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“Is that how you see Hester?” Rathbone asked, standing still in the middle of the footpath opposite him, his eyes wide, his lips almost in a smile.
“No, of course not!” Monk said. “She’s an opinionated, self-willed woman doing precisely what she wants to do. But that is not the point.” There was a faint color in his face as he said it, and it occurred to Rathbone that there was more truth in what Monk had said than he was prepared to admit. And Rathbone also realized with a shiver of surprise that he would not have found it difficult to put forward that picture of Hester himself.
“I can’t,” he said bitterly. “You seem to have forgotten that this is Scotland.”
Monk swore viciously, and with several words Rathbone had not heard before.
“Oh very helpful,” Rathbone said, mimicking his earlier tone exactly. “But I shall do all I can to see that Argyll uses that to the best advantage. I have achieved one thing.” He tried to sound casual, and not too smug.
“Oh good-do tell me,” Monk said sarcastically. “If there is something, I should like to know it!”
“Then hold your tongue long enough and I will!” They were walking again and Rathbone quickened his pace. “Florence Nightingale herself will come and testify as a character witness.”
“That’s marvelous!” Monk shouted with such exuberance two passersby pulled faces and shook their heads, supposing him intoxicated. “That’s brilliant of you… it’s…”
“Thank you. We have established that physically any member of the household could have killed Mary Farraline. What about motive?”
The elation vanished from Monk’s face. “I thought I had two____________________”
“You didn’t tell me!”
“They disappeared on examination.”
“Are you sure?”
“Perfectly. Alastair’s wife is extravagant, and goes out at night to meet a scruffy-looking individual dressed in working clothes and carrying a pocket watch.”
Rathbone stopped in disbelief. “And that’s not a motive?”
Monk snorted. “She’s building a flying machine.”
“I beg your pardon?”
“She is building a large machine, big enough to carry a passenger, which she hopes will fly,” Monk elaborated. “In an old warehouse in the slum quarter. All right, she’s eccentric…”
“Eccentric? Is that what you call it? I would have said insane.”
“Most inventors are a trifle strange.”
“A trifle? A flying machine?” Rathbone pulled a face. “Come on, man, she’ll be locked up if anyone finds out.”
“Probably that is why she does it in secret, and at midnight,” Monk agreed, begi
Rathbone said nothing.
“The other one is the middle daughter, Eilish,” Monk resumed. “She also goes out at night, secretly, but alone. I followed her.” He omitted mentioning that twice he had been knocked senseless for his pains. “And I found where she goes: down in Cowgate, which is a slum tenement area.”
“Not another fantastical machine?” Rathbone said wryly.
“No, something far more elementary,” Monk replied with a tone of surprise in his voice. “She is conducting her own ragged school for adults.”
Rathbone frowned. “Why in the middle of the night? That seems a highly honorable thing to do!”
“Because presumably her pupils are at their labors during the day,” Monk said waspishly. “Added to which, she has coerced her brother-in-law, who is in love with her, into giving her books from the family company for her pupils’ use.”
“You mean pilfering?” Rathbone chose to ignore the sarcasm.
“If you like. But again, I’m damned sure Mary would have approved heartily had she known. And she might have.”
Rathbone raised his eyebrows. “You didn’t think to ask?”
“Ask whom?” Monk inquired. “Eilish would have said yes, if it mattered and she hadn’t… The only other person to ask would have been Mary.”
“And is that all?”
“The only other thing is the company books.”
“We’ve no evidence to raise it,” Rathbone pointed out. “You said Hector Farraline is as tight as a newt most of the time. His drunken ramblings, even if he’s right, won’t be enough to demand an audit. Is he fit to put in the witness-boxT’
“God knows.”
They had stopped, having reached the building where James Argyll had his offices.
“I’m coming in,” Monk stated.
“I really don’t think…” Rathbone began, but Monk had marched ahead of him through the doors and up the stairs and there was nothing for him to do but follow.
The office was quite small, and not nearly as imposing as Rathbone had expected, being lined with shabby books on three sides, the fourth having a small fireplace with a hotly burning fire and paneled in wood of some African origin.
But the man himself was an entirely different matter. He was tall with powerful shoulders and muscular body, but it was his face which commanded attention. In his youth he must have been very dark, what was referred to as a black Celt, with fine eyes and olive complexion. Now what was left of his hair was grizzled gray, and his deeply lined face was full of humor and intelligence. When he smiled he had marvelous teeth.
“You must be Mr. Oliver Rathbone,” he said, looking past Monk. His voice was deep and his accent was savored with relish, as if he were proud of being a Scot. He held out his hand. “James Argyll at your service, sir. I feel we have a great challenge in front of us. I have your letter stating that Miss Florence Nightingale is prepared to travel to Edinburgh to appear as a character witness for the defense. Excellent, excellent.” He waved to one of the leather chairs and Monk sat in it. Without being asked, Rathbone took the other, and Argyll resumed his own seat.
“Did you have an agreeable journey?” he asked, looking at Rathbone.
“We have no time for chatter,” Monk cut across him. “All we have to fight with are Miss Latterly’s reputation and what we can make of Miss Nightingale. I presume you are well acquainted with her role in the war and how she is greatly regarded? If you were not before, you should be now.”
“I am, Mr. Monk,” Argyll said with unconcealed amusement. “And I am also aware that so far, it is all we have with which to fight. I presume you have still uncovered nothing factually relevant within the Farraline household? We will naturally consider the possible value of i
Monk took the irony and knew it was well deserved.
“You are saying that to make an unsubstantiated attack would count against us?”
“Yes, without question.”
“Can we get the company books audited?” Monk leaned forward.
“I doubt it, unless you have evidence of embezzlement, and that it is likely to be co
“No… one can hardly count old Hector’s ramblings.”
Argyll’s expression sharpened. ‘Tell me more about old Hector, Mr. Monk.”
In precise detail and without interruption, Monk recounted what Hector had said to him.
Argyll listened intently.
“Will you put him in the box?” Monk finished.
“Aye… I think I may,” Argyll said thoughtfully. “If I can manage to do it without warning.”
“Then he may be too drunk to be any use,” Rathbone protested, sitting upright.
“And if I warn the family, they may make sure he is too drunk to stand up at all,” Argyll pointed out. “No, surprise is our only weapon. Not good, I grant you, but all we have.”
“What will you do?” Rathbone asked. “Elicit something which will necessitate your calling him as if by chance?”
Argyll’s mobile mouth curved upward in appreciation. “Precisely. And I gather you have also obtained another Crimean colleague to appear for Miss Latterly?”