The gallery took this in. Adelaide looked stoically ahead.
“It seems improbable, if not impossible, then, that anyone seated at the breakfast table from nine-fifteen to nine twenty-five could have fired the fatal shot.”
Again, all eyes swung to scrutinize the only member of the travelling party who had not been present during these critical minutes. Charles Lambert looked down, fingers clasped tightly.
Adelaide Brookner was excused with thanks. She walked through the crowd and out of the room, with Mrs. Dingman one solicitous step behind her. The next witness was Charles Lambert. It took four gavel raps to quell the muttering and morbid speculation.
The coroner began by leading Lambert over some familiar territory, so that it was soon ascertained that he had not known or ever knew of Randolph Brookner until meeting him at the hotel in Montreal and joining his travelling group.
“Did you have any reason for disliking any member of the Queen’s regulars or Her militia?”
“No, sir. I am a loyal citizen.”
“I’m sure you are.”
Marc had not yet told the magistrate about Lambert’s true identity, partly because the information had been given to him in confidence by an officer of the army and partly because he thought it would throw a red herring into the proceedings. If, as a Quebecker, Lambert wished revenge for alleged atrocities, it was Marc who would have been the target, not Brookner.
“Please tell this inquest at what time you left the breakfast table, and why.”
“Mrs. Brookner was just coming downstairs when Mr. Dingman and I left for his office.”
“That would make it close to nine-twenty?”
“I believe so.”
“Who suggested that you go there, you or Mr. Dingman?”
The spectators leaned forward to hear the witness’s response to this potentially incriminating query.
“I did,” Lambert said very softly.
“And did you go straight to Dingman’s office?”
Lambert hesitated again. “No, sir.”
“Why not?”
“The office is at the far end of the hall near the rear exit of the building. When we got there, I realized I would need one of my law books to facilitate the business Mr. Dingwall had been asking me to attend to ever since my arrival here.”
“Which was?”
“To help him rewrite a complicated will involving previous entailments on this valuable property, and several new codicils as well.”
“But no-one at breakfast reports seeing you return to the foyer to mount the stairs to the guest-rooms above.”
“They were not the only stairs, sir.”
This brought the gallery to rapt attention.
“I see. Go on.”
“Because Mr. Dingwall and I were already at the rear of the building, I decided to slip out the back door, go up the outside fire-stairs, and reach my room that way. I had no coat or hat, but I did have my boots on.” When Doctor Mac lifted one skeptical brow, Lambert added, “It just seemed the most convenient way of doing so.”
“And you returned in the same manner?”
“Yes, sir.”
“While you were outside, did you notice anyone at all using the path to the woods?”
“No-one.”
“You went straight up and came right back?”
“Yes. I couldn’t have been gone more than five minutes. Mr. Dingman was waiting for me in the office the whole time.”
“Which would bring you back there about nine twenty-five?”
“That seems about right.”
The spectators sighed as one. Here was another likely suspect, dark and mysterious, with a perfect alibi. Lambert could not have trailed Brookner to the creek, shot him, and scampered back to Dingman in five minutes. The witness stepped down, looking relieved.
Interest picked up instantly, however, when Murdo Dingman was called forward.
It was soon determined that Dingman could not corroborate earlier testimony about the goings-on at the breakfast table because he had been closeted in his office with the entrails of his last will and testament before him on his desk. He had come out hoping to ask Lambert to return with him to his office, and had been happily surprised when Lambert had suggested such a move himself.
“But Mr. Lambert did not go immediately into your office?”
“No, sir. He pardoned himself and went out the back door to fetch one of his law tombs.”
The coroner blinked hugely, but said nothing.
“I went in and sat waitin’ for him.”
“Please answer these next questions carefully. Mr. Lambert has testified that he was away-and outside the building-for no more than five minutes, and that he thus returned to you by nine twenty-five. First of all, do you have a clock in your office?”
“I do, Your Honourable. Made in the United States. Keeps perfect time.”
Some skepticism at this latter claim was evinced by the gallery.
“So, is it your testimony that Mr. Lambert returned by nine twenty-five?”
Dingman looked suddenly stricken. He glanced about him for assistance but could find only sixty pairs of eyes interrogating him with heartless inquisition.
“Could be,” he mumbled.
“You are saying that you are not certain?”
“Yes. No. It’s just-”
“Surely you can tell us if it was closer to five minutes than, say, twenty. For if it were the latter, Mr. Lambert would not have an iron-clad alibi for the time of the murder.”
Charles Lambert did look up at this remark, and was studied minutely for his reaction: it seemed to be a combination of startlement and resentment.
“Could be either,” Dingman said, staring at the arabesques his fingers were executing. “You see, I was so absorbent in thinkin’ about my will, with all its detailments and its codpieces-”
The courtroom erupted with unconstrained laughter. The coroner struggled valiantly to be unamused.
Bewildered by this inexplicable outburst, Dingman soldiered on doggedly. “Whenever I’m readin’ or thinkin’, I find I lose track of time. But I remember Mr. Lambert did come in with snow on his boots, before all the fuss started up in the foyer.”
“And that’s the best you can do?”
“It is, sir. And I blame it all on my last will and testimony.”
“Then that will have to do,” said the coroner with a razor-thin smile. “You may step down.”
“But I ain’t up, Your Honourable.”
Pulling flaps of cheek, brow, and jowl into more solemn conjunction, MacIvor Murchison read into testimony his own pathologist’s report, which added nothing new to his initial findings earlier in the day. He next informed the witnesses and gallery that Lieutenant Edwards, who was by dint of elimination to be the next witness summoned, had provided the inquest with a detailed deposition, which testimony tended to corroborate much of that presented by the other witnesses. Nothing they had said prompted him to call forth the good lieutenant for further enquiry. This announcement caused much disappointment and vocal complaint from the spectators, but the coroner waited patiently for silence. After which he informed them that he was ready to offer his preliminary findings, without a recess. Digby Parsons pushed several parchment-like sheets of paper in front of his master, who took five lengthy and dramatic minutes pretending to scrutinize the indecipherable notes of his earnest clerk. Then he brushed back the errant wig, which had gradually taken root in his eyebrows, and began.
“It is clear that the most probable suspect in the murder of Randolph Brookner is the man with the strongest motive, the relevant means, and plenty of opportunity. As magistrate for this county, I have been kept informed of any sightings or successful captures of rebel fugitives in this region. I can tell you today that Miles Scanlon has been seen by more than one dutiful citizen of this township no farther than five miles from this courtroom, as late as the day before yesterday. That he is the most logical one to have fired the fatal shot is the tentative conclusion of this summary inquest, and, in my role as magistrate, I am going to issue a warrant for his arrest on suspicion of murder, in addition to the charge of sedition. That is not to say that some other individual may not have conspired with Scanlon, in whole or in part, but until the latter is apprehended and brought before this inquest, the coroner declines to point a finger at anyone in particular. Needless to say, these proceedings are merely prorogued, to be continued when circumstances dictate. All those who have been travelling with Captain Brookner will be subpoenaed to appear at a time and place to be determined later. In the meantime, all are free to go.”