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“Yes.”
“Or having fallen from a horse, and being dragged, perhaps?”
“No,” Mullane answered sharply. “No, they were not. Having fallen would have left bruises on the body, which there were not. Being dragged would have left lacerations, abrasions, drag marks, perhaps dirt or gravel. There were not.”
“Then what was there?”
Mullane stared at him. “You know what there was, Mr. Pitt. She was beaten to death, and then the horse was blamed, albeit because of a thorn caught under the saddle.”
“I’m sorry to distress you, Dr. Mullane,” Daniel apologized. “I know Miss Trelawny was your friend, and by every account a fine woman. But have you any idea, with hindsight, why anyone might kill her?”
“None at all,” Mullane replied. “Unless it was for the house. There were people trying to buy it. She wouldn’t sell. Can’t think what the devil they would want it for. Was nice enough, but rather dilapidated. Too small to be a hotel. Isolated. And there were other houses in better condition coming up for sale.”
“In St. Anne?”
“Yes. Nicely situated.”
“But not isolated, with its own bay, out of sight of others?”
“No, but…” Mullane tailed off.
“But?” Daniel prompted.
Mullane was dismissive. It was clear the subject was painful. “If you’re thinking of a good secret place to land a smuggling ship, there’s not much of that going on now, and what there is could come ashore anywhere on the island. Or on other islands, for that matter. It’s certainly not worth killing anyone for.”
“Actually, it wasn’t smuggling I had in mind,” Daniel said with a twisted smile. He must not lose either the jury’s sympathy or, above all, their interest. “But it is a good, private, deep-water harbor nonetheless?”
One of the jurors craned forward. Another sat up straighter.
“I suppose so,” Mullane agreed.
“Dr. Mullane, do you recognize Mr. Sidney? Have you ever seen him before?”
Mullane looked toward the dock. “No.”
“You haven’t seen him on the island? Inquiring about buying Miss Trelawny’s house, for example?”
Daniel pressed.
“I haven’t seen him at all.”
“Thank you. Please wait for Mr. Hillyer to speak to you.” Daniel sat down, his mind racing to think if he had asked everything he could. A chance missed now was gone forever. He glanced at Kitteridge. Did he want to add something? But Kitteridge gave a slight shake of his head and smiled. He was satisfied. Or at least he could think of nothing to add now.
Hillyer rose to his feet and hesitated for a moment. Perhaps he realized that Mullane was a sympathetic witness, and cross-questioning him would gain nothing. “I have no questions for this witness, thank you,” he said quietly, and sat down.
Daniel called Miriam fford Croft to the stand. He had her recite her qualifications and the reason she did not have a medical practice, only an occasional consultation on pathology. He hated doing that, because his own anger on her behalf was difficult to hide, but he knew it would get in his way. If the jury sympathized, or thought it was unfair, unjust, that was enough. Perhaps they would remember that Mullane had called her “doctor.”
Daniel cleared his throat. Hers was the evidence upon which it would all turn.
“Miss fford Croft, we have been discussing the death of Miss May Trelawny, even though the case that the prosecution is bringing is one of embezzlement of money from the British Embassy in Washington. Were you consulted on that, in your capacity as a specialist in the detection of forgery?”
“Yes. I was,” Miriam replied.
As rapidly as he could, Daniel had her explain to the judge and jurors the details of particular interest in a forged signature, the drag marks in tracing a signature, the difference in little spikes of ink where a pen had been used carefully, rather than spontaneously, so that each member of the jury could see them for himself. They must truly believe it, not just because Daniel or Miriam said so.
“Do you draw any conclusions from these signatures, Miss fford Croft?” he asked at length.
“Yes. Some of these signatures are genuine, but at least half are forged. You cannot see it with the naked eye, and very few people even possess a microscope. Still fewer are likely to put it to a signature on the transfer of a relatively small amount of money,” she replied.
