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‘What?’
Sarah shook her head. ‘He has recently inherited a title, of all things, and the money and estate that go with it. Isn’t that absurd?’ The contempt in her voice was scorching. ‘Winifred found out about it, from wherever she lives. I don’t know. She came to tell us that he never divorced her, so she is still entitled to a wife’s share of his good fortune. We are illegitimate, Arthur and I. And my mother has no marriage. So, she is a bigamous wife.’
He understood what that meant. He could see the injustice of it, and the disaster of it in her face. She had no rights, no position, and if Graves so chose, no home and no money.
But Graves also would be disgraced. Bigamy was a crime, punishable by imprisonment. He had cause to have killed her – Winifred. But so did Ebony – and Sarah, for that matter. Arthur had cause, but not the ability. Daniel thought for a fleeting moment he could have hit Winifred, in Ebony’s cause. A moment’s rage at the intolerable loss not so much to herself as to her children. The injustice of it would scald anyone.
‘Who killed Winifred?’ he said, recalling himself to the present. It could still have been Graves. Would Sarah lie? It would be so easy. ‘Was it your father?’
Would she tell him the truth? He might never know. Would she let Graves hang anyway?
Her eyes filled with tears and she shook her head. It was so minute a gesture, had he not been watching her so closely he would have missed it. She swayed a little. Miriam stood up, came silently over to Sarah, and put her arms round her, almost as if she were holding her up.
‘Who did?’ she said in almost a whisper.
Sarah leaned into her. ‘It was accidental,’ she said with her voice wavering. ‘She lunged at my mother, who defended herself, and Winifred slipped on the hearth and hit her head. If you know so much, you probably know that it was only one blow.’ The tears slipped down her cheeks, but her eyes were challenging again. She intended to fight both of them all the way, protecting her mother, and her brother.
‘Did your father know?’ Daniel said. He would not ask if Arthur did. She would lie to protect him anyway, and Daniel would look the other way.
‘No.’
It was just one word, but that was all it needed. Graves was innocent after all – at least of murder. It sat with the ease of truth in Daniel’s mind, but with the pain of intolerable injustice.
‘Then I can’t let him hang for it,’ he said miserably.
‘And neither can you,’ Miriam said as if it were a certainty. ‘It would weigh on you for the rest of your life.’
Sarah jerked her head up and glared at Daniel. ‘I can’t let him come back here, either, and beat her again, or Arthur! And what would they do to my mother? I can’t prove it was an accident! They wouldn’t believe me, even if I swore to it on a stack of Bibles. We are illegitimate, Arthur and I. If we were out on the street, who would look after him? Who would pay for his medicine? I won’t let you do that, just because my father is . . . is a bigamist and . . .’ She bent her head onto Miriam’s shoulder and sobbed quietly, trying to choke back her anger and despair, and at last, failing. Miriam tightened her arms around her and let her weep.
What could Daniel do? And he must do something! He must find Ebony, tell the truth to someone. Marcus fford Croft? They could not hang Russell Graves. He was not guilty of murdering Ebony. But dear God, he was guilty of much else! This was not justice.
Blackwell? Could he help?
But he would not use the law. Daniel knew him well enough to be certain of that.
Kitteridge? He would use the law – and it would be useless.
Miriam might be the only one. She might use science, and somehow or other prove the truth that Ebony was not guilty, though not perhaps totally innocent either. He looked at her now, holding Sarah in her arms. He was as sure as he could be of anything that she would do all she could, regardless of the law, and of the risks.
But as Ottershaw, the fingerprint expert, had said, the jury will seek for ways to return the verdict they want! One that appealed to their sense of justice. Perhaps Daniel could prove that Winifred’s death had been an accident? The burning was another thing. But Winifred had been dead when it happened. Ebony had grasped the chance to escape, ignore Winifred’s existence, and hope that Graves would hang for it – or perhaps she had not thought that far? But then Sarah and Arthur would be left with their father’s name, or his money. Not ideal – but survival, at least!
‘Sarah,’ he said quietly.
She turned and looked at him.
‘Take us to your mother, and we will put this right.’ He was making wild promises he wished to keep for her, although had no idea if he could. ‘You must do this, for Arthur’s sake, as well as your own. He was no way at fault, but he will not survive alone. Don’t leave him. It will take a lot of courage, but to run away will make it worse.’ He hesitated a moment, then plunged even further. ‘I will have to save your father from the gallows, but I will see him in prison for bigamy.’ Please heaven she had told him the truth, or he might well be in deep trouble himself.
Slowly, she raised her head and looked at him. ‘I will,’ she said almost immediately. ‘I will take you to her.’
Chapter Seventeen
When they were left alone, Miriam turned to Daniel, her face white and unshed tears in her eyes. She straightened her shoulders and deliberately made an effort to keep the emotion from her face.
‘We have an hour at most to make up our minds,’ Miriam said.
She seemed to include herself in the problem, and he was relieved he would not have to ask her.
‘We . . . I . . . have no choice—’ he began.
