Blood on the Wood (27 page)

Adam said, looking straight ahead and sounding as if the words came painfully, ‘The fact is, Timothy believes we've all made some bad mistakes already, me especially.'

‘I'm not blaming you, Adam,' Galway said. ‘Goodness knows, I probably wouldn't have done any better if it had been my brother. But not to put too fine a point on it, the inspector believes you're all in a conspiracy to protect Daniel – you too, I'm afraid, Miss Bray – and it's not going to be easy to convince him otherwise.' He looked round the table at each of us in turn, taking his time. ‘For a start, there's the matter of the revolver.'

Oliver heaved a deep sigh. Galway turned to him.

‘I believe you confirmed, Mr Venn, that the revolver the police found in the flowerpot was the property of your late wife?'

Oliver nodded.

‘And it was kept in a place where anybody in the household might have access to it?'

Another nod, more reluctant.

‘Daniel has told the police that he had it with him on the day Miss Smith was killed because he thought he might want to shoot squirrels. The police find that hard to believe and frankly, so do I.'

Nobody said anything to that. He went on: ‘The gun is a type with a revolving magazine which contains five rounds. When the police found the gun, two rounds had been fired. Miss Smith was killed with a single shot to the head from a bullet of the type and calibre fired from that gun. Daniel denies having fired the gun but he does admit to having it with him all afternoon until he mislaid it somewhere in the late evening. I wonder if anybody can cast any light on that?'

I glanced at Adam and his eyes said no, don't tell him. Adam knew that whatever we told Galway he'd have to pass on to the police. A solicitor can't withhold evidence. I wasn't necessarily going to do what Adam wanted, but wasn't ready either to take the decision that might get Daniel out of prison at the cost of putting Felicia in it.

‘There's another factor,' I said to Galway. ‘It might make all of this irrelevant.'

I told them everything that had happened from the whistling tramp outside the barn onwards. It was a relief to be able to tell a story straightforwardly, hiding nothing apart from Bobbie's presence. Galway listened, chin on hand, making an occasional note. At the end he glanced at his notes, then at me.

‘Have you ever knowingly met this man, Fardel?'

‘No.'

‘I gather you didn't see the face of the man thrown out of the public house last night.'

‘No, I didn't.'

‘And you weren't able to find out his name?'

‘No.'

‘Or where he comes from?'

‘No.'

‘And you didn't see the face of the person whistling outside the barn that night?'

‘No.'

‘And you have only the carter's description of the man who helped to deliver the cabinet here?'

‘Yes.'

‘So your supposition that the whistling tramp, the man in the fight, the furniture deliverer and Fardel are one and the same is based on a snatch of folk-song and a mention – gathered by hearsay, not directly – of a twenty-pound debt?'

‘Yes.'

I tried not to resent it. His business was to consider whether a story like that might influence a jury in a murder trial. Looked at in that light it wasn't impressive. He turned to Carol.

‘Mrs Venn, were you at home when the cabinet was delivered?'

‘Yes, I was.'

She sounded shaken, probably from the idea of the man being so close.

‘Do you remember the men who delivered it?'

‘Mr Sutton, of course, and the carter Mr Bestley. I took them into the studio and showed them where I wanted them to put it.'

‘Was there a third man?'

‘Yes, I know there was because Mr Bestley was moaning about it being heavy. He said he'd had to promise another man two shillings to help them. I gave him the money but I didn't see the other man. I supposed he was outside with the cart.'

‘And you didn't see them carrying the cabinet in?'

‘No. With Mr Sutton in charge, I didn't need to.'

I said to Galway, ‘At least that supports the story Mr Bestley told me. He was quite specific about asking Mrs Venn for two shillings.'

‘Yes, but that only proves there was a third man involved in the delivery, not that it was Fardel. And we'd still have the question of how he got his hands on the gun – unless we're assuming that he'd somehow acquired a similar revolver, and I wouldn't like to have to argue that.'

