But it’s a mighty coincidence if the embezzlement just happened to come to light the same time that Sidney ran away from the accusation by Thorwood,” Daniel pointed out.

“Not if the real thief was looking for somebody else to blame. Then the timing is perfect. He’d stopped taking the little bits of money, and no one would go on looking for him,” Blackwell answered.

Daniel thought hard. “Or it’s not really about the money. It’s only ever been about blaming Sidney for something he didn’t do, to get rid of him, out of the embassy? Or to blame him for this to achieve something else? A position, possibly. A promotion several people are up for?” He realized with surprise how easily he had moved into defending Sidney, as if he really believed him innocent.

“Precisely,” Blackwell agreed. “I have a feeling, Daniel, that there is possibly something bigger here than we have realized: bigger, and a great deal uglier. What are you going to do next? Get it in order.” He held up one broad hand, and counted finger by finger. “Find out exactly where those receipts and invoices came from, what department of the embassy? When were they last seen there? Who had worked there then? How did Morley Cross get hold of them? And has anyone questioned him? And then, who brought them from Washington to London, via New York, and when? Very important, that! When did that person leave Washington? When did he leave New York? When he got to London, who did he see? Lawyers? Police?”

Daniel sat still. “I know that part.”

“What?” Blackwell asked. “Do you really?”

“Yes. It’s what Patrick has to do with this,” Daniel said unhappily. “He knew of the embezzlement as soon as Sidney was charged. I want to know how, I probably do…”

“The Thorwoods,” Blackwell said quietly.

“Yes.”

“And Patrick is acting for them?”

“I suppose so. I’ve got to find out a lot more about how they know each other. Not exactly the same social circles. Jemima said they became acquainted over a job Patrick did for them previously.”

“Tread softly. Or let me do it. I don’t have ways yet, but Mercy does.”

“For getting information from Washington?” Daniel said doubtfully.

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