Page 48 of Triple Jeopardy (Daniel Pitt)

“Presumably, his firm is appearing for the Crown. What else? The…”

“The what?”

“The Foreign Office will have employed him. He’s very reputable.”

“Then he must owe somebody a favor. Or he’s bucking for silk! Maybe Sir James Hillyer, King’s Counsel? Has a ring to it.”

“Do you think so?” Kitteridge said doubtfully.

“No, I don’t,” Daniel replied. “I’d want ermine, never mind silk, to argue that!”

“Seat in the House of Lords? You’re an ass, Pitt!”

“Not a big enough ass to argue that Sidney steadily embezzled five or ten pounds here and there for three years, then decided to put it back by breaking into Thorwood’s house and assaulting his daughter before pinching a glass pendant by ripping it off her neck. Then escaping, allowing himself to be seen by someone who knew him well enough to recognize him by sight. In the hope of…what? Recovering all the individual papers that prove his embezzlement, and replacing them with five-pound notes! Then fleeing the country? What defense did he intend to plead—insanity? We could always make that stick!”

Kitteridge stared at him. “Well, what is it, then?”

“I don’t know! But there’s something we’ve been missing, because this doesn’t make sen

se.”

Kitteridge rolled his eyes. “For heaven’s sake, Pitt, half the cases we get don’t make sense. Where the hell did you ever get the idea that they did? Didn’t your father teach you anything? Haven’t I taught you anything?”

“The law doesn’t always make sense,” Daniel agreed. “But there is a kind of cumulative structure to it. There will be to this case, when we have it all. There’s something missing. Hillyer is not a fool, however much we might like to think that he is. He knows something that makes sense, at least to him. We’ve got to find out what it is.”

“Someone in the Foreign Office wants to get rid of Sidney? Or…is it tied into Morley Cross’s murder?” Kitteridge suggested. “I can’t see how. Perhaps Sidney knows something? An indiscretion? Only a fool would try blackmail at that level, but perhaps he is a fool? Or someone thinks he is?”

“I believe you’re right,” Daniel said. “And it will come out soon. I think proof of it is what Hillyer is stringing this all out for…”

“And Cross was working in the same department of the embassy in Washington as Sidney!” Kitteridge exclaimed.

Daniel watched Kitteridge’s face and saw the play of emotions on it, from horror to pity, and pity to understanding of what it meant.

“And that points to Sidney?” Kitteridge went on, his voice catching in his throat.

“I’ve no idea. But it could,” Daniel replied. “They haven’t fixed the time of death yet, and maybe they won’t be able to, exactly. Could be just before Sidney left Washington…or just after.”

Kitteridge was, for once, lost for words.

“It will be a capital case as soon as they get the information organized,” said Daniel. “That completely explains why Hillyer is boring the jury half to death. Anything to keep them there while he awaits a positive identification, and time of death, if at all possible.”

“Why would Sidney kill Cross?” Kitteridge asked.

“Because he knew Sidney was guilty of embezzling. In fact, they very possibly did it together. Perhaps they quarreled over the money…”

“A hundred pounds? Don’t be idiotic. Anyway, by that time there was probably nothing left of it. You said it was only a few pounds at a time.”

“They’ll find a motive,” Daniel said miserably. “Maybe we’ve missed something.”

“No,” Kitteridge interrupted. “Next thing is, Sidney and Morley Cross fight over the pendant, diamond or not, and Sidney kills Cross. Perhaps he gets it back, or perhaps it is in the Potomac and so we’ll never know.”

“All right,” Daniel agreed. “But why? Sidney is very glad to accept Armitage’s help to get back to England without being charged for the assault on Rebecca.”

“Does Armitage know about the murder of Cross?” Kitteridge asked.

“I don’t think so, but he knows that Sidney’s accused of taking a pendant from Rebecca, in particularly unfortunate circumstances…according to the Thorwoods. But that would be some passionate motive…so maybe we’ve got the thing all wrong? There’s no big political stake. Sidney’s not that important. He might have been, someday, but he’s nobody now. And he’s not connected to anybody who I can trace. And believe me, I’ve tried. Marcus actually looked into it and asked around. Sidney’s not even courting anybody interesting. Or anybody at all! I looked into that, too, in case some parents wanted to make sure their precious daughter didn’t marry beneath her. I tried money, title, influence. Nothing!”

“I suppose Rebecca couldn’t be it?” Kitteridge said, but even as he framed the words, he lost belief in that possibility. “No, you’d have known about it by now,” he answered for himself. “From Flannery or your sister, if no one else. Sidney’s not connected to anyone, poor devil. It’s something else. And I think Sidney knows what it is, and it’s nothing he can afford to admit. He’s facing ruin, if they find him guilty, and we don’t have a real defense. We’re playing at it. Hitting each ball as it comes. But you haven’t got a plan. You know it, and I know it. We aren’t really hacking it for him. Look at his face!”

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