Best Kept Secret (The Clifton Chronicles, #3)(39)

‘Did you love your mother, Sir Giles?’

‘I adored her. She was the family’s rock. I only wish she was still with us, so this whole sorry business need never have arisen.’

‘Thank you, Sir Giles. Please stay there, as Mr Todd may wish to question you.’

‘I fear I might have to take the odd risk,’ Todd whispered to Siddons before he stood to address the witness. ‘Sir Giles, let me start by asking if you have any objection to his lordship opening the envelope that is addressed to him?’

‘Of course he does!’ said Virginia.

‘I have no objection to the letter being opened,’ said Giles, ignoring his wife. ‘If it was written on the day of my mother’s death, it will surely show that she was incapable of signing a document as important as a will. And if it was written before July the twenty-sixth, it is unlikely to be of any significance.’

‘Does that mean that you accept Mr Clifton’s account of what took place after you’d seen your mother for the last time?’

‘No, it most certainly does not,’ said Virginia.

‘Madam, you will desist from these interjections,’ said the judge, glaring down at her. ‘If you offer any further opinions, other than from the witness box, I shall have no choice but to have you removed from the court. Do I make myself clear?’

Virginia bowed her head, which Mr Justice Cameron considered was about as much as he was going to get from that particular lady.

‘Mr Todd, you may repeat your question.’

‘There’s no need for that, m’lud,’ said Giles. ‘If Harry says my mother handed him the letter that night, then that’s what happened.’

‘Thank you, Sir Giles. I have no further questions.’

The judge asked both counsel to rise. ‘Following Sir Giles Barrington’s evidence, if there are no objections, it is my intention to open the envelope.’

Both counsel nodded, aware that if they did object, it would only leave grounds for an appeal. In any case, neither believed there was a judge in the land who wouldn’t dismiss any objection to the envelope being opened.

Mr Justice Cameron held up the envelope so that everyone in court could see it clearly. He slit it open and pulled out a single sheet of paper which he placed on the desk in front of him. He read it three times before he spoke.

‘Mr Siddons,’ he said finally.

The Barrington family solicitor rose nervously from his place.

‘Can you tell me the date and the precise time that Lady Barrington died?’

Siddons shuffled through some papers before he found the document he was looking for. He looked up at the judge and said, ‘I can confirm, sir, that the death certificate was signed at ten twenty-six p.m. on Thursday the twenty-sixth of July, 1951.’

‘I am obliged, Mr Siddons. I shall now retire to my chambers to consider the significance of this piece of evidence. The court will adjourn for half an hour.’



‘It didn’t look like a letter to me,’ said Emma as their little group, heads down, gathered in a huddle. ‘More like an official document. Did she sign anything else that day, Mr Siddons?’

Siddons shook his head. ‘Not in my presence she didn’t. Any ideas, Mr Todd?’

‘It was very thin. It might have been a newspaper cutting, but at that distance I couldn’t be sure.’

‘Why ever did you allow the judge to open the letter, Giles?’ Virginia hissed from the other side of the courtroom.

‘Given the circumstances, Lady Virginia, your husband had little choice,’ said Sir Cuthbert. ‘Although I believe we had the case wrapped up until that last-minute intervention.’

‘What can the judge be doing?’ asked Emma, unable to mask how nervous she was.

Harry took his wife’s hand. ‘It won’t be long now, darling.’

‘If the judgment goes against us,’ said Virginia, ‘can we still claim that whatever was in the envelope is inadmissible?’

‘I can’t answer that question,’ said Sir Cuthbert, ‘until I’ve had a chance to study it. The contents might well prove that your husband was correct in suggesting that his mother was in no fit state to sign an important legal document during the final hours of her life, in which case it will be the other side who will have to decide whether or not to appeal.’

Both parties were still heads down, whispering in their respective corners, like boxers waiting for the bell to release them for the final round, when the door behind the judge’s chair opened and the referee reappeared.

Everyone in court stood and bowed before Mr Justice Cameron resumed his place in the high-backed chair. He stared down at a dozen expectant faces.

‘I have now had the opportunity to study the contents of the envelope.’ Everyone’s eyes remained fixed on him. ‘I was fascinated to discover that Lady Barrington and I share a hobby, although I confess she was a far more accomplished exponent than I am, because on Thursday the twenty-sixth of July, she completed The Times crossword puzzle, leaving only one clue blank, which I have no doubt she did in order to prove her point. The reason I found it necessary to leave you was that I needed to visit the library in order to get hold of a copy of The Times for the following day, Friday July the twenty-seventh – the day after Lady Barrington died. I wanted to check if she had made any mistakes in the previous day’s crossword puzzle, which she hadn’t, and to confirm the answer to the one clue she’d left blank. Having done so, I am in no doubt that Lady Barrington was not only capable of signing a will, but was well aware of the significance of its contents. I am therefore ready to pass judgment in this case.’