Midnight at Marble Arch - By Anne Perry Page 0,121
in the lines of his body, and his eyes were perfectly serious.
Narraway swallowed. “What sort of a possibilities do you have in mind?” he asked.
“The women,” Pitt repeated. “Actually, it was Charlotte who suggested it. Apart from the business connection between Forsbrook and Quixwood, what about Eleanor Forsbrook? We haven’t thought about her very much.”
“She’s been dead for several years,” Narraway said patiently. “She can hardly have anything to do with this.”
“About four years, actually,” Pitt agreed.
“Then how can she be involved? None of it goes back that long, unless you think she’s responsible for Neville being … violent? Lots of young men lose their mothers. It doesn’t turn them into rapists.”
“I’m not suggesting that. I’ve no idea why Neville became a rapist. But it’s possible Eleanor was beaten by Pelham Forsbrook, and that she was running away with a lover when she was killed in a carriage accident.”
Narraway was confused. “So what if she was?”
“Well—who was her lover? What happened to him?”
“What are you thinking? That it might’ve been Quixwood?” Narraway said incredulously.
“Why not?” Pitt asked. “Then there could be a hatred between the two men; what if Quixwood deliberately advised Forsbrook to invest in the British South Africa Company, knowing he’d lose badly, and that is what Catherine suspected and was trying to guard against?”
“To save Forsbrook? Why?”
“Does it matter why? It could be she simply thought it was wrong. Or maybe that it would rebound on Quixwood and perhaps on her also.”
“But then why would Quixwood protect Neville? And how can we prove any of this?” Narraway’s mind was racing now, grasping for possibilities, for hope.
“I’ll look into the possibility that Quixwood could have been Eleanor Forsbrook’s lover, and for some evidence that Forsbrook beat her over it. Someone must have seen her body after the accident. If I can find the doctor and he’s someone I know, or at least can impress, he might be able to swear some of her injuries happened before her death. Just make sure Symington knows what we are doing, so that he can use whatever information we find.”
“I’ll go and see him again before court starts today. But one thing, Pitt: if Hythe’s connection with Catherine was strictly professional, why hasn’t he admitted the entire truth about the information he found for her? Why would he hang in order to protect Quixwood?”
“He wouldn’t,” Pitt admitted, biting his lip. “There has to be a reason for that too.”
“You’re supposing an awful lot of other reasons,” Narraway said unhappily.
“Yes,” Pitt said, taking the last mouthful of his breakfast. “I am.”
“And, truly, what has this to do with Angeles Castelbranco and her family?”
“I don’t know, except that I believe Neville Forsbrook raped her. And if he raped her, and he raped Alice, it isn’t ludicrious to suppose he could be connected to Catherine’s attack in some way. I want him off the street.”
“Would you like the moon as well?” Narraway asked, sounding more sarcastic than he meant to, only because he desperately wanted Pitt to be right.
NARRAWAY ARRIVED AT COURT early and was waiting for Symington when he came in, also early, in hope of preparing some kind of defense. When he arrived he was neat, immaculate as always, but his face showed lines of weariness, making him look older.
“I have no good news,” Symington said when he saw Narraway in the hallway, but led him into his chamber and closed the door behind them.
“Neither have I,” Narraway responded. “But I have some ideas.”
“A little late,” Symington replied wryly. “I’ll hear them anyway, though. Bower was good yesterday, with his questioning of Knox, and I have nothing to come back with. He’s calling Quixwood today, and I don’t know whether to attack him or not. Sympathy is with him entirely and I don’t know a damn thing to shake him.”
“I might,” Narraway replied. Quickly, he summarized what he and Pitt had discussed over breakfast.
Symington listened patiently, but there was no spark of hope in his eyes.
“Conjecture,” he said when Narraway finished. “It could be true, but there are big holes in your theories. The biggest one to start with: if Hythe was only getting financial information for Catherine, why hasn’t he disclosed the details of their exchanges? He knows any concrete information he can offer us might help save his life, after all.” He shook his head. “Secondly, you found no evidence in Catherine’s belongings that she was collecting financial evidence. If she made notes, what did she do with them? The diary