Free Lessons in Power by Charlie Cochrane

Alistair is guilty. I know he went out that night, despite what he’s told
    everyone. He wasn’t at home when I telephoned him. I would put money on his visiting Jardine and having things out with him.” Miss Stafford’s eyes were clear and her face determined. No one could doubt she believed her brother to blame. “I’d be immensely grateful if you could find something that would put
    misgivings into the jury’s mind, although I don’t believe you’ll find another culprit.”
    “Miss Stafford.” Jonty noticed that Orlando’s mind was starting to whirr and felt he should occupy
    their guest so that the wheels of intellect could grind. “Might I be so bold as to ask you why your brother was so cross with Jardine?”
    “Because he led me astray. I will tell you this in confidence, although if Matthew returns I must
    stop—I don’t want him to know.”
    “Dr. Coppersmith, will you go and delay Mr. Ainslie’s arrival?”
    Orlando’s face clouded, as his mind filled with honey buzzards and men taking unnecessary liberties.
    After a short pause, he agreed. “Perhaps we could go to the bar in search of a cigar, if he smokes the things.”
    Once Orlando had gone, Miss Stafford continued. “Christopher Jardine paid me many an attention—
    you could say he quite turned my head. I believed everything he said, which was stupid of me, but I was convinced he wanted to marry me.”
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    Lessons in Power
    “And he didn’t?” Jonty found it odd that this girl should be so content to pour out the intimate details of her failed romance to a comparative stranger. Miss Stafford was a pretty enough girl, one who reminded him of his sister Lavinia. Poor Lavinia, whom the astounding Stewart looks had somehow bypassed,
    leaving her not unattractive, yet no paragon of beauty like her parents or siblings. For all their closeness, Lavinia had never been so forthcoming about her unsuccessful love life.
    Miss Stafford sighed. For all her smart-and-modern-young-lady clothes, she suddenly looked like a
    little girl, lost. “It’s the old story. We spent a weekend away together in a hotel. I know you’ll think me a complete hussy but I really hadn’t done anything like that before. My first time and it wasn’t even very nice, although I kept thinking that it would be better when we were married.”
    Jonty thought of his unfortunate sister and fiddled with his fork.
    “But at the end of our stay it became obvious that there wouldn’t be any marriage. Well, not between
    us. I was furious, not just with Christopher but with myself for having been so very naïve. When I told all this to Alistair he went absolutely mad—he found Jardine and had it out with him as soon as he could.
    Made threats.”
    “And you believe he carried those threats out?”
    “I do. He wanted me to sue Christopher for breach of promise, but the hound had been very careful
    and left no real evidence of what he’d said.” Miss Stafford dabbed her eyes, while Jonty swallowed hard.
    He knew all about Jardine’s ability to cover his tracks. “So the only alternative, if Alistair didn’t want my name dragged through the mud, was to deal with my so-called lover once and for all. Ah, here come our friends.” Miss Stafford adroitly changed the subject. “So I’d love to know if Taylor really did have an alibi for that night.”
    Orlando sat down with a smile. “Don’t get Dr. Stewart started on alibis; he doesn’t really trust them.
    If a man said that he was addressing a congress of forty lords spiritual and could produce them all to verify it, my colleague would merely snort and say so what ?”
    “Well of course I would. The man could have got his twin brother to do the speech for him. Strikes
    me as terribly obvious.” Everyone laughed and the tension that pervaded the room was immediately
    dissipated.
    Miss Stafford rose. “You must excuse me, gentlemen, I need to go and call on my aunt.” She shook
    hands all