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Armitage sat up a little straighter. “My God, he’s not being charged with that?” He closed his eyes. “Damnation! I should have seen it. How blind I am. Of course! That’s what this is all about! The embezzlement’s a set-up job so the assault can be brought in, if not as a charge, at the very least as a slur on his character. The jury will convict him just to see him punished for the assault! I wonder who the hell is behind it?” He leaned forward a little, his face now in the sunlight through the window. “Pitt, do you know? If you are sitting there in that chair and you know who’s behind it, and you don’t tell me, I’ll—” He stopped suddenly. “I apologize. You would not commit such an act of betrayal against your country.”
Daniel found himself gripping the chair arms and shaking very slightly.
Armitage waited for him to speak.
Daniel’s mind raced. “I don’t know the truth, Sir John. But I need to before I stand up in court and start asking questions. I’ve heard about the Thorwood incident, but it’s all hearsay. It sounds very ugly, but cannot be pursued legally here. So it was you who helped Sidney to leave America…?”
“Who told you that?” Armitage demanded.
“Mr. Sidney, sir.”
Armitage relaxed. “Yes. Of course. I forgot that you would naturally have been to visit him. How is he?”
“Frightened, of course. He risks being convicted for something he swears he did not do.”
“But you will defend him? And see that this other damned business does not come out. Thorwood swore it was Sidney he saw, you know?”
“So I believe. If you could help me trace whose hands those letters passed through? And if possible, why the actual money was not missed before? It raises questions, at least. Was Morley Cross involved…or someone else? Maybe someone who is even entirely responsible for the crime. If there was an audit done, or something of that nature, then the thief may have taken the chance to make it seem as if Sidney were responsible. Hanged for a sheep as a lamb, so to speak.”
Armitage stared steadily at Daniel for several seconds. “Indeed,” he said at last. “I see you want to clear Sidney’s name as much as I do, because it’s indirectly England’s name. Damn it! In the Washington embassy, of all places! Yes. Yes, I’ll certainly get as much of that information as I can, and let you know as soon as I do. I’ll keep in touch with fford Croft.” He rose to his feet. “Good luck. God knows you’re going to need it!”
“Yes, sir. Thank you.” Daniel stood and, with a brief inclination of his head, walked out of the magnificent sunny room and into the corridor, feeling definitely encouraged.
* * *
—
“YOU’VE GOT TO get these looked at by an expert while you still have them,” Kitteridge said urgently. He had offered Daniel his help to search the letters. He was still sitting at his desk, his bow tie crooked, his jacket behind him on the chair, and his shirt rumpled. He looked exhausted. “The prosecution’s clerk has gone, but he’ll be back in the morning, and he’ll expect to collect them then.”
“Thank you.” Daniel looked at the scattered papers. “I really appreciate it. But where am I going to find an expert at this time of day?” He flopped down in the chair opposite Kitteridge’s desk. “It’s after five now!”
Kitteridge ran his fingers through his hair, making it look even worse. His eyes were red-rimmed from straining over untidy, handwritten notes. “Only one place I know, good enough to have any idea what they’re doing, discreet enough to trust, and willing to work all night.”
“In your dreams?” Daniel asked sarcastically.
“Yours, perhaps,” Kitteridge said with a wry smile, oddly not unkind, considering the edge to his words.
Daniel stared at him.
“Miriam, of course,” Kitteridge said sharply. “Don’t sit there blinking at me like an owl. We might like to think we solved the Graves case, but we wouldn’t have done so without her. You know that as well as I do. Have a cup of tea and think what you’re going to say, then you’d better go and get her.”
“What if she’s not there?”
“Then you go and find where she is, for heaven’s sake! And bring back with you any equipment she needs. We can’t take the letters out of the office. I’ve signed a promise to that effect. Otherwise, the clerk would have taken them. I said I’d work on them all night, if necessary.”
“So, you will!” Daniel said, standing up wearily. He did not want to go and see Miriam fford Croft again; she made him feel both comfortable and uncomfortable, often at the same time. During the months between the end of the Graves case and now, he had thought of visiting her on several occasions but had always changed his mind.
“Get on with it!” Kitteridge said impatiently.
“I’ll be back as soon as I find her,” Daniel promised. “If Impney is going to be here, you should send him out to get some sandwiches or something.”
“I’ll get them myself,” Kitteridge said, standing up slowly, unbending from the position he had been in too long. “And some ale. If you pricked me, I’d bleed tea.” He knocked himself on the corner of the desk and swore mildly.
Daniel found himself smiling. Kitteridge was such an odd mixture of emotions, control, obedience, and vulnerability. It showed far more than he knew.
They went out together, telling Impney when they expected to be back.
“Yes, sir,” Impney said, without the slightest change of expression.
