his words.
Trave looked at her for a moment, as if deciding how to respond, and then nodded. ‘I’ve got some concerns, yes,’ he said. ‘But I may be wrong.’
‘What concerns?’ demanded Ava, ignoring the caveat.
‘About Charles Seaforth. I know he’s a friend of yours. In fact, that’s something I wanted to ask you about. ‘
‘Ask me what?’ asked Ava, reddening. She felt under pressure suddenly, as if she were in trouble of some kind.
‘I saw you together at the Lyons Corner House. I followed Seaforth there …’
‘I know. I saw you there too.’
‘But what bothered me was that you’d said nothing about where you were going when I saw you at Scotland Yard the day before, even though I asked you about him. Why was that, Mrs Brive? Why did you keep that back from me?’
‘I don’t know,’ said Ava, feeling flustered. ‘I was curious to know what he wanted, and I didn’t see how I could go through with the lunch if everyone knew about it,’ she finished lamely. She didn’t want to tell the policeman that she’d lied about the meeting to her husband.
‘I see,’ said Trave, looking unimpressed. ‘The reason I’m asking you is because Alec Thorn told me last night that Seaforth was the one who opened your husband’s desk — the desk where you found the matching cuff link. And he said that there were only the two of you there when you found it.’
‘And you think that I helped him put it there. Is that what you’re saying?’ Ava demanded, looking outraged.
It was Trave’s turn to be taken aback. Ava’s shocked, angry reaction to his implied accusation was clearly genuine. ‘I’m sorry,’ he said. ‘It just seems like you and Seaforth have been spending a lot of time together, that’s all. I didn’t know what to think.’
‘Well, now you do,’ said Ava, still clearly upset. ‘The reason I’ve been seeing him is because I’ve been trying to find out what he’s up to. And after last night, I’ve got to say I’m beginning to think the worst.’
‘What happened last night?’
‘I was in his apartment and he got angry — I mean, really angry. And so I ran away. I was lucky to be able to get away from him. And afterwards it felt like that person that got angry was the real Charles Seaforth, that he’d been pretending to be someone else when I’d seen him before.’
‘Which would make sense if he needed to get in your flat to plant the cuff link,’ said Trave, expanding on the idea.
‘Oh God, is that what happened? cried Ava, as if glimpsing the truth for the first time. ‘How could I have been such a fool?’ Tears welled in her eyes as her emotions got the better of her. Her legs felt weak. She was tired and overwrought; she thought she was going to faint.
Trave took her arm and led her outside. It felt better in the fresh air, away from the press of people, but she was still swaying from side to side. Trave watched her anxiously for a moment and then seemed to come to a decision.
‘Come on,’ he said. ‘You need something to eat. I’ve had you faint on me once before and I’m not going to let it happen again. There’s a cafe I go to sometimes when I’m here for court hearings. They’ll give you a good breakfast and we can talk.’
‘But Bertram …,’ she protested weakly.
‘His case won’t be called on for a while yet,’ Trave reassured her. He had hold of her arm again and they were already crossing the road.
Trave was right. The food did revive her, and the coffee was excellent — more like the real thing instead of the awful Camp version made of chicory essence that she drank at home. She was still tired, but at least she wasn’t going to pass out.
‘Is that really what you think?’ she asked, looking hard at Trave as she put down her knife and fork. ‘That Charles planted the cuff link? That he killed my father?’
‘I wish I could tell you,’ said Trave. ‘But the truthful answer is that I just don’t know. We need more evidence. Did you find anything at Seaforth’s flat?’
‘There was a diary in his bedroom. That’s what got him so angry — seeing me reading it.’
‘What kind of diary?’
‘From the last war. I don’t know who wrote it, but it was pretty grim reading, to be honest with you. I only had time to look at a small section before he came in. And there was a photograph of a young soldier on the chest of drawers. Not Charles, but someone who looked like him, or what he might have looked like twenty-five years ago, if you know what I mean. A brother, maybe.’
Trave nodded and for a moment seemed lost in thought, but then he glanced at his watch and got up abruptly from the table. ‘We need to go back,’ he said. ‘They’ll be calling Bertram’s case on soon.’
The courtroom was even more crowded than the lobby outside. Two heavy-built, shirtsleeved gaolers, each with a chain of keys jangling from his belt, stood on either side of the dock, barring public access to the well of the court, where there were benches for lawyers and reporters and, high above, a dais with a tall-backed armchair on which an ancient-looking magistrate with a sallow, oval face was presiding over the day’s business. Behind him on the wood-panelled walls above his head were hung portraits of two of his even more fearsome-looking nineteenth- century predecessors.
Behind the gaolers, a densely packed mass of people watched the proceedings from the back of the courtroom. Sometimes a name was called out by the clerk of the court, an old man with a reedy voice sitting at a table below the magistrate, and a man or woman would push through the throng to take his or her place in the dock. These were the lucky ones who had already secured bail; those in custody were brought in by other gaolers through a side door connecting the courtroom to the cells at the back.
There were no windows, and the inadequate lighting was provided by four dusty electric spheres hanging down from the ceiling on brass chains. The magistrate, however, had the use of a shaded reading lamp, which bathed his long, bony fingers in a sickly, greenish light as he turned the pages of the charge sheets piled in front of him on his desk.
It was like a scene from a Charles Dickens novel, thought Ava. Trave had managed to manoeuvre them near the front of the crowd, but she had begun to feel faint again and leant heavily on him for support.
Several Soho prostitutes wearing the gaudy night finery in which they had been arrested were called on and quickly disposed of, and then Bertram was brought in. Ava almost didn’t recognize him at first. He shuffled his way across the court and then stumbled on the top step of the dock, reaching out to take hold of the iron railing to keep himself from falling. He looked beaten and dejected, like a hot-air balloon that had been punctured in some vital place and was slowly losing air. All his outraged dignity and self-importance seemed to have disappeared in the four days since his arrest.
The clerk read out the manslaughter charge, and the courtroom went suddenly quiet. The reporters’ pens hovered expectantly over their notepads, and Ava was conscious of people turning to look at her. She wondered how they knew who she was.
‘How do you plead?’ asked the clerk, and then had to repeat the question in a louder voice when Bertram didn’t answer.
‘Not guilty,’ said Bertram finally, in a thin voice. ‘I didn’t kill him.’
The prosecutor, a big man in a loud pinstripe suit, got to his feet. ‘The Crown may seek leave to amend the charge to murder now that the case is going to trial,’ he said ominously.
‘Very well,’ said the magistrate. ‘We can consider that at committal. Any bail application, Mr Maier?’
‘No, sir. Not today,’ said another man whom Ava couldn’t properly see, her view blocked by the bulk of the prosecutor.
‘Very sensible,’ said the magistrate. ‘No point wasting your breath to no purpose. Bail denied. We’ll see you again in four weeks, Dr Brive.’
And that was that. Except that as Bertram was led away, he looked around wildly, scanning the crowd, and Ava realized he was looking for her. Standing on her tiptoes, she put up her hand, raising it above her head, hoping he would see. And she knew he had because he caught her eye and smiled just as he left the courtroom.
Seeing him even from a distance, she didn’t feel he was guilty. Not any more. But feelings counted for nothing