‘I agree,' I said. ‘But the gun was just in a drawer, not locked up. If he'd gone upstairs, say, to try to steal the twenty pounds he thought he was owed…'

‘Except that we have no proof he did any such thing, even if we accept it was Fardel.' I must have looked downcast, because he apologised. ‘I'm sorry, it's a very interesting line of enquiry and of course you must tell Inspector Bull about it. Only I'd advise you to expect a rather sceptical reaction. Now, may we please come back to the question of the revolver?'

Sighs all round the table. He looked at Adam. ‘I've told you that, frankly, I don't believe your brother. The question is, if he's not telling the truth, why?'

Adam said, ‘If your assumption's right, Daniel's made a decision for reasons that seem good to him. Shouldn't we respect that?'

‘How long?'

The question came unexpectedly from Carol. We all turned to look at her. Her face was white, and her hands clasped so tightly together that it hurt to look at them. ‘How long do we go on respecting it? Until he's charged? Until he's on trial. Until he's…' She stopped, swallowed, then said, ‘Until he's hanged?'

Oliver let out a little cry of distress.

‘It won't come to that,' Adam said.

‘How do we know that? We never thought he'd be arrested. If we leave it to him he'll go on protecting her out of guilt and chivalry until it's too late.'

‘Carol, please…'

Adam, sitting next to her, tried to take her hands. She pushed him away.

‘I agree with Mrs Venn.' Galway's voice was calm and reassuring, difficult families being part of his work. ‘If Daniel, for whatever reason, is telling less than the truth to protect somebody else, then it's not only a dangerous thing to do, but I can assure you it won't work and the sooner we make him realise that the better. If you—'

‘What's happening? What's dangerous?'

None of us had heard footsteps or the door opening. Felicia was standing there, asking questions. She'd appeared suddenly like a ghost and got much the same reaction, startled and unwelcoming. There was still a look of the sickroom about her, skin milky pale and eyes too bright. The smell of rosewater came off her in clouds, her hair had been put up hastily in a net and she'd missed one of the buttons on the bodice of her lilac dress so that it didn't meet properly at the neck. When she saw Galway she instinctively raised a hand to cover it. Fingertips, nibbled to the quick of the nails, flared like fire coral against her pale hands. Adam and Carol were on their feet, trying to persuade her to go back to bed, promising to tell her later. She disregarded them and took a few steps into the room.

Galway stood up and pulled out a chair for her at the table. She glanced round, frowned when she saw me, but sat down. ‘You're talking about Daniel?' she said.

‘Felicia, if you'll just go back upstairs, we'll tell you when—'

Adam, still standing, touched her shoulder. She jerked away from him. ‘No, I've had enough of being upstairs and waiting. Something's happening, isn't it? Why is Annie crying?'

Adam looked to Carol for help but she was sitting down, hands to her forehead. So he sat down as well, choosing a chair on the opposite side of the table from Felicia. He looked scared.

Galway asked him ‘Miss Foster?' and got a nod. As none of the rest of us seemed ready to break the news, he did it.

‘The police have arrested Daniel. They think he killed Daisy Smith.'

‘Oh.' There wasn't a lot you could tell from the way she said it. Although she hadn't wanted Adam to touch her, she was looking at him as if trying to pick up her cue. He didn't meet her eyes.

‘Why?'

‘Mainly because they think he's not telling them the truth about something.'

‘About what?'

Her voice was sane and level. The only odd thing about it was its total lack of expression.

‘I don't think we should go on with this,' Adam said to Galway. ‘Miss Foster has been suffering from a serious nervous collapse. The doctor says she must avoid strain at all costs.'

‘At all costs?' Galway's rebuke to his friend was so softly spoken you might have missed it, but it was clear Adam hadn't. The two of them stood up, Galway asked us to excuse him and they went off to the other end of the room and murmured together, Galway doing most of the talking. I caught the words ‘… my client' and ‘… no choice'. Meanwhile the four of us sat round the table, not talking. They came back and took their seats, Adam looking even more miserable.

‘Miss Foster,' Galway said, very careful and polite, ‘it might be helpful to us if you are able to stay, but if this becomes intolerably painful, you must say so. You understand that?' She nodded. He turned to the rest of us.

