Sidney Chambers and the Shadow of Death Read Online Free PDF Page B

get through the depression. Did you fight yourself, Canon Chambers, or were you a padre?’
    ‘I fought, Mr Morton. With the Scots Guards . . .’ The reply was more insistent than he had intended but Sidney did not intend to be patronised.
    ‘Good for you!’ his host continued.
    Sidney remembered bayonet practice on the Meadows, running into sandbags and being told how important it was to hate his enemy. He had never been much good at that but he guessed that he had seen more of death than Clive Morton.
    ‘Is this all that’s left?’ he asked. ‘In this decanter?’
    ‘Why? Do you want another?’ His host laughed.
    Sidney remembered Hildegard Staunton’s words. ‘You cannot get Bushmills in Cambridge and he wouldn’t drink anything else.’ ‘Oh no,’ he said. ‘This is quite enough.’
    There was a pause. Sidney knew that he should leave but thought that if he let the silence hold a little longer then Clive Morton might say more.
    ‘Do you think Mr Staunton’s affairs will be complicated to settle?’ Sidney asked, and then felt compromised and guilty about using the word ‘affair’ in the presence of Pamela Morton’s husband. He wondered if his wife’s adultery had been a form of secret revenge.
    ‘Lawyers are a bit like doctors, Canon Chambers. We neglect our own lives, perhaps because we think we are immortal. An occupational hazard.’
    ‘But in Stephen Staunton’s case . . .’
    ‘Well, I suppose it was inevitable . . .’ Clive Morton continued.
    ‘You think so?’
    ‘Don’t get me wrong,’ Clive Morton continued. ‘I liked the man. We used to be close but, as I’ve implied, he had become much more distant of late: remote and moody to boot. And you can’t work with a partner who is half-cut after lunch.’
    ‘I wonder if Miss Morrison may have had to cover up for him?’
    ‘Well spotted, Canon Chambers. It was getting ridiculous. I told Stephen I was prepared to turn a blind eye in the evenings but you can’t employ a man who can get drunk twice in a day.’
    ‘It was as bad as that?’
    ‘Sometimes. I’m not saying he was an alcoholic. It’s that his mind wasn’t on the case in hand. I had to warn him, of course.’
    ‘That he might lose his job?’
    ‘Yes. Even though we were partners something had to be done.’
    ‘And he knew this?’
    ‘Of course he knew it. I was the one that told him.’
    ‘And do you think the idea of losing everything might have made him despair?’
    ‘I am not going to feel responsible for Stephen’s death if that is what you are getting at, Canon Chambers. He had plenty of opportunities to sort his life out. I won’t pretend it was easy but I always dealt with him fairly – no matter how many times he went to London or disappeared without telling anyone. At least Miss Morrison kept tabs on him. She could always be relied upon to finish off the paperwork and let us know where he was in the event of an emergency. He didn’t seem to have any problems with her. It was the rest of the business that suffered from his rather cavalier approach. But, if you’ll excuse me, it’s my golfing afternoon.’
    ‘Golf?’
    ‘Every Wednesday. It helps to break up the week. I sometimes combine it with business. So much easier when you are out of the office . . .’
    ‘And were you playing golf the afternoon that your colleague died?’
    ‘Afternoon? He died after work, didn’t he? We always shut up shop early on a Wednesday. That’s how Stephen made sure he couldn’t be stopped. It’s a terrible business. When a man decides to do something so drastic there’s nothing you can do to stop him, don’t you think?’
    ‘I suppose not,’ Sidney replied. ‘And there were no big arguments with clients, that sort of thing? No one who might have a grievance against him?’
    ‘None, as far as I am aware. Solicitors can sometimes get on to the wrong end of things but I was always confident that Stephen could charm his way out of a tricky situation. What