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“She may pay very…” Monk started to argue, then saw the expression in her eyes and decided it would be time wasted. Time they could not afford.
“We will work all night,” she said firmly. “Where do you wish to begin?”
* * *
—
WHEN MONK AND HESTER arrived in the court the following morning, Ravenswood was already in his seat, but he looked haggard, with deep circles under his eyes. Monk knew that he could not have had more than an hour and a half of sleep, if that.
Rathbone looked his usual self, except with extra energy, because he was on the brink of victory in a case he had expected to lose.
Monk felt a stab of guilt so deep it was almost physical. But to have warned Rathbone would have compromised him in a way that lasted far longer than the brief pain of losing this battle—if that could be brought about!
Exeter was on the witness stand. He looked pale, but more intensely alive than he had in the dock. He had taken an immense gamble, and he could smell victory. Now he was answering some question Rathbone had asked him.
“It was the most terrible day of my life,” he said quietly.
The atmosphere in the room had altered palpably. In the past, the jurors and the people in the gallery had looked on him as a monster. They had stared with loathing, fear, even hatred as he sat in the dock. Since Celia’s testimony, he was a hero, wrongly persecuted, deserving of all the admiration and support they could give him. Perhaps because they had made no secret of their feelings before, they were plagued by guilt now and the hunger to make amends.
Monk felt Hester’s hand creep into his and clasp it firmly.
Rathbone led Exeter through the succeeding days of grief, the mounting suspicion of the police, and his eventual arrest.
“Yes,” said Exeter. “But it wasn’t Commander Monk who arrested me.”
“Oh?” Rathbone feigned surprise. “Who was it?”
“Superintendent Runcorn. I…” Exeter smiled, a charming, slightly lopsided gesture. “I don’t think Monk honestly ever thought I was guilty. And much as he hated it, he knew it was one of his own men who betrayed us to the kidnappers.”
There it was! Ravenswood’s chance. Did he see it? Monk gripped Hester’s hand so hard he crushed her fingers without meaning to.
“A painful experience for him,” Rathbone agreed. “Did he visit you in jail?”
“Yes. He came to see me immediately and promised to get me all the assistance he could. It was he who informed you, I believe?”
“Indeed, it was,” Rathbone agreed.
He then led Exeter into more details of his financial affairs, ending up by referring again to Celia’s testimony that she had been with Exeter at the time of Bella Franken’s death.
“Did it surprise you that Miss Darwin came forward?”
“A little. We had not been close, but she certainly has been loyal all through this. She is a very quiet, retiring woman, but perhaps Kate’s…” He appeared to be fighting his emotions, which threatened to run out of control. “Kate’s closest friend.”
“Why did you not tell the police this at the beginning?” Rathbone asked.
“I should have. I…was still so distressed, I did not know it was the same time. I mean…I knew what time Celia came, but I did not realize what time Miss Franken had died. Kate’s death…losing her like that…I was not able to master my feelings, my pain. I find that there are gaps in my recollection of things, of ordinary things. It was Celia herself, even in her grief, who brought it to my mind.”
“Thank you,” Rathbone said seriously. “Will you wait there in case my learned friend has some questions for you?”
“Of course.”
Rathbone walked back to his seat. Ravenswood stood up. He walked slowly out onto the center of the floor and looked up at Exeter.
“You said, Mr. Exeter, that Commander Monk knew it was one of his men who betrayed you to the kidnappers? You mean, who told them the way you were going to come into the meeting place in the slums of Jacob’s Island?”
“Yes.”
“Did that make a great difference, really? I know it was described for the court, but I am a little lost. Would you not pass each other regardless? I didn’t know of betrayals.” Ravenswood looked confused.
