Midnight at Marble Arch (41 page)

19

C
HARLOTTE WAS COMPLETELY UNPREPARED
when Vespasia arrived, with Peter Symington immediately behind her. Vespasia looked magnificent, dressed in an exquisitely cut costume of dark blue-gray with flawless white silk at the neck and pearls on her ears. If the intent had been somberness appropriate for a trial, she had just missed it.

“I apologize, my dear,” Vespasia said as a stammering Minnie Maude held the parlor door open for her. “But the situation is desperate. May I introduce Mr. Symington. As you know, he has undertaken the defense of Alban Hythe, for what I fear will be scant reward, and we are on the brink of defeat. We are beaten on every side and unless we can think of something tonight, tomorrow will deal us the coup de grâce. Although there will be little of grace about it. I do not like Mr. Bower, who represents the prosecution. There is a self-righteousness in the man, and a lack of imagination.” The vitality and determination in her face seemed to reject the possibility of both tragedy and defeat.
Symington was clearly weary and bruised from battle, but the warmth of his smile robbed Charlotte of complaint.

“How do you do, Mrs. Pitt?” Symington said quietly. “I am aware that we are intruding, and I apologize.”

“You are most welcome,” Charlotte said sincerely. “Have you come straight from court? It’s early, isn’t it?”

“Yes,” he replied. “The judge allowed me time. I’m sure he assumes it’s so that I can prepare myself for a strategic surrender. But we are not quite at the last ditch. Lady Vespasia hopes that Commander Pitt and Lord Narraway might yet be of assistance.”

Charlotte’s mind raced. She had no idea where either Pitt or Narraway might be. What should she do if they did not return until late? It was only just after three in the afternoon.

“Have you eaten?” she said practically. No one’s mind was at its best when lacking nourishment.

“Yes, we have had luncheon, thank you,” Vespasia said, still standing. “But perhaps Minnie Maude would be kind enough to make us tea. I remember in the past most profound conversations across the kitchen table. Might that be possible again?”

Charlotte did not bother to consult Symington. His easy smile as he stood suggested he would agree.

“Of course,” she said quickly. “Minnie Maude will make us tea, and we’ll have some cake as well. Neither hunger nor discomfort must mar our thoughts. I shall use the telephone to see if Mr. Stoker can help us get a message to Thomas. I also imagine Lord Narraway’s manservant might be able to find him, if it is possible.”

“Excellent.” Vespasia nodded. She and Symington followed Charlotte to the kitchen, followed by a startled and uncomfortable Minnie Maude.

Around the kitchen table, with plenty of tea and some very good homemade cake, they brought Charlotte up to date with the day’s happenings in the courtroom.

“What we lack is any kind of proof,” Vespasia said unhappily.

Symington ate the last of his cake. “I would settle for a witness or two and a good deal of suggestions,” he said. “You can scare people
into admitting all kinds of things, if you get the balance exactly right. I would like to prove Hythe innocent, but at this point I’d be grateful for reasonable doubt.”

Vespasia thought for several moments. “Let us consider what we know for certain,” she said. “In the order of their happening, as far as is possible.” She looked at Charlotte. “What does Thomas know?”

“That about four years ago Eleanor Forsbrook ran away from home,” Charlotte said. “We don’t know whether it was with a lover or not, nor do we know who that lover was, if there was one, may have been. Possibly she was beaten beforehand, but we have no evidence yet.”

“No evidence yet? Then how do you know this?” Symington asked her.

“My husband found out from a man who works nearby in Bryanston Mews,” she answered. “Thomas said he was intending to find the doctor who examined Eleanor’s body after the accident, to see if any of the injuries inflicted were old.

“We also know that Neville Forsbrook beat a prostitute very badly, five or six years ago, when he was about sixteen,” Charlotte continued. “And the woman’s pimp beat Neville equally badly, in return. Apparently he scarred him with a knife.” She pulled a slight face at the thought.

“And your husband knows this for certain?” Symington asked. “Or he believes it?”

