Page 52 of Triple Jeopardy (Daniel Pitt)

“Armitage, of course. He helped me get out of America. He thought I wouldn’t get a fair trial. That all sorts of things would be said that I wouldn’t be able to prove were lies, or mistakes, or assumptions. I’m not sure now that he was right, but I thought so at the time. I went. I escaped. I still don’t know what would have been better.”

“How long have you known him?”

“He knew my mother, only slightly. He has connections in the West Country, where I come from, and I believe they had acquaintances in common. He was kind to me when I started at the Foreign Office. I think that was a courtesy to her, but I might be mistaken.”

“He was a friend to you?”

“Not as much as that, just gracious.”

“Does he know the Thorwoods?”

“Most people at the top of Washington society know each other, more or less. The Thorwoods have a great deal of money. Armitage is a senior diplomat and a gentleman. They were gracious to him. I don’t think it was any more than that. Mrs. Thorwood participates in several charities, as most wives of wealthy men do, and they included Armitage in several formal events. Not very helpful, is it?”

“Not yet,” Daniel admitted. “Keep on. We can’t give up.”

Sidney started again patiently, going over everything he could think of, revealing a quiet sense of humor, a man of more acute judgment of other people than Daniel would have expected, a depth of emotion he concealed almost all the time.

Daniel learned nothing that he thought of use. But he had discovered one thing by the time the guard returned to show him out. He did not think Sidney capable of anything as shabby or self-serving, as ill thought out, as the crimes with which he was charged. He hoped it was a lawyer’s judgment, and not just that he liked the man.

CHAPTER

Fifteen

JEMIMA HAD ACHIEVED a minor domestic victory. She had been playing with Cassie in the sandpit in the back garden, and had tired her out. Cassie was not only willing to sleep, she couldn’t help it. Jemima looked at the peaceful, happy face of her elder child, then closed the door silently and went downstairs. To her surprise, she found Daniel waiting for her in the hall.

“I didn’t know you were here,” she said apologetically.

“I’ve only just arrived,” he answered. “The maid offered me tea, but I said I’d wait for you.”

She looked closely at his face, trying to read it. He was concealing his emotions well. For anyone else it might have worked, but she had known him for a quarter of a century. “What is it? Is it the trial? Sidney, the Thorwoods…Patrick…?”

“Let’s just say I would far rather have played in the sand with you and Cassie.” He gave a half smile.

“So you came here to see me,” she responded. “I can see it in your face—it has to be the trial of Philip Sidney. It’s not going well?” She led the way to the end of the sitting room, next to the French doors into the garden. The sandpit was just visible. She would tidy it up later. She sat down in one of the comfortable old chairs, full of cushions, and he took the one opposite her. Twenty years could have slipped away and taken them back to childhood. The same flowers were in bloom in the garden: snapdragons, marigolds, nasturtiums, pansies always out. The same flowering chestnut towered over the neighbor’s garden in the parallel street, its flambeau cast, spring long over for this year.

“It’s incredibly busy,” he replied. “Loads of unnecessary details and character witnesses who say exactly what you expect them to.” He smiled ruefully. “I keep looking for the hidden bombshell to go off, after we have passed it by.”

“Morley Cross?” Jemima said quietly.

Patrick had told her! But he should have expected that.

“Hillyer hasn’t mentioned him yet. He’s probably waiti

ng to see if it can be proved that he died before Sidney left Washington, or at least that it wasn’t after.” He leaned forward a little, resting his elbows on his knees. “Jem, there has to be something else big that we don’t know. Or it doesn’t make sense. This is certainly not over five or ten pounds, or even who knew about it. Or about the attack on Rebecca. Morley Cross had nothing to do with that! Did he? Did he know something?”

“Do cases always make sense?” she asked, not trying to argue, but to find the truth. “I do things that don’t make sense sometimes, and then wonder how to get myself out of the mess I’ve made. Could Sidney just be someone who doesn’t think ahead? Doesn’t realize what the results of his behavior will be, and then makes it worse by lying?”

“It could be, but even so…it doesn’t help. When you argue a case to a jury, you have to answer all the reasonable questions they would ask. Like…why? How did he know that? Who else knew? What if he isn’t lying? What does he want? Things like that. It really matters.You know the Thorwoods, particularly Rebecca. You know how long and how well Patrick knows them, don’t you?” he asked.

“I think so.” Just as quickly as that, they could pass from the general to the personal, which was full of doubt and perhaps pain. “I know what he told me, and I have never had reason to doubt him, over anything at all.” She said that last phrase with emphasis he could not mistake. She was defensive already! Did she think Patrick was so very vulnerable?

“Nobody tells everything, Jem. Especially if they haven’t been asked.”

“Clever,” she said, trying to keep the sharpness out of her voice. “But isn’t that what you’re asking?” She had no doubt that it was. It was the question he did not want to approach, and the one she was afraid of. What did she think Patrick had done? The answer was too easy. Somehow, he had created a net and slipped it over Philip Sidney to convict him for the crime he really had committed. It did not matter if he was found guilty of embezzlement or not. It was Patrick’s idea of justice. Or a favor to people he liked, or owed for their favors to him. The thought was repulsive! It was against the law, and worse than that, it was supremely arrogant to appoint yourself judge and executioner.

Did she think Patrick would do such a thing? Or only fear it? She wanted to avoid the thought, but that was to admit there was something to be afraid of. “He met the Thorwoods when we first went to Washington, about three and a half years ago.” She raised her chin a little. “We didn’t have a lot money. I was carrying Cassie. She was almost due.” Her hands clenched at the memory of it. It had been a hard, cold winter and she had felt it badly. She had not told anyone in England, not even her mother, how difficult it had been. She had felt very isolated. Patrick had worked so hard to give her extra luxuries, the best he could afford, and more. He seemed to be away so much. She had learned only later he was moonlighting to earn extra money. He dared not tell anyone. If he were caught, his superior would understand, but he might not be able to overlook it. And the extra had meant so much! More warmth! Better food. The things she would never ask for, like chocolate, apples, really good bacon. She found tears in her eyes as she remembered.

“Jem?” Daniel interrupted her thoughts.

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