The Silent Cry - Anne Perry [132]
“I think you had better sit down and tell me the facts of the case, so far as you know them.” He indicated the chair opposite his desk and moved around to sit at the one behind it. He did not yet reach for the quill to make notes.
She tried to compose her mind so that she could tell him sensibly, in order so that it was comprehensible, and without over-weighing it with emotion.
“Rhys Duff and his father, Leighton Duff, were found in Water Lane, an alley in the area of St. Giles,” she started to explain. “Leighton Duff was beaten to death. Rhys was severely injured, in a similar manner, but he survived, although he is unable to speak and both his hands are badly broken, so neither can he hold a pen. That is important, because it means he cannot communicate, except by a nod or a shake of his head.”
“That is an added complication,” he agreed gravely. “I have read something of the case. It is impossible to pick up a newspaper and not at least be aware of it. What evidence is there that leads the police to presume that Rhys killed his father, rather than the more natural assumption that both of them were attacked, and possibly robbed, by thieves or general ruffians of the area? Do you know?”
“Yes. Monk has found evidence which ties them to the rape cases in Seven Dials—”
“Just a minute,” he interrupted, holding up his hand. “You said ‘them.’ Who are we talking about? And what rape cases in Seven Dials? Is he charged with rape as well?”
She was not being as clear as she had intended after all. She had seen the fractional change in his face when she had mentioned Monk’s name, and she felt guilty. What had he seen in her eyes?
She must speak intelligently, in an orderly fashion. She started again.
“Monk was engaged by a woman from Seven Dials to discover who had been first cheating, then, with increasing violence, raping and beating factory women, amateur prostitutes in Seven Dials—” She stopped.
He was frowning. Did he disapprove of Monk or of the women, or did he fear it made Rhys’s case even worse?
“What is it?” The words were out before she intended.
“Rape is a very ugly crime,” he said quietly. “But it is one the courts will not pursue … for a dozen different reasons, both social …” He wrinkled his nose very slightly in a wealth of distaste, subtle and deep. “And legal impossibilities also,” he added. “Rape is a difficult crime to prove. Why did Monk pursue it? Whatever else he has forgotten, he must be aware of these things.”
“I argued it with him,” she said with a very slight smile. “It is not what you fear.” She hoped as she was saying it that it was the truth, not merely her wish. “He intended only to expose them to their own society, not to provoke the people of St. Giles to take their revenge.”
Rathbone’s lips curled in a faint, ironic humor. “That sounds like Monk. A nice irony, using society’s hypocrisy to make it punish its own for the very crime it pretends does not exist and will not strengthen the law to judge.” He kept his eyes on her face. “But what has this to do with Rhys Duff and the death of his father?”
“For some time Rhys had been keeping company with women of whom his father did not approve, and to the exclusion of suitable young ladies,” she explained. “At least that is what his mother believed.” She was twisting her hands in her lap without realizing it. “Perhaps, in fact, he had some idea of what Rhys was really doing. Anyway, on that particular evening they quarreled, Rhys left the room, and apparently the house. Leighton Duff left about half an hour afterwards, when he realized that Rhys had gone, and perhaps suspected to where.” She looked at him to make sure he was following her explanation.
“Proceed,” he directed. “It is all perfectly clear so far.”
“One woman was raped and beaten in St. Giles that night,” she went on. “Within a few yards of Water Lane. A short time after that, the bodies of Rhys and his father were found in Water Lane itself. Rhys was insensible, and has not spoken since. Leighton Duff was dead.”
“And the assumption,” he concluded, “is that Leighton