“He believes,” Charlotte answered reluctantly. “And he also believes that Neville raped Angeles Castelbranco, and so do I,” she went on.

Symington looked puzzled. “Is this a Special Branch case, Mrs. Pitt?” His voice implied that he doubted it.

“There is no case,” she told him. “It’s just a tragedy we saw, one we care about very much.”

“I heard about Angeles,” Symington said thoughtfully, and there was a sudden sharp pain in his face. “I gather she was quite young.”

“Yes.” Charlotte kept her composure with difficulty. “About two years older than my own daughter. The problem is, Quixwood insists
Neville was with him at the time of Angeles’s rape. And we are here now to try to save Alban Hythe from being hanged for a crime he did not commit, not convict Neville Forsbrook for one that he did, unfortunately.”

“They both involve rape,” Symington thought aloud, his eyes unfocused, staring at the far wall. “Certainly that’s the part of the Quixwood case that makes the least sense.”

“Is it even imaginable that Neville Forsbrook raped Catherine Quixwood too?” Charlotte asked in little more than a whisper.

Symington stared at her. “But why in God’s name would her husband protect him from another charge of rape, then? Wouldn’t that be the perfect answer? Neville could be convicted, without the shame and humiliation of a trial making the wretched details of Catherine’s death public? It’s what I would want, if it were my wife.” He looked at Charlotte. “Are you sure he attacked Angeles? I mean, really sure that you are not assuming because it makes sense of other things we don’t understand? And to be honest, because you don’t like him, and you believe he’s guilty?”

Charlotte hesitated a moment. “Do I know it? No. I can’t prove it. But we know he raped Alice Townley …”

Symington looked confused. “Who is Alice Townley?”

“I’m sorry,” she said. “Another young girl. Her father refused to bring charges against Neville, but Thomas went to see her, and she told him it was Neville Forsbrook who raped her. Her account was very similar to that which Angeles Castelbranco gave her mother, but with a lot of details filled in. And before you ask, no, the girls didn’t know each other.”

Symington clenched his teeth and breathed in and out slowly several times. “Then I think we may believe them,” he said at last. “Let us take it that Neville Forsbrook raped Angeles, and this Alice Townley. Which means Quixwood lied to protect him. Why?”

“Because he does not wish Neville Forsbrook to be charged with rape,” Vespasia answered.

“But why not, if he is guilty?” Charlotte said quickly.

“Because he wanted someone else convicted of it,” Symington answered.
His expression changed slowly. “Of course! What if Catherine was, in fact, murdered because she had discovered financial information that Quixwood could not afford to have made public.” He stood up, his face eager. “Both Catherine and Hythe had to be silenced. Raping her was a convenient way to accomplish it. Everyone would presume she had committed suicide, and Hythe would be accused of the crime and hanged, going to the gallows in silence to protect his wife. God Almighty! It’s diabolical.”

Charlotte sat back, her gut twisting. “Can there be proof, then, that Hythe found any financial information for Catherine regarding investment in the British South Africa Company that would implicate Quixwood?” she asked.

“No,” Symington answered miserably. “Most of his access to such records was probably illegal anyway, and even if we could prove it, there is nothing to say he obtained it for her. She seems to have kept no record of the information.”

“That seems so peculiar,” Vespasia interjected. “Why go through all the trouble to get the information if she wasn’t going to document and use it somehow?” She turned to Symington. “And suppose what she found out was that Quixwood was ruining Pelham Forsbrook. Why would she care? Why would it matter enough to have one of them silence her in this brutal way?”

“Do we know that Quixwood was definitely trying to ruin Forsbrook for certain?” Symington asked.

“No. We need to know if Quixwood advised Forsbrook to invest, and then failed to warn him of the possible failure and consequent cost of the Jameson Raid,” Vespasia answered. “And we have no time for that.”

Symington turned to Charlotte. “Is there any way Commander Pitt could obtain, if not information on the major investors, then at least word-of-mouth reports? It would do in a pinch. Quixwood won’t know that I’m guessing.”

