Twenty-One Days (Daniel Pitt #1)(83)
Certainly, it was not enough to make any publisher afraid to bring out the book.
He bent to look further.
Ten minutes later, it was Mercy who interrupted him. ‘I found a story about Lady Vespasia that I know is not true,’ she said with triumph in her voice. ‘And what is rather more to the point, Lord Shadox is still alive and has a large family, who among them own a number of houses of finance, and could call in a great many loans, if they wish to. They might make life most uncomfortable for the publishers, if they felt insulted, either for Lady Vespasia or on their own behalf. Page two hundred and five.’
She passed him the papers. ‘If this were true, the current Lord Shadox would lose his part of the title, and with it his home in Northumberland, which I happen to know he is extremely fond of. Oh dear, what a mistake. Hot temper, too.’ She smiled even more widely. ‘Very hot! He won’t like this, it’s grubby.’ She looked up at Daniel. ‘Victor Narraway seems to have been quite a character, in his time. There are some of these events that could be embarrassing to a good few. Graves gives the true beginnings of them, and then allows his own imagination to complete them. He is clever, but I think he has outwitted himself here. The suggestions are scandalous. He all but says Narraway covered them up for payment. Which, whether it is true or not, leaves the reader believing them. That is a very serious error.’
‘You can’t prove it, though,’ Daniel argued. ‘We can’t try it in court.’
Her eyebrows rose. ‘For goodness’ sake! We want to stop this long before it gets into any court! You have to go to the publisher and point out the people who will fight! And what they will do to protect themselves. This is what the publisher has to fear. Lawsuits! A fortune in damages. Put him right out of business – and onto the street!’
Blackwell looked up for the first time in nearly an hour. ‘And I have a charge against your father that I can prove is made from spite. I think the person concerned would deeply regret having this issue raised again. He was proved wrong – in fact, he made the charge to hide a particularly nasty piece of behaviour. This book takes his point of view, but a little investigation will show not only that he was wrong then, but there are other things connected to that which are not criminal, but are deeply embarrassing. The publishers would make new and very dangerous enemies.’ He smiled. ‘It will show your father as very charitable in his judgements, perhaps at a glance na?ve, but on further reading of it, he gathered many favours as a result. Not always for himself, but for the service. He was either na?ve, or very astute indeed. I’ve not made up my mind which.’ He gave a rather wistful smile. ‘If I were his enemy, I wouldn’t take the chance that it was the latter. I think we can make sure the publishers see it that way, too. It could unravel to become very close to treason – if we played it that way. Mr Graves is not as clever as he thinks.’ His smile grew even wider. ‘But we have a lot to do! We must lay our plans carefully. And tomorrow we must move. Much as I personally would like to see Graves swing, I know you cannot do that.’
‘I would love to!’ Daniel said fervently. ‘But I would regret it later.’
‘You would regret it immediately,’ Blackwell corrected him. ‘You’re like your father.’
Daniel was not sure for a moment whether that pleased him or not. Then he thought about it again, and was absolutely certain that it did.
Chapter Twenty
‘Yes, sir.’ Daniel stood in Marcus fford Croft’s office on the last full day they had in which to appeal Russell Graves’ case. ‘I know we’ve cut it a little fine. There were many aspects to the case.’ He saw the look on fford Croft’s face. Should he say that he had kept Kitteridge informed? That was a cheap shot. fford Croft might see it as an attempt to shift the blame.
‘I wanted to make sure the book would not be published. It would do a great deal of damage, not only to my father, and thus Special Branch in general, but also to a great many other people, sir . . .’
fford Croft sat stone-faced. He did not like being outmanoeuvred, especially by one of his own most junior men. ‘And you did not think to tell me about all this?’
Daniel raised his chin a little higher. ‘Yes, sir, I did. But I went to Mr Kitteridge for legal advice, because if it went wrong I thought it better, and fairer, that you should be able to deny any knowledge of it.’ He met fford Croft’s eyes with some trepidation. ‘You told me you promised Mr Graves your best effort to acquit him, sir. He will be acquitted, beyond any doubt at all, of murdering his wife. You will have kept your word.’
‘And publishing the book?’ fford Croft’s eyebrows went up.
‘I don’t know if you promised my father, or Special Branch, any sort of consideration, but if you did, you will have kept your word in that, too.’
‘You’re impudent, sir,’ fford Croft said a little stiffly.
‘I’m sorry, sir. I’m very new at these complicated problems.’ Daniel kept his appearance innocent with some difficulty. He could not afford to have fford Croft think him sarcastic.
fford Croft’s face very slowly relaxed, and a smile curved his lips more and more. ‘Nonsense,’ he said. ‘You are a born conniver. One day you will make an excellent lawyer. Although I imagine you will always like the wrong cases. Don’t lead Kitteridge astray, even if he wants to go! Do you understand me?’