John Carr - The Judas Window

'Hold on to your hat; here we go,' whispered Evelyn fiercely, and Sir Walter Storm got up to cross-examine.

Nothing could have exceeded the sympathy and consideration of the Attorney-General's manner. His voice was quietly persuasive.

'Believe me, Miss Hume, we quite appreciate your sincerity in this matter, and your courage in offering this somewhat unusual picture. At the same time, you had no hesitation in posing, I believe, for a dozen of this nature?'

'Eleven.'

'Very well; eleven.' Again he waited for a time, pushing some books into an even line on the desk. 'All these things to which you have testified, Miss Hume - I take it that you were aware of them at the time of the murder?'

'I believe you have stated that, when you learned of your father's death you hurried back from Sussex and arrived at the house on that same night?'

'Yes.'

'Quite so,' remarked the other, meticulously pushing another book into line. 'Yet you did not mention to the police, then or at any other time, the remarkable circumstances to which you have just testified?'

'No.'

'Did you mention them to any other person?'

'Only to -' Her slight gesture indicated H.M.

'Are you aware, Miss Hume, that had you given this information to the police, and demonstrated to them that Captain Answell had attempted to blackmail you, it would not have been necessary to bring this photograph into court at all? Or to expose yourself to any such humiliating examination as this must be?'

'Yes, I knew that.'

'Oh, you knew that?' enquired Sir Walter, quickening with interest and looking up from the book. 'Yes, I - I read up on it.'

'I presume this experience cannot be pleasant for you?' 'No, it is not,' replied the girl. Her eyes looked strained. 'Then why did you not mention it, and do the prisoner what good you could without bringing matters to this?' ‘I -'

'Was it because you believed the prisoner must be guilty; and therefore that these photographs bore no relation to his actual guilt?'

H.M. got up with painful effort. 'Appreciatin' my learned friend's consideration, we'd still like to know what line that question takes. Is it now accepted by the Crown - as we've been suggesting all along - that a mistake was made between Caplon Answell and Captain Answell, and that the deceased got one in attemptin' to settle the hash of the other?'

Sir Walter smiled. 'Hardly. We accept the photograph as a fact; we accept the suggestion that Captain Answell took the photograph; but we shall be compelled to deny that these two points have any bearing on the matter in hand - the guilt or innocence of the prisoner.'

At my side, Evelyn nudged me sharply.

'But surely they don't dispute that now?' Evelyn asked. 'Why, it seems as plain as the sun to me.'

I told her she was prejudiced. 'Storm's quite sincere: he believes Answell is a common-or-garden variety of murderer, wriggling in front of the facts. He'll show that the girl is simply inventing lies to cover him: that there were goings-on between Reginald and Mary Hume, but no attempt at blackmail by Reginald; and that they're simply making a last-minute effort to construct a defence.'

'Well, it sounds silly to me. Do you believe that?'

'No; but look at the two women on the jury.'

Black looks from various directions brought us to silence while the Attorney-General proceeded.

'Perhaps I did not make myself quite clear,' said Sir Walter. 'Let me try again. All the things you tell us here to-day, you could have told at the very time of the prisoner's arrest?'

'Yes.'

'Would they not have been as valuable to him then as my learned friend wishes us to believe they are now?' 'I - I don't know.' 'Yet you did not mention them?' 'No.'

'You preferred (please excuse the term. Miss Hume, but I fear this is necessary), you preferred to make a show of yourself here rather than to explain all this before?'

"That is a little strong, Sir Walter,' interposed the judge sharply. 'I must remind you that this is not a court of morals. We have suffered so much in the past from those who appear to have laboured under this impression that I feel constrained to mention it now.'

The other bowed. 'As you wish, my lord, I myself was under the impression that I remained well within the rights of cross-examination ... Miss Hume: you tell us that on Friday evening, January 3rd, Captain Answell left Frawnend for London, in order to see your father on the following day?' 'Yes.'

'For the purpose of extracting blackmail money?' 'Yes.'

'Why is it, then, that he did not see your father?'

The witness opened her mouth, and stopped. Fragile as she looked, she had been holding up well until now.

'Let me make my question clearer. Several witnesses have testified here - have been pressed to do so, in fact, by my learned friend - that all day Saturday your father received no visitors, no messages, no phone calls, except those which have been indicated. Captain Answell did not come near him or attempt to communicate with him. How do you reconcile this with your statement that Captain Answell rushed off to London for the purpose you have declared?'

'I don't know.'

The other shot out his hand. 'I put it to you, Miss Hume, that on Saturday, the 4th, Captain Answell was not even in London at all.'

'But that can't be, I tell you!'

'Will you accept my suggestion, Miss Hume - which comes from the reports of police-officers who have investigated the movements of everyone connected with this affair - that on Friday evening Captain Answell left Frawnend, drove to visit friends in Rochester, and did not arrive in London until nearly midnight on Saturday?'

‘No!'

'Will you further accept my suggestion that he announced to several persons in Frawnend his intention of going to Rochester: not London?'

No reply.

'You will agree at least that if he were in Rochester he could not be in London?' 'Perhaps he lied to me.'

'Perhaps he did. Let us take another aspect of it. These photographs, you tell us, were taken a year ago?'

'About that, maybe a little more.'

'How long afterwards did you sever your relations with Captain Answell?'

'Not long; a month or so; not long.'

'And during the entire course of the time afterwards, has he ever attempted to extort money from you?'

'No.’

'Or to use these photographs as a threat in any way whatever?'

'No. But didn't you see his face when he ran out of here?'

'That is not a matter which can come to our attention, Miss Hume. However, I can conjecture why the subject might be embarrassing to him, for reasons quite apart from blackmail. Can't you?'

'Do not answer that,' said the judge, putting down his pen. 'Counsel has just informed you that the matter cannot come to your attention.'

'You have told us, then, that all this time no suggestion of blackmail was ever made by Captain Answell?'

'Yes.'

'Do you know the nature of an oath?' 'Certainly.'

'I suggest to you that this entire account of Captain Answell's blackmailing activities, and your father's alleged wish to "settle his hash", is an unfortunate fabrication from end to end?'

'No, no, no!'

Sir Walter contemplated her steadily and gently for a moment; then he shook his head, lifted his shoulders, and sat down.

If anyone expected H.M. to re-examine, that person was disappointed. With an almost weary air H.M. got up. 'In order to establish this business once and for all,' H.M. said very distinctly, 'call Dr Peter Quigley.'

I was certain that I had heard the name somewhere before, and recently, but the man who went into the witness-box was a stranger. He was a strong-featured Scotsman with a quiet manner but a voice whose every syllable was distinct. Though he could not have been more than in his early thirties, he gave the impression of being older. H.M. began in his usual off-hand manner.