‘Yes. And to take the risk, he’d have had to be able to count on gaining her affection?’
‘Exactly. Quite a gamble.’
Lily frowned and took a deep breath. ‘What I’m thinking is — there was no gamble. He already had it, sir. Her affection, I mean.’
‘Explain yourself, Wentworth.’
‘I didn’t have the impression that he was the kind of man who would kill a close family member for an uncertain source of cash. We know that he’s a man hardened and made ruthless by his wartime experience — he’s used to shooting people, to put it bluntly. But I think it would take a much stronger reason than financial gain to make the man I saw this afternoon pull a trigger in cold blood.’
‘What have you in mind?’
‘The strongest motive of all. Love, sir. For Cassandra, yes. But more than that. He has affection for those boys too. Neglected by their father, they must have felt he filled a certain gap in their lives. They clearly love and trust him. An older man, a war hero but not one on a pedestal. A man who looks them in the eye and understands their needs in a way their father was not able to do. Didn’t you get a feeling of … unity … common purpose … understanding which we weren’t invited to share in when we were there this afternoon, sir?’
Joe nodded. ‘I was happy to see the family closing ranks. Quite proper.’
‘The admiral was on the point of retiring, wasn’t he? The whole family must have had mixed feelings about that. His return to the family hearth after years away striding the bridge might not have been entirely welcome in some quarters. Autocratic, authoritarian and no longer five hundred sea miles distant …’
Joe grunted. ‘Silly, bone-headed old twit. Dedham, I mean. It was young William who precipitated the whole thing, I shouldn’t wonder. The first time he ran away from school his father, who was at sea, had him sent back — by telegraph. Last winter he ran off again, apparently. This second time the admiral happened to be at home. He gave him a talk about disgracing the family by behaving like a weed, administered a good thrashing and sent him straight back to school, where he was thrashed again. Cassandra was distraught and, I think, angry.’