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“And you said Commander Monk pulled her out?”
“Yes, sir. At least, rightly put, I suppose he had to go in after her. She was beyond his reach from the dockside, which is where he was. I mean, he went in a boat in the water.”
“So, he went in after her?”
“I didn’t see, sir. But I have been told by numerous witnesses that that’s more or less what happened. He was waiting for her. Had a meeting with her, to get more papers or something. And he saw her, did the only thing he could…”
“Oh?”
“Well, he couldn’t leave her there,” Runcorn’s face showed clearly his opinion of anyone who would do that. “She might have been still alive! It’s…possible…at least it could be. For heaven’s sake, man, you wouldn’t leave a woman in the water, would you?”
“I hope I wouldn’t, Mr. Runcorn,” Ravenswood said gently. “But it still takes a brave man to go willingly into that dark, swift-running water after a body that is almost certainly already dead.”
“Well, Monk’s that sort of a man,” Runcorn said flatly. “And I’ve known him near on thirty years.” His glare defied Ravenswood to question it.
“Then why did you take the case from him? She was found in the water. He knew her as a witness in a case he was handling, and he pulled her out. Why hand the solving of her death over to you? If ever a case belonged to the Thames River Police, this one does.”
“As he was half-drowned and freezing cold,” Runcorn said with a tone that made it sound as if the answer was obvious, “he was in no state to follow up. Just about caught his death in the river. Whoever did it could have still been around.”
“I see. Did he identify her for you?”
“Yes. Told me briefly about her then, and more the next day.”
“He was willing for you to keep the case, even when he had recovered from his near drowning himself?”
“Yes, sir. Glad of the help. Needed to get started straightaway.”
Ravenswood drew out of Runcorn how he had questioned Doyle again, gone over all the evidence from the kidnapping itself, the finding of Lister, and then his death. Lastly, he spoke of the pursuit of the killer of Bella Franken, and the way it tied in with raising the ransom money.
“Lister had much of it, didn’t he?” Ravenswood asked. “That was how Monk found him in the first place.”
“Lot of money, sir, for a man like Lister. Not much for a man like Harry Exeter,” Runcorn replied.
“Quite so,” Ravenswood agreed.
“But why would a man steal money from his wife’s trust, when in a matter of a year or so it would to all intents be his? That’s what we have to understand,” Runcorn said. “But the papers that Miss Franken brought to show Mr. Monk, they were wrapped up inside a piece of oiled silk, and you could still make out the figures. India ink. It’s waterproof, sir. They explained it. If you’re clever enough with ledger sheets and that kind of thing, you can move money and make it appear on the pages twice, when it’s only one lot of money.”
“I find that hard to believe, Mr. Runcorn. Are you saying that there was not as much money passed to Lister? Then where did he get it from?”
“There was more money passed to him, then only a bit. At least on paper. Same as Mr. Doyle got a bit for doing it. Quite a big bit. But Mr. Exeter got the main portion…or that’s how it looked.”
“It was his wife’s money in the first place!” Ravenswood protested. “It would have been in his charge in a year!”
“Yes, sir. But he needed it before that. Mr. Exeter hadn’t enough liquidity to build that large development on the south bank, and he needed the money up front, and urgently.”
“Ah,” Ravenswood said quietly. “That sounds very clear. I think we can all understand that. And you are quite satisfied, Mr. Runcorn, that Mr. Exeter hired Lister to play kidnapper? Mr. Exeter was observed by Monk and his crew during the exchange that went so disastrously wrong, and then Lister was killed to keep him quiet, and finally so was poor Miss Franken, when she disentangled the books and realized what he had done?”
“Yes, sir, I am.”
“Just for the record, did Mr. Monk agree with your conclusions?”
“No, sir, he did not.”
“And also there is, of course, the matter of embezzling from Mrs. Exeter’s trust fund, which will be completely investigated, and to which Mr. Exeter had no access. But it would, no doubt, have come to light at the time of her inheritance? There is much to be looked into yet. Please remain in the witness box, Mr. Runcorn. Sir Oliver may want to question you.”
But there was nothing left for Rathbone to ask. Ravenswood had drawn the story already from Runcorn’s disagreement with Monk. There was little point in challenging any of the identifications of witnesses. Who can tell one man from another in the wind and rain of a November dusk?
Rathbone declined, and the judge adjourned for the day.
