They indicated nothing looked like it was disturbed.”
“And you believed them.”
“I had no reason not to.”
Andrew turned and paced a few steps, then faced the constable. “Do you think Mrs. Hazelton would tell her boarders where she hid her savings or valuables?”
He hesitated. “I don’t know.”
“According to Mrs. Hazelton’s niece, Mrs. June Ridley, her aunt didn’t trust banks and may have kept her savings at home.” He lifted his eyebrows. “Did you find any money hidden at Mrs. Hazelton’s home?”
The constable frowned. “No, we didn’t.”
“So, you don’t actually know if there were any hidden savings in the house or if they were stolen or not.”
The constable’s face flushed. “No, I don’t.”
“Is it true you and your partner did not search Mrs. Hazelton’s room to see if anything had been stolen but rather you asked Mrs. Clarkson and Miss Lafferty to do that?”
The constable shifted in his chair. “Yes, we knew they would be familiar with how the room normally looked and could tell us if anything was out of place.”
“So, at that point in your investigation, you trusted Miss Lafferty enough to allow her to search the room for you?”
He grimaced. “Yes.”
“I see. And when did your opinion of Miss Lafferty change?”
Constable Fieldstone looked away and rubbed his chin. “When I questioned her later that morning, her story was inconsistent, and she appeared uncomfortable when she was speaking to me.”
“Wouldn’t it make sense that a young woman who had overheard a murder and was then questioned by constables would be uncomfortable?”
“I suppose, but she seemed more than uncomfortable. She looked guilty.”
Andrew shook his head. “Objection, Your Honor.”
The judged glowered at the constable. “Strike that comment from the record. The jury is instructed to ignore it.”
Andrew focused on the constable again. “What was it about Miss Lafferty that made you single her out as the suspect, rather than one of the other boarders?”
Garth leaned forward. Why was Andrew asking that question? It didn’t sound as though it would help Emma at all.
“The other boarders were all Canadian born, from stable families. They had no reason to strike out at Mrs. Hazelton.” The constable sent Emma a disdainful look. “But she’s a British Home Child, an orphan with no family to speak of. In my experience, a person who has a history of hardship often becomes hardened and vengeful.”
Andrew lifted his eyes to the ceiling. “So, you believe the fact that she is an English orphan makes her a prime suspect for murder?”
The constable shifted in his seat again. “I wouldn’t if her story had been consistent and she’d not looked guilty when we questioned her.”
Andrew turned to the judge. “Your Honor…”
The judge frowned at the constable. “State the facts without making assumptions.”
Fieldstone nodded. “Yes sir.”
Andrew paced for a moment, then turned to the constable. “You said the doors were locked.”
“That’s right.”
“What about the windows? Could someone have climbed in through a window, crept into Mrs. Hazelton’s room, and attempted a robbery?”
“None of the windows were broken.”
Andrew nodded. “But isn’t it true that some of the windows, four on the ground floor in fact, have broken locks and could have been used as points of entry?”
The constable blinked and gave his head a slight shake. “I don’t know.”
“You don’t know, yet Miss Lafferty’s life hangs in the balance. If Mrs. Hazelton’s death could have been the result of a bungled burglary, then Miss Lafferty would not be guilty.”
The constable’s face twisted and reddened. “There was no evidence of anything missing, so that rules out a burglary.”
“But I said a bungled burglary. What if Mrs. Hazelton woke up, discovered a burglar in her room, and screamed? The burglar might have wanted to keep her quiet and pressed the pillow over her face. In their struggle, she might have emitted a second scream before she fell silent, and then the intruder ran from the room.”
The constable shook his head. “We’ve no evidence to support that theory.”
“And nothing to prove it didn’t happen that way either.” Andrew looked to the judge. “No more questions, Your Honor.”
Garth sat back in his chair, a small glimmer of hope rising in his mind. Perhaps Andrew could plant enough doubt to convince the jury Emma was not the only possible suspect.
Grace checked Rob’s profile as they walked back into the courtroom after the lunch recess, and her spirits sank. He had been quiet while they’d eaten a quick meal with Andrew and Garth at a restaurant down the street from the Belleville Town Hall. The focus