William Monk 05 - The Sins of the Wolf

…” She did not need to finish.
    Again the sense of the dead woman filled the room. Someone in the gallery was weeping.
    “Which brings me to another point, Mrs. McIvor,” Gilfeather said after several moments. “Precisely why was your mother making this long journey to London? Would it not have been more sensible for your sister to have returned to Edinburgh, and then been able to visit the whole family?”
    “Normally speaking, of course,” Oonagh agreed, resuming her calm, intelligent tone. “But my sister is recently married and expecting her first child. She could not travel, and she was very anxious to see Mother.”
    “Indeed? And do you know why that was?”
    There was a complete silence in the court. One woman coughed discreetly and the sound was like gunfire.
    “Yes … she was concerned … afraid that her child might not be quite normal, might be afflicted with some hereditary illness….” The words dropped one by one, carefully enunciated, into a pool of expectancy. There were gasps around the room. The jurors sat motionless. The judge turned sharply towards her.
    Rathbone’s head came up, his expression tense.
    Argyll’s eyes searched Oonagh’s face.
    “Indeed,” Gilfeather said very softly. “And what did your mother propose to do about these fears, Mrs. McIvor?” He did not ask what the illness was, and Monk heard the whisper and rustle around the crowd as a hundred people let out their breath in release of tension and disappointment.
    Oonagh paled a little. Her chin lifted. She knew their thoughts.
    “She was going to assure her that the disease of which my father died was contracted long after she was born and was in no way hereditary.” Her voice was very level, very clear. “It was a fever he developed while serving in the army abroad, and it damaged his internal organs, eventually killing him. Griselda was too young to have remembered it accurately, and I suppose at the time of Father’s death she was not told. No one thought it would matter to her.” She hesitated. “I am sorry to say so, but Griselda worries about her health far more than is necessary or natural.”
    “You are saying her anxiety was without cause?” Gilfeather concluded.
    “Yes. Quite without cause. She would not believe that easily, and Mother was going to see her in person to convince her.”
    “I see. Very natural. I am sure any mother might well have done the same.”
    Oonagh nodded but did not reply.
    There was a faint air of disappointment around the room. Some people’s attention wandered.
    Oonagh cleared her throat.
    “Yes?” Gilfeather said immediately.
    “It is not only my mother’s gray pearl brooch which was missing,” she said carefully. “Although of course we have that back now.”
    Now the attention was returned in full. No one fidgeted anymore.
    “Indeed?” Gilfeather looked interested.
    “There was also a diamond brooch of a great deal morevalue,” Oonagh said gravely. “It was commissioned from our family jeweler, but it was not among my mother’s effects.”
    In the dock Hester straightened up sharply and leaned forward, amazement in her face.
    “I see.” Gilfeather stared at Oonagh. “And the estimated worth of the two pieces, Mrs. McIvor?”
    “Oh, a hundred pounds or so for the pearls, and perhaps a little more for the diamonds.”
    There was a gasp of breath around the room. The judge frowned and leaned forward a little.
    “A very considerable sum indeed,” Gilfeather agreed. “Enough to buy a great many luxuries for a woman living from one chance job to another.”
    Rathbone winced, so slightly perhaps only Monk saw it, but he knew exactly why.
    “And was this diamond brooch on the list to be packed for London?”
    “No. If Mother took it, it was a last-minute decision of her own.”
    “I see. But you have not found it among her effects?”
    “No.”
    “Thank you, Mrs. McIvor.”
    Gilfeather stepped back, indicating graciously that Argyll might proceed.
    Argyll thanked him and rose to his feet.
    “This second piece of jewelry, Mrs. McIvor; you did not mention it earlier. In fact, this is the first time we have heard it referred to. Why is that?”
    “Because we did not previously realize that it was missing,” Oonagh answered reasonably.
    “How odd! Such a valuable piece must surely have been kept in a safe place, a locked jewel casket or something of the like.”
    “I presume so.”
    “You don’t know.”
    She looked uncertain. “No. It