Free Depth of Deception (A Titanic Murder Mystery) by Alexander Galant Page A

photos? "
    " Oh no, " Ruthie replied. " My father wouldn’t have the patience for that. 'Twas why he took up photography . T hese were early colour photo experiments. In fact, the birth of colour photography was here in Scotland. A physicist named Maxwell, back in the mid-1800’s. "
    Ruthie McArthur returned with a tin of sugar cookies. Callum had hoped for homemade. He took a cookie with a grateful smile. Still, it would satisfy the craving from last night. She pointed to one of the photos of a little girl. " That one was me, on my tenth birthday… he captured the colour of my dress and bows in my hair… I so loved that dress. "
    Just last night Callum had read about how Ruthie, only ten years old at the time, had implored her father to go back up and check on Miss Gilcrest. Here was that little girl as an old lady, still living in the same flat beneath the scene of the crime. Normally Callum didn’t trust eyewitness memory but her description of his grandfather was dead accurate. Undoubtedly every detail of that fateful night in 1909 was forever burned into that girl’s memory.
    He took a sip of coffee to moisten the cookie, in order to be able to speak again. As he took out his notepad he asked, " Did you see the man that your father saw that night? "
    " No I didn’t, only Father saw him. 'Twasn't Mr. Otto Slade, he was very adamant about that, even to his dying day. "
    " Why didn’t your father testify at the trial? "
    She looked around nervously, then went and shut the drapes. Why the paranoid behavio u r? He wondered.
    Ruthie returned and in a low whispered voice began, " The police wanted my father to testify only if he would point the finger at Otto Slade, but my father knew it 'twasn't so. "
    " Did he tell them what he did see? "
    " Aye. But the police continued to be… persuasive to get him to change his mind. But my father was a good God-fearing man and he told them that he would not break the ninth commandment. "
    " Thou shall not lie? " guessed Callum. She peered at him disapprovingly over her eyeglasses, with a stern schoolmarm glare.
    " Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour, " quoted Ruthie in an indignant tone.
    " Right, " replied Callum sheepishly. " Guess I’m not as well versed in the Bible as I used to be. "
    " You’ve lost your brogue and your Bible, Mr. Toughill, " smirked Ruthie.
    Callum smiled to himself. Sounded just like his mother. He looked down at what he had written and whispered; " In way were the police ‘persuasive’? "
    " Well, they were very, very cross. The authorities threatened my father with terrible things they would do if he ever made any public comments contradicting the findings of the law. "
    " They threatened to hurt your father? "
    " They threatened to take me away. Can you imagine his fear? " she whispered. Her hand began to tremble. She set her coffee down. " He would get worked up into a frenzy any time I was late from school. He lived the rest of his life in fear. It took me a long time to realize he never blamed me. "
    " Why didn’t you move away? Why stay right under the flat where the murder took place? "
    " My father swore that he would never breathe a word of it and would take it to his grave, but, alas, he didn’t want to forsake Miss Gilcrest. To run away would be easy, he would say, with the truth at a distance it would be easy to forget. "
    Take it to his grave? The very same words Callum’s own grandfather had used. Ironic. He wrote what she said, and then asked, " Why are you still here? "
    " This was my father’s home. It is all I have left of him, " she said as she wiped her eye with a fingertip. " Besides I’d never find a flat this size at the rate I pay. "
    Callum chuckled. " Do you remember anything from that night? "
    She nodded, closed her eyes for a moment and winced as if trying to stop the flood of memories. She opened her eyes but they were staring far away.
    " After my father returned with Dr. Adams from across the