‘My position is that I don't believe Daniel when he says he had the revolver in his possession most of the afternoon and for part of the evening. If any of you knows anything to challenge or support that, I'd strongly advise you to say it now rather than later.'

I made my decision and opened my mouth, but Felicia got there first.

‘The revolver in the summerhouse? The one I fired?'

Galway's calm fisherman's eyes didn't change but his shoulders sagged like a man who'd taken on a heavier burden than he'd expected.

‘You fired a revolver? When?'

‘The day … the day it happened. Some time in the evening.' She turned to me, looking simply relieved to have somebody to back up her story. ‘Miss Bray can tell you more. She took it from me.'

So I told him everything I knew about the gun, hearing the shot, taking it from Felicia and the rest. None of it was new to the Venns because we'd been through it in the few hours after we'd found Daisy, but they didn't admit that with Galway there. At the end of it, he looked at me for a long time.

‘And you haven't told the police this?'

‘No.'

‘Nor you, Miss Foster?'

She shook her head.

‘Why not?'

He put the question to me. I looked at Felicia. She rested her bitten fingertips against her cheek and nodded to me. I'd no idea what the nod meant. That she trusted me? That she knew what I was going to say? If there'd been some way of signalling that I was giving her no promises, I'd have done it. As it was, I answered Galway's question.

‘I thought she might have been trying to kill herself.'

‘Because Daniel had jilted me, wasn't that it?' Felicia put the question to me, ignoring the others. Her voice was shaky. She tried to cover it by putting in a little laugh at the end.

‘Felicia,' Adam said. ‘Felicia, please…'

‘Is that true?' Galway said to me.

‘True of what I thought at the time, yes.'

‘Only she was wrong,' Felicia said. ‘I moved the blanket and the gun fell out. I picked it up and it went off. I didn't know it was there. That's all. I didn't even think of shooting myself. Not myself.'

She tried the laugh again. It ended in a kind of hiccup. Adam was on his feet, pushing his chair back so violently it fell over. He put a hand on Galway's arm.

‘That's quite enough. You can see she isn't in any state to be questioned.'

Hardly fair to his friend, seeing that Felicia herself had taken the initiative. Carol sighed and stood up too.

‘Flissie, I'll see you upstairs. I promise we'll tell you if anything happens.'

‘Will you, I wonder?' The question was wistful rather than rude. The nervous energy that had driven Felicia so far was draining away and she let Carol guide her towards the door. But when she got to the doorway it flared up again. She turned to Galway, who was standing to see her out.

‘If I'd thought of shooting anybody, it would have been Daisy. You can tell the police that if you think it will help Daniel.'

The door closed behind them. Adam picked up the chair and lowered himself into it. Even Galway looked shaken. Oliver was trembling and repeating to himself ‘Poor girl. Oh the poor girl.' I wasn't sure how much he'd taken in.

‘You see our problem?' Adam said to Galway. Then, more firmly, ‘I must insist that you don't pass on what she's just said to the police.'

‘The last thing she said, no. It's not relevant. But I'll be telling them about the gun. We've now got two witnesses saying much the same thing and it proves Daniel didn't have the gun all afternoon. Miss Bray will have to give them a second statement and I'm afraid they will want to talk to Miss Foster again.'

‘But will it help?' I said. They both looked at me. ‘All it proves is that the gun was in the summerhouse round about seven o'clock. I can honestly state that it was in my possession from then until I handed it over to Daniel at about ten. But Daisy might have been dead before it got to the summer-house.'

And probably was, I thought but didn't add, not wanting a detailed discussion on rigor mortis.

‘As far as that goes, I quite agree with you.' Galway didn't try to patronise me. ‘But it does cast considerable doubt on Daniel's own statement.'

‘Yes, but once the police know for sure he's been lying to them, they'll ask why,' I said.

Adam's eyes went to the closed door.

‘No,' Galway said, picking up his thought. ‘I've said I won't pass on her remark about Daisy. But when the police question her, we can't guarantee that she won't repeat it.' He turned to me. ‘You realise that I shall pass what you've told me to the police?'