Charlotte stood up. “I’ll telephone Mr. Stoker again,” she replied. “It is worth trying, at least.”

She was back five minutes later. “I spoke to Mr. Stoker; he is going
to look into it. I have no idea whether it will help or not. He will come here this evening with whatever he can find.”

“So suppose Forsbrook and Quixwood both invested in Africa, only Quixwood withdrew his money in time, but did not warn Forsbrook to do the same.” Vespasia picked up their conversation.

“He might’ve warned him, and Forsbrook might not have listened,” Symington said.

Charlotte nodded her head in agreement. “Either way, that leads us to the Jameson Raid at the very end of last year, which has just now come to trial, and because Jameson is likely to be found guilty, the British South Africa Company will have to pay a fortune in damages to the Boers in the Transvaal. Some investors are going to be very badly damaged.”

“Which, according to our suppositions, was of great concern to Catherine Quixwood,” Vespasia remarked.

Symington sat up straighter. “But why? We have all these theories, but no real reason for Catherine to act as she did.”

Charlotte was struggling to make sense of it. “Could she have been a friend of Eleanor Forsbrook’s? Or of Pelham Forsbrook’s?”

“Has anyone investigated to find out?” Symington asked.

“Victor might know something,” Vespasia said. “At the very least, he has learned enough about Catherine to have an informed opinion.”

Symington studied the table for a few moments, then looked up again. “Anyway, Quixwood could claim that he advised Forsbrook to sell, and Forsbrook didn’t take the advice. No one could prove otherwise. Quixwood might even have a letter to that effect. I would, if I were doing such a thing. I would say that I begged Forsbrook not to invest, and he was greedy and ignored me. That’s quite believable. London is full of people who think Jameson is a hero.”

“And without proof for at least one of these theories, or at least witnesses, we are merely slandering a man who already has the total sympathy and support of the Court, not to mention the jury.” Vespasia’s shoulders slumped slightly.

They were interrupted by Jemima and Daniel, just home from school. Both were greeted, and then politely but firmly dismissed to
their own rooms. Charlotte rose from the table and went into the scullery to consult with Minnie Maude as to what they might serve for dinner, with at least three prospective guests. Vespasia and Symington returned to the parlor to wait for Pitt and Narraway, their discussion having come to a standstill.

A full hour later Narraway arrived, and within a few minutes Pitt came in also, in answer to Stoker’s summons. Stoker himself was a step behind. They all looked weary and defeated, though each tried in his own way not to show it.

Pitt looked at Symington after no more than a glance at Charlotte, a meeting of the eyes, and then away again for an instant to Vespasia, as an acknowledgment.

“It went badly,” he concluded.

Symington made a slight gesture with his hands. “We’ve still got tomorrow,” he replied. “I have no way of stretching it any further than that, because although we have lots of ideas—we might even have the answer—we have no proof. We haven’t even a witness to call that we can tie up in contradiction, or to raise doubts.”

“Did you find out anything?” Charlotte asked Pitt, trying not to invest her voice with too much hope.

“I spoke to the surgeon who examined Mrs. Forsbrook’s body after her accident,” he replied. “He said there were old bruises, even a fractured rib that had healed, but it doesn’t prove anything.”

“It seems it could be true that Pelham Forsbrook beat her,” Charlotte said quickly.

“Or not,” he replied ruefully. “It could have been an earlier accident: riding, or even falling downstairs.”

“Maybe.” She would not give up. “We have been wondering … what if Quixwood deliberately advised Forsbrook to invest in the British South Africa Company, specifically the Jameson Raid, knowing it would fail, thus causing his ruin?” she suggested.

“Why?” Pitt asked reasonably.

“We don’t know,” she answered, frustrated. “Perhaps because of Eleanor, if he was her lover? Catherine seems to have been very involved.
The whole crime centers on her after all. If Hythe is telling the truth, then he was looking for proof of that for her—”