Anne Perry - A Sunless Sea

Rathbone felt worse than he could ever remember in his life, worse than when he had faced Ballinger in his cell, or found his murdered body so soon after; worse than when Margaret had left, even, because this was his own deliberate doing. It was open to him to have chosen differently. But what alternative could he have chosen?

Pendock lifted his head and looked at Rathbone with the same contempt with which he had regarded the small photograph when he had not known who it portrayed.

“I will not find Dinah Lambourn not guilty!” he said slowly, his voice a croak from a dry throat. “I … I’ll pay you anything you want, but I will not mock the law!”

“Damn you!” Rathbone shouted at him, half rising to his feet. “I don’t want your bloody money! And I don’t want a directed verdict. I’ve never looked for one in my life, and I’m not now. I just want you to preside over this trial fairly. I want you to allow my witnesses to testify and the jury to hear what they have to say. Then I’ll give you the original of the photograph, and all copies, and you can do what you like with them. Whether you speak to your son or not is your own choice and God help you.”

He leaned across the table toward Pendock. “You were willing to give me money to keep your son from paying the price of his criminal use of children, revolting as you find it. Is it so repellent to you to give Dinah Lambourn at least the justice of a fair hearing? She’s somebody’s child as well; somewhere there are people who love her. And if there weren’t, would that make her any less deserving?”

“It’s the natural … the natural instinct,” Pendock stammered. “This slander will damage the government, good men. We cannot change the law to alter people’s freedom to take whatever ease of pain they can, for the sake of the few who abuse it.”

“I love my freedom as much as the next man,” Rathbone answered. “But not at the cost this is to the weaker and more vulnerable, and those who exploit them for gain. Do you love your son more than you love justice?”

Pendock sank his head into his hands. “It looks like it, doesn’t it?” he whispered. “No. No, I don’t. I think. But …” He opened his eyes slowly, his face now that of an old man. “Bring on your witnesses, Rathbone.”

Twenty minutes later Rathbone was standing in the open space before the witness stand, which was occupied by the largest woman he could ever remember having seen. She was not immensely fat, and only just over six foot tall, but at the top of the steps as she was, she seemed to tower above them all. She was broad-shouldered like a stevedore, huge-chested, her arms heavy and muscular. Thank heaven, she was soberly dressed, even though her expression was fierce, as if defying the ritual and establishment of the law to intimidate her.

Rathbone knew what she was going to say because he had spoken to her himself. He knew her passion to ease the pain of those who had nowhere else to turn, her knowledge of opium addiction and withdrawal, and her pity for Alvar Doulting and what he had once been. Hester had warned him that Agatha might be difficult to handle. Rathbone had a powerful feeling that that would prove to be an understatement. Still, he had used the means he dreaded most to force this chance and there was no turning back.

The court was waiting, the gallery hushed, the jurors surprised that there was still something to hear. Coniston was more than surprised. He looked confused. Obviously Pendock had not attempted to explain anything to him. How could he?

Rathbone cleared his throat. He must win. The cost had already been too high.

“Miss Nisbet,” he began, “it is my understanding that you run a voluntary clinic on the south bank of the river for the treatment of dockworkers and sailors who are injured or have illnesses due to the dangerous nature of their work. Is that correct?”

“Yes it is,” she answered. Her voice was unexpectedly gentle for so large a woman. One would not have been surprised were it baritone, like a man’s.

“Do you use opium to treat their pain?” He was asking his way gently toward the connection with Lambourn.

“Yes, course I do. There in’t nothing else as’ll do it. Some of them is hurtin’ very bad,” she answered. “Break ’alf a dozen bones an’ yer’ll know what pain is. Crush an arm, or a leg, an’ yer’ll know even better.”

“I was going to say that I can imagine,” Rathbone spoke gently, too, “but that would be a lie. I have no idea, for which I am profoundly grateful.” He hesitated a moment to allow the jury to place themselves in the same situation, facing pain beyond their nightmares, grasping some concept of what this woman dealt with every day.

“So you use a great deal of opium. You must know where to buy it, and perhaps something about opium dealing in general?” He made it a question. “And, of course, its effects on people after the pain is healed?”

Coniston was looking puzzled, but he had not yet interrupted. Surely he would any moment now.

“Course I do,” Agatha answered him.

“In this context, did Dr. Joel Lambourn come to see you within the last few weeks of his life? That would be between three and four months ago.”

“Yeah. ’E were askin’ questions about quality of opium, an’ if I knew ’ow ter give it without overdosin’ anyone,” she said.

Coniston could not endure it any longer. He rose to his feet.

“My lord, is this going anywhere of relevance? Surely my learned friend is not trying to damage the work this woman is doing to relieve the agony of injured men, just because she might have no medical training? If that is, indeed, what Lambourn was trying to do, no wonder the government judged the report to be better suppressed!”

There were murmurs of agreement and approval from the gallery.

Pendock appeared undecided. He looked from Coniston to Rathbone, and then back again.

Rathbone interrupted. “No, my lord. That is the opposite of my intention. I am only trying to establish Miss Nisbet’s skill and dedication, the fact that she is familiar with the opium market, and therefore a natural person for Dr. Lambourn to consult, possibly in some depth.”

“Proceed,” Pendock said with relief.

Coniston sat down again, even more puzzled.

Rathbone turned back to Agatha Nisbet.

“Miss Nisbet, I don’t believe it is necessary for the court to know all the details of your conversations with Dr. Lambourn regarding the purchase and availability of opium, or the ways in which you are able to know its quality. I will accept that you are an expert, and I will ask his lordship if the court will accept the evidence of your success in treating men as sufficient proof of it.” He turned to Pendock. “My lord?”

“We will accept it,” Pendock replied. “Please move on to your purpose in calling the witness regarding Zenia Gadney’s death.”

Coniston relaxed and leaned back in his seat.

“Thank you, my lord,” Rathbone said graciously. He looked up at Agatha again. “What was Dr. Lambourn interested in learning from you, Miss Nisbet?”

“About opium. Specially ’oo cut it wi’ wot so it weren’t pure anymore,” she answered. “So I told ’im about the trade as I know. ’E listened to all of it, poor devil.” Her face, shadowed with some dark and complex emotion, was impossible to read. “I told ’im all I knew about it.”

“About shipping opium and its entry into the Port of London?” Rathbone continued.

“That’s wot ’e wanted, ter start with,” she replied.

“And then?”

“My lord!” Coniston shot up from his seat and protested again.

“Sit down, Mr. Coniston,” Pendock ordered. “We must allow the defense to reach a point of some relevance, which I assume will not be much longer in coming.”