A Breach of Promise - Anne Perry [164]
“And the adjournment?” she asked. “What happened then?”
He laughed abruptly. “Keelin came out of the courtroom and stood a little to the left of the doorway talking to Rathbone for a few minutes. Then Rathbone left with Sacheverall to go and argue again. I don’t know where they went, only that it was entirely fruitless.”
“How long were they gone?” she interrupted, looking hopeful.
He shook his head. “About ten minutes, maybe fifteen. But Keelin didn’t eat or drink anything, nor did she go to the cloakroom. She was there in the hall all the time, in full public view.”
“Alone?” she persisted, refusing to give up.
“Yes …” He pictured it vividly, it seemed so unnecessarily, publicly hurtful. “Except that Delphine went over to her with a packet, spoke to her for a moment, then when Keelin held up her hands, Delphine opened the packet and tipped it out into her cupped palms. It was jewelry she had given Zillah. They were dusty …”
“Dust?” Hester said slowly.
“Possibly powder … I don’t know.”
“But something?”
“Yes … why? It wasn’t anything edible. Delphine did not pass her anything she could eat or drink—just the jewelry. She tipped it out so she could itemize each piece and make Keelin acknowledge that she had received it all back—count out each item.”
“What did Melville do then?” Hester was leaning forward now.
“She put the jewelry in her inside pocket,” he continued. “She looked … wretched … as if she had been kicked.”
Hester winced. “And then what?”
“Then Rathbone came back, spoke to Keelin for a few moments, and they returned to court.”
Hester sat for a while thinking silently. It did not seem to make any sense. Monk thought of the afternoon session, the tension and despair. He could picture Keelin Melville safely next to Rathbone, her face tense, the light reflecting in her clear eyes, which were almost the color of aquamarine. Her skin was very fair, spattered with freckles, her features fine but with a remarkable inner power. It was the face of a visionary. And her hands were beautiful too, strong and slender, perfectly proportioned … except that she bit her nails—not badly, but enough to make them too short. It seemed to be in moments of greatest anxiety. He could recall her hands in her mouth when … Hands in her mouth!
“She bit her nails!” he almost shouted, leaning towards Hester and clasping her hand where it lay on the table, turning it over. “She bit her nails!”
“What?” She looked startled.
He rubbed his fingertips along the tabletop, then put them to his lips.
“The powder …” she breathed out the words. “If that was the belladonna, then she put it to her lips … into her mouth. Her hands were covered in it from the jewelry!”
“Would it be enough?” He barely dared ask.
“It could be …” she said slowly, staring back at him. “If it were pure … to act within a few hours. Especially if she ate nothing.” Her voice rose a little, getting more urgent. “She didn’t wash her hands after touching the jewelry?”
“No. She went straight back into court. I don’t imagine at that point she would think of such a thing … still less of a taste.”
“I don’t think it tastes unpleasant,” she answered. “Children sometimes eat the fruit by mistake.”
“Does it kill them?” he asked.
“Yes, it does, usually. And this would be concentrated.”
“Where would she have got it?” He tried to keep the sense of victory out of his voice, but it was there in spite of him.
“An herbalist, or even distill it herself,” she replied, not taking her eyes from his.
“There won’t be berries this time of the year.”
“You don’t need the berries. Any part of it is poisonous … berries, flowers, roots, leaves, anything at all!”
Monk clenched his fist. “That’s it! That’s how she did it! By God, she’s clever! Now, how can we prove it?” He sat back on the chair. He was warm at last, and very comfortable in Gabriel’s shirt and trousers. He felt elated. He knew the truth! And Keelin Melville had not killed herself. She had not died in drowning despair, surrendering. It had not even been directly his, or Rathbone’s, failure which had been responsible.