Chapter 23 #3
Gabriel tightened his hand around hers. “Then we will face the rest of it.”
The court had not reached its conclusion. Julian still had other weapons, and Gabriel knew better than to mistake one broken piece of evidence for victory.
But the first attack had failed.
The letter that had been intended to condemn Eleanor now stood as evidence of the lengths to which someone had gone to destroy her, and as Gabriel watched Julian’s confidence falter across the courtroom, he knew that everything had begun to change.
The courtroom had barely settled after Mrs. Finch’s testimony when the doors at the rear opened again.
Gabriel turned instinctively, expecting another member of the legal party, but the sight of the investigator stopped him.
The man entered with Tibbs beside him, and the apothecary’s servant looked as though he had aged several years since Gabriel had last seen him.
His face was pale, his shoulders drawn inward, and his eyes remained fixed on the floor as the investigator led him toward the witness box.
Eleanor’s fingers tightened around Gabriel’s beneath the table.
“Tibbs,” she whispered. “He has been found.”
The solicitor rose immediately. “My lord, the defense requests that the witness be permitted to give testimony.”
Julian’s counsel objected, but the judge allowed it. Tibbs took his place, and he looked toward Julian. For a brief moment, neither man moved, then Tibbs lowered his gaze. The solicitor approached him.
“Mr. Tibbs, yesterday you gave sworn evidence concerning Lady Eleanor Hartley and the death of her husband. Do you stand by that testimony?”
Tibbs swallowed. “No, sir.”
A ripple of surprise passed through the courtroom. The solicitor’s voice remained measured.
“Why do you say that?”
“Because it was a lie. I was paid to say those things. I was told what to claim, what details to remember, and what questions I would be asked.”
“Who paid you?”
Tibbs hesitated. “Julian Marbury’s agent.”
The courtroom erupted in whispers as Tibbs gripped the edge of the witness box. Julian rose abruptly, and Gabriel had to force himself to close his mouth. This was precisely what they had needed, and there it was in no uncertain terms. He glanced at Eleanor, who was almost smiling.
“My lord,” Julian interrupted, “this is absurd.”
The judge struck the bench with his hand. “Lord Marbury will remain seated.”
Julian obeyed, though his face had hardened. The solicitor continued.
“How much were you paid?”
“Enough to clear my debts. In return, I was to say that Lady Eleanor had asked questions about poisoning. I was to make it appear that she had knowledge of the means by which her husband died.”
Eleanor’s face had gone white. Gabriel kept hold of her hand, because he did not know what else he could do to help her.
“If you knew she had done nothing of the sort, then why agree?”
Tibbs looked ashamed. “I was afraid. I owed money. I thought I could take the payment and keep quiet afterward.”
“You understood that your evidence could send an innocent woman to prison.”
“Yes.”
Tibbs lowered his head. The judge questioned him directly, and Tibbs repeated the confession without changing his account. He admitted that he had never seen Eleanor poison her husband and possessed no evidence connecting her to the death.
The foundation beneath Julian’s case began to crumble. When Tibbs left the witness box, the investigator approached with another statement.
“Mr. Faulks is prepared to testify.”
Gabriel looked toward the doors. He did not want to see Faulks ever again. He wanted nothing at all to do with the man, but it was vital to the case.
Faulks was brought into the courtroom under guard. His appearance had changed since the previous night, looking entirely exhausted, and he avoided Eleanor’s eyes as he took his place.
The solicitor questioned him carefully, and at last Faulks admitted that he had been passing information from Ravenscourt to Julian’s agents. He described the payments he had received, the meetings he had attended, and the private conversations he had repeated.
“He instructed you to report the family’s movements?”
“Yes.”
“And the conversation between His Grace and Miss Ashcroft?”
Faulks closed his eyes briefly. Gabriel felt Eleanor stiffen beside him.
“Yes. I reported that too.”
“Did Lord Marbury instruct you to do this?”
Faulks looked toward Julian. “No. I received my instructions through his agents.”
“Did you understand that those agents were acting for Lord Marbury?”
“Yes.”
Julian’s counsel rose.
“My lord, the witness is attempting to save himself.”
The judge permitted the objection to be noted but allowed the testimony to continue. The solicitor placed Faulks’s signed confession before the court.
The evidence was devastating, and yet when the solicitor finished, Julian’s own counsel rose with remarkable calm. He did not attempt to deny the existence of the payments. Instead, he offered another explanation.
“My lord, the evidence establishes that certain men acted dishonestly. It does not establish that my client instructed them to do so. My client is a grieving nephew whose desperation had made him vulnerable to unscrupulous people. Faulks and Tibbs have clearly acted independently, taking advantage of a family tragedy for their own gain.”
Gabriel listened with mounting frustration.
The evidence against Julian had become overwhelming in character, yet character was not enough to convict a man of a crime.
The solicitor could establish that Julian had motive.
He could establish that Julian’s agents had been involved, and that Tibbs had been bribed and that Faulks had been paid to provide information.
But Jem Carter was still missing, and Carter was the one man who might have been able to connect Julian directly to the events surrounding the hunting accident.
Without him, the chain remained incomplete.
The judge retired to consider the evidence. Eleanor sat beside Gabriel in silence while they waited, her hand still in his. The hours of accusation had exhausted her, but she had stopped shrinking beneath them. She sat upright, watching the judge return with an expression Gabriel could not read.
“The evidence against Mrs. Hartley is insufficient to sustain the charge,” the judge announced, his voice carrying through the courtroom.
“The accusations against her have been undermined by their own contradictions, and the court finds no grounds upon which the poisoning allegation may stand. The poisoning charge is dismissed, and Lady Marbury is formally cleared of the allegation.”
Eleanor sat very still. Gabriel could feel himself steadying, but there were two matters to settle, and he knew that keeping Sophie mattered to his wife more than whether or not people thought she was a murderer.
A murmur passed through the courtroom before the judge continued.
“As for the petition concerning the guardianship of her daughter, that motion is likewise dismissed. The child shall remain in the care of her mother.”