“Oh, there was more. What is evident from the testimony, wrenched as it had to be from the guests, who had clearly decided it was an occasion for all titled hands to the pumps, was that Lord and Lady Winthrop were not getting along.”
“Well, how very rare an occurrence amongst married couples. I’m surprised they didn’t clap her in irons on the spot.”
“Wait for it, will you? Agnes wasn’t the most sensational witness, not by a long shot. That came later, a witness who testified that Violet Winthrop was with him-him-at the time Agnes heard the crashing and banging coming from the study.”
Albert perked up at this. At least, his eyebrows did, until he realized even that small movement made his head throb. Carefully, he narrowed his eyes again against the light, and said:
“At three AM?”
“Precisely. In high heels or no high heels, she was with him, so he said. Precisely what the gentleman was doing with Violet is not spelled out, but the implications were-and are-obvious. That must have sent the press in a virtual stampede out of the room to telephone in their stories. It’s the classic tale-older man, younger woman. All anyone had to do was fill in the blanks. Winthrop was”-and here Ruthven flipped back through the pages-“about forty years her senior.”
“Hmm,” said Albert. “A fact she failed to mention on first meeting, although one would hardly expect her to. Who was this Lothario of the wee hours, anyway?”
“One John Davies, who, having provided Violet with an alibi, seems promptly and handily to have disappeared without a trace. He may be long dead by now, of course, but I have my men on it. If he’s around, they’ll find him.”
“You sound like the head of Scotland Yard, with all the resources of Interpol at your fingertips.”
“Not too far from the truth,” said Ruthven complacently. “As I say, they’ll find him if he’s out there. Doesn’t help, of course, his having a common name like Davies. But if not him, someone else staying at the house that weekend, whose tongue may have been loosened by the passage of time.”
He set aside his glasses and folded his hands on top of the pile of faxed clippings in a “getting down to business” manner.
Uh oh, thought Albert.
“Now the question is, what do we do with this information?” asked Ruthven.
“Surely you mean, what do you do? I haven’t a clue.”
“Really? I should think you’d have several.”
“Go to Father with these clippings, you mean? Perhaps shove them under the door of his study and then scarper like hell? Do you seriously think that wily fat fox is unaware of all this-hasn’t, perhaps, done his own digging, himself? You forget the man’s stock in trade is murder-fictionalized, with preposterous plots and methods and motives, granted, but murder, just the same. He probably has a rehashing of the case in one of those collections of unsolved crimes he has sitting on his bookshelves. We agreed, I thought, that part of the attraction he feels toward Violet may in fact be her bullet-riddled past.”
“She bludgeoned her elderly husband to death; she didn’t shoot him.”
“According to the coroner, she did neither. Also, according to her lover.”
“If he was telling the truth. You’re forgetting the times in which this happened: the mid-fifties. This wasn’t a case of White Mischief in the peat bogs, you know. It wasn’t even Brits misbehaving on holiday in Majorca. Casual affairs among the upper crust weren’t quite as winked at-even expected or encouraged-as they might have been even fifteen years earlier. They aren’t entirely winked at today. This was the same era in which Princess Margaret was forced to end her relationship with Townsend because he was divorced, for heaven’s sake. In other words, one wouldn’t cheerfully own up to an affair while under oath unless the alternative were much worse. And the far worse alternative might have been not to produce an alibi for Violet-even a phony one.”
“You mean that a real gentleman of the Empire would have lied under oath to protect Violet with a phony alibi, while only a scoundrel would have kissed and told the truth, even to save Violet from hanging?”
His headache, he noticed now, was blessedly beginning to recede as he focused on the implications of Ruthven’s tale. He thought he might just manage some toast, if he were careful.
“Something like that. Either way, she was in disgrace, especially for the times. Being a murderess was probably considered not much worse than sleeping around. The two things may have tied in a dead heat in the minds of the reading public. Certainly, had it come to a trial, a jury might not have made the distinction. Luckily for her, it never came to that. But that’s where we come in.”
Again, Albert raised an eyebrow at the “we” but held his tongue.
“As you say, all this may not come as news to Father, although I’d be willing to bet any version he’s heard from Violet has been highly sanitized.” Ruthven, recalling the look of besotted infatuation he’d seen on his father’s face the day before, added, “I doubt he cares what the truth of it is. It’s obvious he’s mad about her.”
“Yes, so I think you’ve mentioned before. Sickening, isn’t it?” Struck by a new thought, he said: “I wonder where they met?”
“At one of his book signings, according to George. Apparently he got that information out of her last night at dinner. Love at first sight, it was, so she says.”
“That I don’t believe. I can see what Adrian sees in her-even given her age, she’s quite lovely-but what in God’s name does she want with a bad-tempered monster like Adrian?”
“Perhaps the same thing we want with him.”
“Money? Surely not. To all appearances-”
“I know what you’re going to say. Certainly, she looks like she’s led a pampered life. Still, appearances mean nothing-as an actor, you know that better than I do. She’s had plenty of time to run through her husband’s fortune. Besides, his scattered family may have kicked up a fuss over the will, given the circumstances. My men-”
“Yes, I know, your men are on it.”
Ignoring him, Ruthven returned to his earlier theme.
“We have to do something to stop this marriage in any event, agreed? And if it’s money she’s after…”
“What?” said Albert. “I should go offer her my stamp collection if she’ll promise never to darken our doorway again? I have no money, you know that. At least, not the sort needed to buy someone off. I doubt I could buy off a poodle.”
“Between the three of us-me, George, and Sarah-I think we could come up with a goodly sum. Goodly enough to turn the trick. That leaves you to make the actual offer.”
“Me?” Albert had begun turning a table knife over and over, as if considering the best angle with which to stab Ruthven through the heart.
“Yes, you. It’s only fair. If we put up the money, you-”
“I do the dirty work. And if she refuses? Is insulted? Goes running to Father in high dudgeon with the tale that his no-good sot of a son tried to buy her off? Then I’m the one neatly out of the running, even if I happen to mention who put me up to it.”
Anger, whether at Ruthven’s clumsy attempt to set him up as a patsy or at the stupidity of the plan itself, had a salutary cleansing effect. He rose from his chair like a member of parliament during a Q-and-A session, riding the crest of a surge of intense dislike for his brother.
“Wait, I haven’t told you-”
“Told me what? Why I was chosen? Oh, I know why. Sarah hasn’t the guts to do it. George can’t be trusted any more than your average addict can be. You thought my own-fondness for drink-might make me malleable. Well, surprise. If you think this is such a hot idea, do your own dirty work. Or get one of your ‘men’ to do it for you.”
“Albert, wait-”