Chapter 24 Filmer on Trial

There was a short silence after Daffodil's outburst. Then Filmer said, 'I don't have to listen to this.'

'I'm afraid you do,' said Baudelaire. 'We have here a letter from Mrs Quentin's insurance company, written yesterday, saying that they fully investigated the matter of the horse, called Thunder, that died, and are satisfied that they paid her claim correctly. We also have a statement from Mrs Quentin's former groom, Lenny Higgs, to the effect that you learned about Thunder's death and the special food for Laurentide Ice on one of your early visits to the horse-car on the train. He goes on to swear that he was later frightened into saying that Mrs Quentin gave him some food to give to Thunder. The insurance company, as you have heard, are satisfied that even if Mrs Quentin did give Thunder some special food, it was not the cause of his death. Higgs further swears that the man who frightened him, by telling him he would be sent to prison where he would be beaten up, and stabbed, is a former railwayman called Alex Mitchell McLachlan.'

What?' For the first time there was fear in Filmer's voice, and I found it sweet.

'Yes. Higgs recognized him from this photograph.' There was a pause while Baudelaire showed Filmer the photograph. 'This man travelled in the racegoers' part of the train under the name of Johnson. We have by now shown the photograph to plenty of current and former railwaymen, and lots of them have said that he is McLachlan.'

There was silence where Filmer might have spoken. 'You were observed speaking to McLachlan . . .' 'Yes, by me too,' Daffodil interrupted again. 'It was at
Thunder Bay, and I didn't like the look of him. You used him to frighten Lenny, and you told me Lenny would be a witness in court against me ... I didn't know you'd frightened the boy. You told me he hated me and would be glad to tell lies about me . . .' She could hardly breathe from anger. 'I don't know how you can live with yourself.'

'Thank you,' said Baudelaire, to control her outburst. 'Now we come, Mr Filmer, to the matter of your attempt to wreck the train. Would you please come in, Mr Burley?' I smiled at George. 'We're on,' I said, removing my coat. 'After you.'

He and I went through the door. He was in his conductor's uniform, and I was dressed in my waiter's grey trousers, white shirt, yellow waistcoat and striped tie — the perfect waiter, apart from my sling. This was the first time the Brigadier and Baudelaire had seen me in waiter's uniform, and their mouths dropped open. They hadn't appreciated how perfect a disguise it was.

'Oh, that's who you are!' exclaimed Daffodil to me. 'I couldn't recognize you outside, when you were wearing a coat.'

Mercer patted her hand and gave me the faintest of smiles over her head. Filmer's face was dark and tense.

'Would you come forward, please,' Bill Baudelaire said. 'The conductor, Mr George Burley, yesterday gave the railway company a report about three acts of sabotage on the Race Train. Fortunately, disaster was avoided on all three occasions, but we believe that all these dangerous situations were the work of Alex McLachlan and that he was acting on your instructions and was paid by you.'

'No,' said Filmer, dully.

'Our inquiries are not yet complete,' Baudelaire said, 'but we do know that the railway offices in Montreal were visited a couple of weeks before the Race Train trip by a man who looked like you. This man said that he was writing a book about industrial sabotage. He asked for, and was given, a list of names of former railway workers who had performed acts of sabotage — so that he could interview them for his book, he said.'

Baudelaire had already told me that this list should, of course, never have been given out, and that the person who did so had been sacked.

'McLachlan's name was on that list,' Baudelaire said.

Filmer said nothing, but the realization of defeat was beginning to show on his face.

Date: 2015-12-24; view: 655