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Daniel thought for a moment. “Does he look like a man who’s taken the blame for somebody else?”
“No.”
“I don’t think so either. I think he’s even more lost than we are,” Daniel agreed, noticing with a wave of relief that Kitteridge had said “we” and not “you.” “But we’d better find something soon. We’ve got to do more than discredit one witness. Can we prove that some of the embezzlement letters or receipts are forged? And the assault on Rebecca. Did it happen? Did it happen the way Rebecca says, and her father says? For that matter, was May Trelawny’s pendant a diamond or really just glass? Or both?”
“It can’t be both,” Kitteridge pointed out meticulously.
“Yes, it can. A diamond that was sold, given away, stolen, or whatever, and replaced by glass. Or maybe it never existed at all.”
“Don’t, you’re making it even worse than it is already.”
Daniel leaned forward. “I’m trying to work out what we really know, and what we are assuming.”
“All right. In order. There’s the money missing from the embassy,” Kitteridge began.
“No! In order. And we don’t know that Sidney took it anyway.”
“The money had to be stolen before the assault,” Kitteridge corrected him. “After the assault, Sidney had no chance…”
“Good point,” Daniel agreed.
“Go on.”
“The first thing we know of it is that Tobias reports an assault on his daughter, substantiated by her, except for the identification of Sidney. But he was sure she was too upset to make note. And by now, Morley Cross, if he is involved, has the diamond—let us say it was a diamond—or he thought it was. For the purpose of motive, that’s as good. Next thing is that Sidney leaves America for England to escape prosecution. That could be us protecting our own. I’m not sure if that’s really a good thing to do, but I suppose it’s understandable. Patriotism—misguided—or the wish to prosecute him for the embezzlement, but that…”
“Makes no sense,” Kitteridge finished for him. “An enemy in the embassy does. But we can’t find one. He was generally liked.”
“The next thing to happen is that the Thorwoods arrive in London,” Daniel went on.
“Next thing was your brother-in-law and your sister arrive in London. Sorry, but it’s true.”
“Yes. Right. Then the Thorwoods arrive in London, and Sidney is arrested for embezzlement, and then tried, and the evidence emerges, forged or not,” Daniel summed up. “And Hillyer is waiting to hear more about Cross: body, time of death, and so on, before he adds murder to the charge. What’s missing?”
“A real motive,” Kitteridge replied. “And a connection between the events. A purpose! If Sidney’s not guilty, why is he being made to look it? Who hates him? Who is profiting? It has to be more than the hundred pounds. If it was even embezzled at all? There’s no core to it, Pitt, no…center. Men don’t kill each other over five pounds!”
Daniel said thoughtfully, “I was looking for a thread through it, something that ties it together. But what if it isn’t all connected? I mean, not the way we can see…”
“The pendant is missing and Sidney appears not to have it. That is something to profit from and is worth over a few pounds if it’s real. But if it is only of sentimental value, that doesn’t make sense,” Kitteridge replied. “What started it off? With a crime, there’s something that makes it happen that day, that way.”
“You don’t need to explain it. I understand,” Daniel responded. “Circumstances change in a way that is intolerable to someone. Or an opportunity comes that someone can’t resist. Who needed a bit of money, a few pounds in the beginning? And saw how easy it was and made it a habit? But what happened that caused the first theft?”
“We should be able to find that out, if we hunt hard enoug
h. We’ve got notes of all the embezzlement letters. What happened in Sidney’s life?”
“Or somebody else’s.”
“What?” Kitteridge looked taken aback.
“It doesn’t have to be in Sidney’s life, if somebody else is behind it all.”
“Why would something in somebody else’s life make Sidney assault Rebecca?”
“Aren’t we starting from the beginning?” Daniel asked. “What is this really about? What’s the passion behind it? Is Sidney the heart of it, or is he only collateral damage along the way?”
Kitteridge winced. “That sounds brutal. Collateral damage? Morley Cross as well? Shot in the back of the head.”
Daniel winced. “A lot of us only see what we can afford to believe,” he said. “What changed then? For anyone? We’re missing something, Kitteridge. I don’t even know what shape it is to begin to look for it. Who does know? Is it anyone we are looking at, or someone we haven’t even thought of, not in the way we need to see them?”
