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“So far as you know.”
“I’m not likely to be promoted to anything that’s worth lying and stealing for,” he said with certainty. “Could have been one day, maybe. But it’s not in sight yet…or ever now.”
“Do you know anything dangerous? And don’t deny it without thinking. We’re running out of options.”
Sidney hesitated, making a concentrated effort. “I don’t know anything damaging about anyone. The little things, like who keeps a bottle of brandy in his desk drawer, who visits a lady of the night now and again and isn’t always discreet about it, who pads his expenses once in a while, nobody with any sense is going to ‘notice’ things like that.”
Daniel thought for a while. “Sounds dreary, and rather predictable,” he said after a moment.
Some of the light drained out of Sidney’s face. “I’ve thought about it. Believe me, I’ve turned over every stupid or thoughtless thing I’ve done, and nothing matters a damn in the scheme of things. I’ve even thought whether I could have witnessed anything I shouldn’t have. But I can’t think what. I don’t know of any thefts, or affairs.”
“Then it’s two or three things added together,” Daniel said. “You’re a danger to somebody, and it could be a man or a woman.”
This time Sidney actually laughed. “I’m not about to steal the affections of anybody’s wife or daughter; I’m hardly a glowing prospect.”
“Not even Rebecca Thorwood?”
“No! I like her, but as I’ve said, I’ve only met her a few times, and always in public! And if I were courtin
g her, why the hell would I ruin everything by breaking into her bedroom and apparently ripping a pendant from her neck? That’s just stupid.”
“Where did you meet? The first time?” Daniel asked.
“At a party at the embassy in Washington. I was there on duty, more or less. She came because we were showing a display of Waterford crystal, which she admires. We got into conversation. It seemed so…easy, and comfortable.”
“Was the diamond in her pendant worth a lot?”
Sidney was startled by the change in subject, but not disconcerted. “I’ve never seen it, so I don’t know. But I wouldn’t expect to find her wearing it in bed anyway. Look, I didn’t break into the Thorwood house. I don’t know anything of the layout of it. I wouldn’t know which is her bedroom, and even if I knew all of that, I wouldn’t go and break in. You can’t have it both ways! Either I am courting the girl and hope to marry the Thorwood money—in that case, it would be an idiotic thing to do—or I am a petty thief and just happen to pick her and get lucky finding the right room, and very unlucky in running into her father on the landing, or wherever.”
“She screamed and he came running,” Daniel put in.
“So, I ran straight back to the embassy, drew everybody’s attention to the account ledgers, and whatever I embezzled for three years without anybody noticing, and then, when Armitage advised me to flee because Thorwood would see to me never getting a fair trial in America, I came home where they would find me. I should be locked up in a place for the feebleminded!” There was real anger in him now. “However did I qualify to get into the Foreign Office and the British Embassy abroad? Somebody should lose his stripes for that.”
Daniel felt a surge of hope. Sidney was galvanized at last. He was beginning to think and was getting angry enough to look for answers, even unpleasant ones. “If you didn’t do it…” he held up his hand to stop Sidney from interrupting him, “…and you hadn’t seen anything you shouldn’t, courted anyone you shouldn’t, learned any dangerous facts about anyone, or edged anyone out of a promotion, there’s only one thing left that I can think of: you don’t realize it, but you know something you shouldn’t. Not necessarily one thing, perhaps several, but if you put them together, they add up to something very ugly indeed.”
“Such as what?”
“I don’t know,” Daniel said, hope leaking away as if he had only just thought of all this. “But I think you know it all, if you can just bring it to the front of your mind. Someone needs you out of the way—silenced.” He looked directly into Sidney’s eyes. “Are you going to go willingly, like an animal led by the nose? Or are you going to find out where the pieces fit, and who’s putting them there around you? We’re doing our best to work out what shape this thing is, so we know which pieces are part of it and which are not.”
“How can…?” Sidney bent his head and stared at the tabletop. Then suddenly he looked up. “What do you want to know? I’ll tell you anything. Maybe you can work out what has meaning.”
Daniel tried to catch hold of something that would help him begin. “Who do you know in this whole mess? To do with any of it.”
Sidney thought for a moment. “Mr. and Mrs. Thorwood, slightly—”
“How?” Daniel interrupted. “How do you know them? Mr. Thorwood recognized you, or said he did. He must have seen you several times.”
“He did. I met them maybe half a dozen times. At receptions and so on. I dined at their house. I escorted Rebecca to a dinner—once. He must have known something reassuring about me, because he wouldn’t have let me take her if he didn’t. He’s very protective. I imagine that, as an only child, Rebecca would be heir to quite a lot. But she’s actually very nice. She doesn’t use it…if you know what I mean.”
“I assume you mean she doesn’t trade on it. Except that Thorwood couldn’t recognize you if you weren’t there that night. So why is he lying?”
“No. I…I don’t know whether that was an error or…”
“Deliberate?” Daniel said curiously.
“I don’t know.”
“Well, go on with who else you know.”
