Don Gutteridge - Desperate Acts

“Perfectly understandable,” Marc noddedsympathetically, though he wished he could stride across the spacebetween them and give the fellow a good thrashing on Etta’s behalf.“Nothing more, Milord, though I may need to recall this witnesslater on.”

Budge grimaced through his smile. No doubt hethought that Marc would be recalling him to go after theimplications of his altercation with Duggan, and he must have beenwondering why Marc didn’t ask him whether, in that bright shaft ofmoonlight, he had not recognized what he could see of Duggan’sface. Well, let him stew a little, Marc thought.

The pompous baronet was next. Thornton’sattempt to lead him through his testimony with the affableefficiency he had used on the previous witness soon foundered, forSir Peregrine Shuttleworth’s responses were long-winded, tediousand rambling. He too claimed he had packed up and left the clubrooma mere four or five minutes after Crenshaw had done so, but he feltobliged to add that it would have been sooner if he had not had tobear the crushing responsibilities of club chairman andorchestrater of amateur theatricals. When Thornton finally got himcloaked and ready to depart, Sir Peregrine was pleased to reportthat he had indeed looked out the cloakroom window (“There was amoon out there that could have shone upon the lovers in Act Five of The Merchant !”). What he observed in its glow was a manrunning away north up the alley, with a hat in his hand. No, he didnot see a body lying in a pool of blood on the ground, as his “eyeswere on the stars.”

“You say, sir, that the fellow was slim andagile – and hatless?”

“The hat was flapping in his hand – must’vebeen hard to keep it on, running away that fast.”

“Did you get any impression of the colour ofhis hair – in the Shakespearean moonlight you so eloquentlydescribed for us?”

“By Jove, I did, come to think of it. It wasa very pale colour, very pale.”

“A gentleman with a slim build and very palehair,” Thornton murmured just loud enough for the jury to hear.“Not unlike the gentleman up there in the dock?” he added moreforcefully and swung his head up and around to indicate Brodie onthe far side of the room. Sir Peregrine’s gaze followed, of course,as did that of the jury.

Thornton sat down, well pleased with himself,for he had put in place the final detail of his elaborately spuntale. Over a fifteen-to-twenty-minute period, someone very likeBrodie had been observed arguing with Duggan (Fullarton), grapplingwith Duggan (Fullarton and Budge), crouching over a prostrateDuggan (Crenshaw), clubbing Duggan (Budge again), and hightailingit up the alley and away from the scene of the crime(Shuttleworth). With much of this admitted in Brodie’s ownstatement!

Marc went through the motions of confusingthe baronet about the time of his departure, asked him why hehadn’t mentioned the “hatless” business to Cobb when interviewed bythe constable, and pressed him moderately on the corpse being“invisible” in the Bard’s moonlight. That was all he could do – forthe moment. But in his own mind he knew that Shuttleworth could belying about not following Crenshaw out immediately and, if so,could not only have seen Brodie fleeing but noticed the unconsciousbody as well, after which he could have gone out to have a look,discovered Duggan just coming to (Brodie had left him on his back,but he had been found face-down), somehow engaged him in a briefdialogue, figured out who he was, and killed him. And while Budge’stestimony seemed to pin down the time of the actual clubbing,Budge’s grasp of what he saw and when was the least reliable of thefive “possibles,” as he had staggered around in a dark wine-cellarmuttering to himself about imperious wives and their suspicions.And, of course, he himself could be the murderer.

Kingsley Thornton announced that the Crownnow rested its case, and the judge adjourned proceedings until teno’clock Monday morning. Thornton smiled at Marc in a way thatsuggested a certain amount of sympathy for his rival’s unenviableposition (and just a touch of apprehension?). Apparently he had notconcluded that Marc’s ineffective cross-examination was entirelythe result of inexperience. Permission to recall the Crown’s keywitnesses was either a sign of desperation or a cunning stratagemnot yet fathomable.

It was the latter that Marc now felt he hadno choice but to implement. He could see no way to shake thecredibility of the Crown’s version of events. Convincing the jurythat Brodie’s “confession” was an elaborate ruse would not bedifficult for Thornton in his summation because its substantivedetails jibed flawlessly with the eye-witness accounts and becauseBrodie had been caught in a “lie” (omitting reference to the secondnote). Character-witnesses alone would not suffice. That left Marcwith his alternative-theory defense. However distasteful it mightbe, he would have to grill and badger and accuse. Moreover, withNestor Peck’s return, Marc now had a good chance of identifyingsome or all of Duggan’s blackmail victims for certain. If Nestorwas not recovered enough today to be interrogated, then he wouldsurely be well enough before Monday morning. That Nestor knew afair amount about his cousin’s activities was not in doubt. Ifnecessary, Marc could call Nestor to testify to what he did know,and thus would not have to rely upon the ambiguities of atarget-list scrawled on the inside of an envelope. It was alsopossible that Nestor had more than hearsay evidence of theparticular indiscretions of the victims, though Marc was not sure -even now – that he could bring himself to use such destructiveevidence in open court. Being a barrister, as he had discoveredabout everything else of importance in life, was not asstraightforward as it first seemed.

***

As Marc had now taken the decision to use thealternative-theory defense, he felt it was time to run the detailspast Robert Baldwin. After saying goodbye to Beth and Diana Ramsaybefore they headed across to the jail to visit and comfort Brodie,Marc walked the two-and-a-half blocks over to Baldwin House, hopingthat he might catch Robert there before he went off to theLegislature for the afternoon to witness the debate on the Toryamendments to the Union Bill. But he found only Clement Peachey inchambers. Peachey told him that Robert, Hincks and Dr. Baldwin wereexpected to go out to Spadina, the country residence, for theweekend, where a number of politicians would no doubt be invitedfor tea and manipulation. Robert had told Peachey, however, that hewould be back in chambers briefly later in the day to pick up somepapers and visit with his children for an hour. Marc decided tosketch out his defense in writing and leave it in a sealed envelopeon Robert’s desk. Peachey said he would make sure that Robert gotit.

With that, Marc went up Bay Street to TheCock and Bull, where, it being lunch-time, he found Cobb taking anoon meal in his “office.” Marc ordered a meat-pie and a flagon ofale, and briefed Cobb on the morning’s events.

“You ain’t asked me about Nestor,” Cobb said,polishing off his ale and drawing his sleeve across his lips.

“How did you find him this morning?”

“Out like a light, but snorin’ like a hog. Ifigure he’ll be ready to talk to us before the day’s out.”

“Could you get off your shift by suppertime?Say, six o’clock?”

Cobb looked amused. “Any time you say,major.”

“I’ll be at your place at six, then.”

“An’ won’t Nestor be pleased to see us!”

***

Marc spent a half-hour with Brodie to bring him upto date on the defense he had decided to use and the hopes he hadfor Nestor’s contribution to it. Having seen and heard for himselfthe near-impervious case laid out against him by Kingsley Thorntonin the courtroom, Brodie was resigned to accepting Marc’s strategy.Marc turned the talk towards happier topics, like Diana Ramsay andthe unwavering support she had offered her lover.