Twenty-One Days (Daniel Pitt #1)(2)

‘What fingerprints?’ Blackwell heatedly demanded. ‘There were none!’

‘Somebody fired it,’ Daniel pointed out.

‘Gloves on?’ Blackwell asked with sudden light in his face. ‘That means somebody who knew about fingerprints, and that everyone’s are different!’

‘The Chinese have known about them for centuries,’ Daniel told him. It was a piece of information he found particularly interesting. It was just five years ago – actually, in 1905 – that fingerprints had first been used to identify two murderers and convict them in a British court.

‘If you didn’t kill him, someone else did. There’s no question Hinton was shot – deliberately. And unfortunately, there is no doubt that you knew him well, and quarrelled over a debt . . .’

‘Only a few pounds!’ Blackwell said indignantly. ‘I’m not going to kill a man over a few quid!’

‘Park says it was four hundred,’ Daniel pointed out. ‘That’s a lot of money.’

‘So it is,’ Blackwell agreed. ‘And I’m going to lend that much to a chancer like Hinton? I’m not a complete fool!’

Daniel smiled bleakly. ‘You’re generous occasionally, Roman. And—’

‘Not that generous!’ Blackwell said incredulously.

‘—and known to drink a little too freely, and then forget what you’ve done?’ Daniel finished.

‘I never forget money,’ Blackwell said fiercely. ‘Not that much!’

‘Not even when you are . . .’ he hesitated, then went on, ‘. . . thoroughly drunk?’

‘I couldn’t even if I wished to,’ Blackwell shook his head. ‘I haven’t got that much . . . at least I hadn’t then.’

‘Can you prove that?’ Daniel knew he couldn’t. There was no way he could do so.

‘I didn’t kill him,’ Blackwell repeated desperately. His face puckered at the unreasonableness of it. ‘Why would I lend that kind of money to a useless article like Hinton? It makes no sense.’

‘They’ll say you were drunk at the time,’ Daniel replied reasonably. ‘Look, Roman, there’s no point in arguing something we can’t prove.’ He leaned forward a little over the table between them. ‘The only way to change the jury’s minds is to make them seriously consider somebody else. If Hinton were not as useless as the prosecution say, he will have had other enemies. Think carefully. Who were they, and why? Think of people he cheated, lied to, or lied about. People he got into trouble. People he could have been a witness against.’

Blackwell thought hard. He was a big man, not tall, but broad and strong, with a shock of jet-black hair. Only lately, he seemed to have shrunk into himself, as if he would retreat without actually moving from the hard wooden chair.

Daniel searched for something to encourage Blackwell with, not only for kindness’ sake, but because Blackwell was the only source of any information that could implicate anyone else, or at least provide Daniel with another course to follow.

Blackwell looked up hopelessly.

Oscar Park was the main witness against Blackwell, and Daniel had not made a dent in his testimony yet. He felt he was clutching at straws. ‘Well then, what can we find out about Park to make the jury doubt him? Hinton owed you money; he’s no use to you dead.’

‘He’s no use alive, either,’ Blackwell said with a wry smile. ‘Do you think that counts?’

Daniel was too desperate to return the smile. ‘If Park is lying on the witness stand, why? It’s a big risk he’s taking. There must be a reason, and we’ve got to find it.’

‘I don’t know,’ Blackwell said wearily. ‘I never did him any harm.’

Daniel leaned forward a little. ‘It doesn’t have to be as direct as that. Come on! You’ve got enough imagination to see the oblique. What do we know as fact? You didn’t lend Hinton four hundred pounds, whether he paid it back or not. How would Park know, anyway? That’s the price of a small house. Did he owe it to Park?’

‘Maybe. Park was tight,’ Blackwell responded. ‘I once lent him fifty pounds, and he never paid me back.’

‘That could be something. I wonder if he owed anyone else? Who else can I call? I’ve got to have something to build on!’ He heard the sharpness in his own voice. He must control it.

Blackwell said nothing.

Daniel racked his mind for anything that made sense. ‘Then revenge? Does Park hate you? Have you done something to him?’

‘No, but I’d like to,’ Blackwell replied with feeling. ‘The bastard. After the money I’ve lent him.’ His expression was screwed up with the injustice of it.

But Daniel was concentrating on the evidence. He reached across the table and gripped Blackwell’s wrist. ‘He owes you money and he’s repaying you like this? It’s more than ingratitude, Roman.’

‘It wasn’t only the money,’ Blackwell said quickly, shaking his head a little.

‘But it was something. You said, “It wasn’t only the money,”’ Daniel insisted.

‘You can’t mention it in court,’ Blackwell said with a flash of self-mockery. ‘It was just a little against the law. Fine line, but the wrong side of it – definitely. If it comes out they’ll can me for that, too, while they’ve got the chance.’