Charles Todd - An Impartial Witness

It was a long preamble. I was beginning to feel a little ill at ease.

"I can appreciate your determination, Serena. But I think the police are better at getting to the truth."

"But they haven't. In all this time. Until now. I'm told you were there. And I need to know if I can believe-if it's true, is it the same man who seduced her?"

"I-really don't know, Serena. I'm as much in the dark as you."

"But you were there," she pressed. "You must know something. I don't fault you for not telling me, not after the way I behaved earlier. Still, for Meriwether's sake, if not mine, perhaps you'll tell me what you know."

Thinking she might be more willing to reveal her sources now, when she wanted something from me, than after I'd answered her questions, I said, "First, I'd like to ask you how you knew that I was present."

The door opened and Mrs. Cox came in with the tea tray. Smiling, she set it down on the table next to me, and then quietly withdrew.

Busying myself with the pot and the cups, I asked Serena how she preferred her tea, all the while wondering how much I could safely tell her about that night in the rain when I'd seen Marjorie Evanson.

I nearly dropped the cup I was about to hand her when she said, "Victoria Garrison telephoned me. She felt I ought to know. I can't think why-she and I had words over where her sister was to be interred. To be honest, under the circumstances, I didn't want Marjorie lying next to Meriwether and Victoria didn't want Marjorie to be returned to Little Sefton. Even when Merry was alive, I didn't see Victoria very often, and I could tell she and Marjorie never got on. I wasn't sure whether she was gloating or intended to be kind when she telephoned me."

Oh dear, I thought, rapidly reassessing what it was she must be wanting me to tell her. I'd come all too close to revealing more than I should, because it was on my mind and not hers.

"Do you mean when Michael was taken into custody?"

"Yes, yes. The police had come to arrest him for the attack on Mrs. Calder, as well as Marjorie's murder. Is it true? Did he do those things? I'd suspected he and Marjorie were close, even before she married my brother. But if he killed her, was he also her lover? I must know. Michael always struck me as someone who used his charm for his own advantage. I never could tell when he was serious or not. But he's been in France, or so I'd thought, and it never occurred to me to look in his direction until now."

"I think the police have probably made a mistake," I said. "I don't know Michael all that well, you see. I was there, yes, but I couldn't quite understand why the police feel he killed Marjorie. He admits he was in London at the time-"

"So I have heard," she interrupted eagerly. "He was there, he had the opportunity. I'd persuaded Jack to find out who was in England around that time, but I never even thought about Michael."

"But he was here to have his eye treated-and he's recovering from other wounds now. It's hard to believe he could have managed either attack. Physically, I mean."

"You don't know what men are capable of when they put their minds to it," she informed me darkly. "You aren't married, you don't know how determined they can be."

"No, you don't understand, he ran a terrible risk, medically. If his eye had hemorrhaged, he could have lost his sight. And now he was likely to do serious damage to his shoulder. After all the surgeries and the pain he's had to endure, I don't see him taking that chance. It could mean losing his arm. And he realizes that. It would be foolish."

"It might seem foolish to you," she told me, "but we can't know what was in his mind."

"If he was her lover-and I'm not convinced of that-why should he then wish to kill her?" And I asked myself, why was she weeping copiously on Raymond Melton's shoulder, if it was Michael who had got her pregnant? Unless Michael, not knowing he would be in London, had asked a friend to act for him.

"She might have told him it was over, that Meriwether was coming home and she wanted to go back to him. Jealousy is a powerful emotion. Sometimes people who are as handsome as Michael can't accept rejection. They're used to being adored."

She had worked it all out in her mind. Just as Inspector Herbert had done.

"Yes, of course that's possible," I argued. "But then why should he want to harm Mrs. Calder?"

"Perhaps she just found out he was in London then, and Marjorie had already told her about a man she was seeing. Helen Calder realized what that must mean, and she could have told Michael what she intended to do, giving him the opportunity to do the right thing and turn himself in. I don't know Helen Calder well, but she is very conventional, isn't she? Or maybe she herself really didn't want to get involved with the police."

Mrs. Calder was rather conventional. It would explain why Michael urgently wanted to go up to London. Could Serena be right? But why had he told his uncle he was intending to see Mrs. Calder? Why not claim he needed to visit a doctor? Why did he take a knife with him?

When I hesitated, Serena said, "He couldn't be sure, could he? That she wouldn't go to the police herself? It's possible he only wanted to persuade her she was wrong."

"Serena, you've made a very strong case. But it's mostly conjecture. There's no way of knowing how true it really is."

Her face hardened. "Victoria told me you'd argued with the police inspector. And you're standing up for Michael now." She set her teacup aside. "She told me too that you were in love with Michael Hart. All I wanted to know is, was Victoria right? Can I believe her, that the police actually took him into custody, that he's not just helping them with their inquiries? Marjorie didn't trust her sister. Can I?"

I let out my breath in a sign of frustration. "In the first place, I'm not in love with Lieutenant Hart. I've told you, I hardly know him. In the second, it's true he was taken into custody, and that I was present. And yes, I did argue with the inspector. I thought his case a very poor one. Medically I didn't see how Michael Hart could have attacked those two women. But Inspector Herbert is convinced that it was possible. And finally, Victoria Garrison is a troublemaker. The only reason I can think of for her to telephone you and tell you about Michael is to stir up your grief all over again. She settled her score with you. Don't you see?"

Standing, she said, "I shouldn't have come. I just want to see the end of this business, so that my brother can finally rest in peace."

I felt like telling her that her brother might have found that peace if she herself hadn't told him the whole truth about his wife. It had been unnecessarily hurtful. The only reason I could think of for her not to shield him was her own jealousy. That she was both shocked and gloating that Marjorie had fallen so far from grace. And now it was Serena who needed to find some peace.

I said, "Serena. I can understand that you want to see Marjorie's murderer caught-"

"He got around you just as he got around Marjorie, didn't he? You can't see beyond that, but I can. I can see him clearly."

She marched to the door, self-righteous indignation in every stride.

I waited until she had reached it, then asked, "Serena. Someone shot at Lieutenant Hart earlier this week. Whoever it was missed him both times. Was it you?" That stopped her cold.

I added, "There was a weapon missing from your husband's gun cabinet. A revolver, at a guess."

"You are grasping at straws, aren't you? Jack carries a weapon when he's in London. For self-protection, because of the work he does. I'd hardly call that 'missing.'"

And she was gone.

I could hear the outer door of The Four Doves shutting with what might be called some force.

Setting the cups back on the tea tray, I went to thank Mrs. Cox and settle the account for our tea.