Farrier's Lane Read Online Free Page A

as the devil, and it was proved beyond any doubt at all, reasonable or unreasonable. He had his day in court, and his appeal. I know the facts, Pitt, I sat on the appeal myself.”
    Pitt acknowledged the information with a nod, and turned back to Juniper.
    “And Miss Macaulay came to see Mr. Stafford again today?”
    “Yes—early in the afternoon. He was very disturbed by it.” She took a deep breath and steadied herself, gripping Charlotte’s hand. “He went out immediately after, saying he must see Mr. O’Neil, and Mr. Fielding.”
    “Joshua Fielding, the actor?” Pitt asked. For some reason he deliberately avoided Charlotte’s eyes, Caroline’s face in the theater painfully clear in his mind with all its tense excitement.
    “Yes,” Juniper agreed, nodding very slightly. “He was part of the company at the time—and of course he still is. You saw him tonight. He was a friend of Aaron Godman’s, and I believe for a while a suspect—before they knew who it was, of course.”
    “I see. And who is O’Neil? Another member of the company?”
    “Oh no! No, Mr. O’Neil was a friend of Kingsley Blaine, the murdered man. He was very respectable!”
    “Why did Mr. Stafford wish to see him?”
    She shook her head very slightly. “He was a suspect—in the very beginning. But of course that did not last long. I have no idea why Samuel wanted to see him. He didn’t discuss it with me, I only knew because he was so distressed I asked him where he was going, and he just said to see Mr. O’Neil and Mr. Fielding.”
    Adolphus Pryce shifted uncomfortably, clearing his throat.
    “Er—I—I know that to be true, Mr. Pitt. Mr. Stafford also came to see me today. He had already spoken to both Fielding and O’Neil.”
    Pitt looked at him with surprise. He had forgotten Pryce was there.
    “Indeed? Did he discuss the matter with you, Mr. Pryce?”
    “Well, yes—and no. In a manner of speaking.” Pryce stared at him fixedly, as if he were with difficulty avoiding letting his eyes stray somewhere else. “He asked me some further questions about the Blaine/Godman case—that is how we referred to it, Blaine being the victim, and Godman the offender. I was the prosecuting counsel, you know. It was really a very clear case. Godman had motive; the means were to hand for anyone, and the opportunity. In fact he was observed by several people in the immediate vicinity, and did not deny it.” A look of apology flickered across his face. “And of course he was a Jew.”
    Pitt felt a hardness inside him settle like a stone. He did not even try to keep the anger out of his eyes.
    “What has that to do with it, Mr. Pryce? I can see no connection whatever!”
    Pryce’s delicate nostrils flared.
    “He was crucified, Mr. Pitt,” he said between his teeth. “I would have thought the connection was appallingly obvious!”
    Pitt was stunned. “Crucified?” he blurted.
    “To the stable door, in Farriers’ Lane,” Livesey put in from his position still close to the door. “Surely you remember the case. It was written about extensively in every newspaper in London. People spoke of little else.”
    A sharper recollection came back to Pitt. He had been working on another case himself at the time, and had no spare moments to read newspapers or listen to the recounting of events other than those of his own case, but this had rocked the entire city.
    “Yes.” He frowned, embarrassed to be so caught out. “Ido recall hearing of it, but I was in Barking on an investigation of my own. One can become very absorbed …” He smiled twistedly. “In fact I don’t even know the details of the Whitechapel murders last year, I was so busy with a double murder in Highgate.”
    “I hardly think a Christian would have crucified anyone.” Pryce was still determined to defend himself. “That is why being a Jew was relevant.”
    “Is O’Neil a Jew?” Pitt asked sarcastically.
    “Of course not! But no one seriously suspected him for