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Daniel tried to look as if he had been expecting him. “What are you doing here?” he whispered sharply. “What’s happened?” He was terrified there had been some disaster that would be far worse than anything that could happen here.
Patrick looked at his face. “We need to talk…now…about the case.”
“Can you be brief? Or shall I ask for an adjournment? For how long?”
“Fifteen minutes? I don’t know how much it matters, but you ought to judge.”
Patrick was intensely serious.
“Mr. Pitt?” the judge inquired patiently. “Is this interruption relevant?”
“Yes, Your Honor. If I could ask you for a fifteen-minute adjournment?” Daniel requested.
“Very well, fifteen minutes,” the judge agreed wearily, but there was a flicker of amusement in his face, as if he could use a break from the tedium of the evidence so far.
Daniel left the courtroom as quickly as possible, with Patrick on his heels. He had no office here, and nowhere in the building was private enough for whatever this might be. He stopped on the steps outside.
Patrick stood in front of him. He knew time was short. “I’ve been in touch with the police department back home in Washington by wire. Actually, it works pretty well if you can be brief.”
“What did they tell you?” Daniel had no patience to wait until Patrick worked around to it.
“That Morley Cross, the young man who worked at the British Embassy and who we believe found the false expenses papers, went missing, and now his body has turned up in the Potomac. That’s a river in Washington.”
“You mean he has drowned?” said Daniel, thinking he must have misunderstood.
“He was murdered,” Patrick said.
“Not…an accident? You said in the river?”
“Yes. But he didn’t drown. He was shot.” Patrick looked at Daniel steadily. “It’s probably connected. He worked in the same department in the embassy as Sidney. He handled the same accounts and money. I’m sorry. It looks much worse than we thought—than I thought anyway.”
Daniel was stunned. His mind raced to accommodate this new information and fit it into any story that made sense.
“When did he die?” he asked Patrick.
“Not sure, exactly.” Patrick looked grim. “The body has been in the water. There’s not a lot to go on. But it looks like a while. Lucky they could identify him. It seems to be long enough ago that it could have been before Sidney left Washington.”
“You’re saying Sidney killed him?” Daniel’s stomach sank as he asked. This was worse than anything he had imagined. Then another thought occurred to him. Could Hillyer possibly know this, and be waiting for some further detail before he called witnesses, who would drop it on Daniel? He would be taken totally by surprise and have no possible answer for it.
“I’m saying he could have,” Patrick answered. “I’m sorry. But you have to be prepared for this coming up now. Somebody did it. He was shot in the back of the head. He couldn’t have done it himself. Not at that angle.” He hesitated. “Can I do anything at all to help? Find out anything? I…I didn’t mean to lumber you with this. I didn’t know Morley Cross was even missing.”
“But you keep up…?”
“I care about this. I want it to come out right. I think Sidney’s arrogant, takes things that are not his, regardless of who gets hurt. He terrified Rebecca. She’s still scared stiff to sleep at night. She has nightmares.”
“I understand,” Daniel said quietly. “If he’s guilty, then he is mean-spirited, cruel…” He forced himself to go on. “And if he’s not guilty, this could mean the complete destruction of the man’s character, of his whole life and future.”
“I know. I wish to hell I knew what the truth was!”
“So do I,” Daniel said with profound feeling. “Tell me anything else you hear, please. Now I’ve got to go back and sit through this tedium, because Hillyer could be hiding something important in all of it!”
Patrick smiled. “Good luck.”
* * *
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