Vanished

It was the following day when Thomas Armour, the attorney for the defense, arrived, shortly after noon. He had called and asked to see her earlier that morning. She had called John and asked him if it was something she wasn't supposed to do, and he told her honestly that he thought it unwise, but it was not illegal. But she was curious about the man, and she wanted a little warning of what she would be facing.

Malcolm had gone to Boston for a few days, and she was alone when she met him. She was wearing a black dress, which was all she seemed to wear these days, as though she were already in some kind of mourning. He was wearing a dark blue suit, and he had dark blond hair which must have been even lighter in his childhood. He had warm brown eyes that, at first, seemed very gentle. But his tone was not gentle when he spoke to her. He was polite and firm, and he didn't pull any punches. And his eyes seemed to bore into her, looking for answers.

Haverford brought him into the library, and after the initial niceties, he looked her straight in the eye and asked her a very pointed question. “I'd like to have some idea, before the trial, of what you're going to say about my client.” He hadn't wanted the case, he had expected Charles to be a spoiled brat at first. But he'd grown to like him and now that he'd taken it all his loyalties were with Charles Delauney.

“What exactly do you mean, Mr. Armour?” She knew from the newspapers that he had gone to Harvard, was the youngest partner of a very important firm, and was somewhere in his late thirties. Charles had hired the best, and he had every right to. But more than just his reputation, there was something very quiet and compelling about Tom Armour. He was handsome but it wasn't something Marielle noticed about him. She was more impressed by the intelligence in his face and an aura of determination.

“Mr. Delauney gave me some idea of what happened …several years ago. I think we both know of what I'm speaking.” He meant when Andre died, but she appreciated the fact that he didn't just say it. “He admits that he behaved abominably, and that his behavior could be badly misconstrued now. You're the only person now who can testify as to exactly what he did, and why. Just how exactly do you view it?”

“I think he went mad with grief. So did I. We both did foolish things. It was a long time ago.” She looked sad as she thought of it, and he watched her. She was a beautiful woman, but he thought she had the saddest eyes he'd ever seen, and she intrigued him. It had been clear to him all along that Charles Delauney was still in love with her, and he wondered just how much his sentiments were reciprocated, but Delauney had insisted ardently that they hadn't been involved before the kidnapping. In fact, because of Malcolm, she had refused to see him. Tom Armour was mildly impressed by that, but it was going to take a lot more than that to seriously impress him.

“Do you think my client is a dangerous man?” That was a loaded question, and she thought about it for a long time.

“No. I think he's foolish. Impetuous. Even stupid sometimes.” She smiled but Tom Armour did not smile back. “But I don't think he's dangerous.”

“Do you think he took your child?”

She hesitated for a long, long time, trying to be truthful. “I don't know.” She looked him squarely in the eye, and she liked what she saw there. He looked like an honest man, someone you could trust. And had she met him in other circumstances, she knew that she would have liked him. And she thought that Charles was very lucky to have him as an attorney. “I don't know. I think he did. The evidence was there. But when I think of him, as he was … as I knew him … I don't see how he could do it.”

“Do you think that if he took your child, he would harm him?”

“Somehow …” She thought about it and then looked at him again. “…Somehow I just can't let myself believe that.” Because if she did … it would destroy her.

“Why do you think he might have taken him? Out of revenge for the child you lost? Anger at you because you wouldn't see him? …because he still loves you?”

“I'm not sure.” She wished herself that she had the answers.

“Do you think someone could have framed him?” It was what Charles had insisted to him from the beginning. And Tom Armour had finally come to believe it.

“Possibly. But who? And how would he have gotten Teddy's pajamas and bear, if he'd never had him?” The defense had thought of that too, and they were difficult questions to answer, unless the people who had actually taken the child had framed Charles, but that was a long shot. And how would they even know him? It was the weakest spot in their case. But the strongest one was that the child's mother herself wasn't totally convinced that Charles Delauney would do it. Armour had a feeling she could be swayed either way, which was dangerous for Charles.