"He was lying on his face. I had never seen anyone with a broken neck. I didn't touch him. I could see he was dead. I climbed out of the hold. I thought I was going to vomit. I went to the rail."
The coroner's voice was toneless. "You noticed that his eyes were bandaged?"
"Yes."
"His hands were free?"
"Yes."
"You didn't touch him at all?"
"No."
"What happened then?"
"Mr. Sherborne came over from the ship that was anchored close by. The doctor and police were sent for."
"And we have their evidence. Mr. Hammond, have you any ideas on how the child came to fall?"
"No."
"He was in your House at school?"
"Yes."
"So you knew him quite well?"
"As well as one can know any child."
"It has been suggested – again we're back in the realms of conjecture – that he might have been acting out a game, a pirate game perhaps, anyway some sort of fantasy that involved a blindfold. Does that sort of thing equate with what you knew of the child?"
"It's possible. He enjoyed acting. It could have happened that way."
The coroner addressed Lessing "And now, Mr Lessing, have you anything to ask?" The rebuke was implicit Lessing bounced up from under it "Yes Mr Hammond, has any child m your care ever had an accident before?"
"No "
"You are a conscientious man and you have an excellent reputation both up in the school and here in the town where we have a close liaison with the school I believe that the standard of care shown was first-class You couldn't have done more " He looked at Thirza "Some of Miss Crayshaw's questions were difficult and distressing but you answered them honestly The one other question I want to put to you is a very simple one – is your conscience clear on this matter?"
"Yes'
"Then that, ' said Lessing, "is good enough for me "
And nicely put the coroner thought, if the jury needed convincing – which it didn't The verdict of accidental death was already a foregone conclusion Even so, justice needed to be seen to be done The boy's father was sitting there as if he were witnessing a crooked dice game and was powerless to do anything about it If he didn't feel he had to do everything possible to give him a fair deal he wouldn't call the last witness He didn't like calling on juveniles to give evidence, but Durrant had been the first on the scene It was Durrant who had indicated (blast Miss Crayshaw's insistence on the interpretation of this) to Hammond where the boy had fallen He thanked Hammond for his evidence and told him he could stand down Durrant took the stand Today he looked a man and was in his glory The machine in his mind was functioning at high pilch and was fully controlled He saw the courtroom as a room full of sub-normal aliens from an inferior satellite – a pusil lammous, cretinous bunch of observers The only one there of any account was Fleming himself He dared to look at him and then dared to smile at him The smile he saw with satisfaction, needled him like a poisoned dart He wondered if he should ask to affirm rather than to speak the oath and then decided against it Shulter was sitting midway down the left aisle and if he affirmed now there would be long heart-searching sessions with him later He had dropped God together with his mother yesterday – not that God had ever figured very much He read out the oath and then turned his attention to the coroner Breddon who had not looked forward to questioning a nervous and probably sensitive fifteen-year-old was put a little off-balance by what he saw The lad was tall for his age and he was standing very straight with his shoulders back, almost a military stance Brannigan hadn't described him this way Brannigan's description had been sympathetic – something about a miserable home background, lack of confidence and so on This boy, now, was almost scornful m his attitude as if he dealt with a bunch of fools All the same, he was a child Breddon corrected himself – a child up to fourteen, a young person from fourteen to seventeen He was a young person of relatively tender years and must be treated as such He had already decided to use his Christian name, but found it didn't come easily to him "I'm sorry you had to be called today, Steven, but you realise how important this enquiry is?"
Durrant looked at him with a degree of contempt. "Yes, sir "
"Did you know young David Fleming well?"
"No, sir"
"But he was in your House at school?"
"Yes, sir "
"Feel free to expand your answers, Steven What we're trying to do at this inquest is to understand the circumstances of David's fall."
"Yes, sir."
"You say you didn't know him well – would that be because of the age difference between you?"
"Yes, sir."
"I should have thought in the environment of a boarding school, with its separate Houses, there would have been a family atmosphere."
"No, sir."
Breddon, suspicious that the monosyllabic answers were deliberately insolent, said sharply, "Why not?"
Durrant had a quick mental image of his mother in bed with the photographer. Why was this man going on about families?
"A school is a school, sir."
"Meaning?"
"There is no family atmosphere."
Breddon had to accept it. "I see." He abandoned his attempt to get to know David through the eyes of another boy. "You were called to give evidence, Steven, because you were the first on the scene of the accident "
"Yes, sir."
"Tell us about it."
Durrant, forced into speech of more than one sentence, took his time in answering. He glanced casually at Brannigan, hardly seeing him, and then looked at David's father again The power-house in his mind felt a sudden surge that ramified through his whole nervous system As Hammond had earlier, he spoke to Fleming alone.
"I was sketching in the fo'c'sle when I heard a scream It came from the other end of the ship – the poop deck. I went to see what had happened. I looked down the hatch and saw David lying in the hold. He was dead." He lingered on the word dead. It came out gently.
Breddon, equally gently, asked, "Why did you look down the hold?"
"I could see there was no-one on the poop deck I had to pass the hatch to get to the poop deck It was the obvious place to look."
"You didn't see him fall?"
"No, sir"
"You have heard since that he was blindfolded?"
"Yes, sir."
"Have you any thoughts on that?"
"Kids-do corny things, sir He was only twelve."
Fleming felt the words – only twelve – like a deliberate bruising. The mockery in Durrani's eyes had come and gone. He was looking away from his now and back at the coroner.
Breddon, not insensitive, had been aware of the nuance, but didn't know how to interpret it. The sooner he got the boy off the stand the better. "Mr Lessing, have you any question to ask this witness?"
"No. I think the boy gave his evidence very well."
"Miss Crayshaw?"
Thirza shook her head She felt she walked a foggy landscape on a dark night. The boy gave her the creeps, but she couldn't fault him.
The coroner told him to stand down He made his speech to the jury as brief as possible. "We don't know why David Fleming fell. Had his hands been tied his death might have had more sinister overtones. Fortunately they were not. He applied the blindfold for a reason we'll never know. It's possible he was playing a game of some kind. The sketch you have been shown might indicate a disturbed state of mind, but we have had no expert witness to confirm this. You must consider the possibility of suicide, but there is no solid evidence to support it. The boy came to Marristone Grange almost a year ago, following the death of his mother. There is no reason to suppose that he didn't settle happily into the life of the school. The reputation of the school is high in the town. You might believe that the Mariana was hazardous – indeed, it turned out to be – but the care taken of the children seems to me to be reasonable. The poop deck was a safe area, if the child had stayed there all would have been, well. I shall ask you to retire now, give the matter careful thought, and then return with your verdict."