Twenty-One Days (Daniel Pitt #1)(93)

‘And even more, the illegitimacy of the children, your children,’ Daniel went on. ‘Sarah would find herself a bastard, with little hope of making a fortunate marriage. But rather more than that, Arthur would be without a name, without the medical attention he needs, if he is to survive. That would have been devastating to all of them, would it not? You made no provision for them, did you?’ It was barely a question.

‘I would have!’ Graves said angrily, temper sharpening his voice.

‘But as of today, you have not!’ Daniel pointed out. ‘You have had plenty of time. You have given them no comfort or assurance at all.’ He glanced only momentarily at the jury, but he saw the anger and the pity in their faces, and something that looked like disgust. ‘As far as they are aware,’ he continued, ‘you are determined to put their mother in prison, and leave them illegitimate and abandoned. Perhaps that has not fully sunk into their consciousness – they are too hurt and sorry for their mother – but it will. Sarah, at least, is terrified that Arthur will die, and she will be unable to save him.’

Daniel looked at the jury and saw several of them in deep anger and distress at the situation.

Grisewood must have seen it too, because he rose to his feet. ‘My lord, I know Mr Pitt is young and inexperienced, but this is all an appeal to the emotions. It has nothing to do with the facts that Miss Cumberford coldly and deliberately murdered Mrs Winifred Graves. That is what we are here to try.’

‘Indeed, Mr Pitt,’ the judge said gravely. ‘Mr Grisewood is correct. You will please address the facts relevant to that. You have only succeeded so far in making Mr Grisewood’s case for him. Miss Cumberford had excellent motive for wishing Mrs Graves to disappear, as she almost succeeded in accomplishing that.’

‘Yes, my lord. I apologise to the court. I only wanted to establish Miss Cumberford’s character, and the honesty, or otherwise, of Mr Graves, the chief witness against her.’

‘Your point is taken, Mr Pitt. Have you any other questions for Mr Graves?’

‘Yes, my lord, a few.’

‘Then proceed, but see that they are relevant.’

‘Yes, my lord. Mr Graves, you have suggested that your butler, Mr Falthorne, is telling lies, rather than the truth, when he says you beat both your wife and your daughter regularly, causing them serious injury. Is he, in fact, lying? If we were to ask the lady’s maid the same questions, would she have different answers? And apparently Mrs Winifred Graves had several scars dating from the time she was married to you.’

‘She was a clumsy woman!’ Graves said darkly.

‘And was Ebony clumsy, too, and Sarah?’ He allowed the sarcasm he felt to be heard in his voice.

‘Occasionally,’ Graves replied, but there was a flush in his face and a sharp, brittle edge to his voice.

‘Are you clumsy also?’ Daniel asked. ‘Have you had broken bones?’

Grisewood rose again. ‘My lord, this is impertinent, intrusive, and ridiculous.’

‘It is not entirely irrelevant,’ the judge replied. ‘And I do not find it ridiculous. I would like to hear the answer.’

‘No, I am not clumsy,’ Graves said irritably.

‘Never broken a bone?’ Daniel raised his eyebrows. ‘Be careful to be exact, Mr Graves. We have science these days that can tell if a person has any broken bones, even before they are dead. Bones heal, but they look different from bones that have not been broken.’

‘No, I have never broken my bones, and no science will find that I have,’ Graves answered tartly. ‘What has this to do with the fact that Ebony killed Winifred and tried to get me hanged for killing her?’

‘Oh, quite a lot,’ Daniel said with a tiny smile. ‘But we will come to that later. Thank you, my lord, that is all I have for this witness.’

Grisewood stood up and had Graves restate his total innocence, and add some details of his suffering as a result of having been wrongly accused of murdering Ebony.

Daniel addressed the judge. ‘I am quite aware of all that, my lord. In case Mr Graves has forgotten, it was I who worked night and day to prove his innocence.’

‘Indeed, Mr Pitt knows it most of all,’ Grisewood said with a wide smile. ‘The prosecution rests, my lord.’





Chapter Twenty-Two


Daniel began his defence immediately after an early luncheon recess. He had spent the time with Kitteridge, turning over and over in his mind the possibilities. Should he present as much evidence as possible? Or should he not risk boring the jury, or giving Grisewood too much testimony to challenge? Grisewood would certainly do all he could to destroy Miriam. He would try everything to discredit her skills or make a mockery of her in the courtroom.

‘Are you sure I should expose her to that?’ he kept asking Kitteridge. ‘He’ll try to make her look ridiculous. He’ll use every prejudice possible.’

‘For heaven’s sake, Pitt! She’s a grown woman! Do you appreciate your mother fussing over you to protect you from life?’

‘No, of course not, but that’s different!’

‘Yes, it is! She’s your mother. It’s her job. You are not Miriam’s parent. In fact, she’s almost old enough to be yours.’

‘No, she isn’t!’ Daniel replied hotly.