Cotton on Trial

Williams glanced round briefly Another officer. Well, it was bleeding obvious, wasn't it? "It's a court martial, Sir" he murmured, keeping his voice down. "The rifleman's being prosecuted by the redcoats for theft. He's innocent, of course, and I'm a redcoat saying that. But they'll no doubt have their way in the end." He turned round fully and smiled, the grin fading slightly as he took in the gold lace. "That is, sir, the Colonel will see that justice is done, of course."

Waldegrave ignored the woman's statements about voices and intruders in the night, for the time being at least. "So the watch - Captain Padstowe's watch - was in Captain Vickery's bag in the morning, when Rifleman Cotton went to it. Is that right?"

Set up was right, from the sound of it. If Cotton had only left the thing there and gone straight to see Vickery...

But of course things never worked like that. This was the army, or course, and the one time you were innocent of something was the one time you'd be caught and made to look guilty.

He glanced up as he saw the horsemen from the corner of his eye. The General... What was Sir Arthur Wellesley doing here? Not that he could go and ask him, especially right now and in front of all these people.

"Obliged to you," Sanders said coolly, letting the man's insolent tone slide. Now was not the time to make a fuss. "Carry on."

He turned and walked calmly back over to the General, taking back the reigns of his horse and remounting.

"A court martial, sir," he said, once he was firmly seated again. "A rifleman being prosecuted for theft of a watch. Padstowe's watch." Sanders knew the significance of the name, as did the General.

Sir Arthur frowned. He had expected something of the sort; but that it was a particular watch made it far worse for the accused.

"What is the general opinion?"

"I spoke to a private of the 27th," Sanders said. "He is convinced that the man did not do it, but there does not seem to be much strong evidence that he didn't."

Sir Arthur nodded, casting a glance back over to the proceedings. Sharpe had spotted him, was looking at him, and their eyes met.

"Let's be on our way," he said to Sanders, before turning away from Sharpe and urging his horse into motion again. He would send a messanger half an hour later to enquire as to the verdict.

Maggie nodded in response to Waldegrave's question. "Yes sir, the watch was in the bag. So we're talking about what to do with the thing, because if there's a thief about, he shouldn't be free to go using the captain's bag as a place to store his stuff, because, well, that's wrong, sir." Innocent moral indignation. "And if someone's to see it, there might be trouble with blaming Gabriel of theft - or even Captain Vickery!" she added, wide-eyed with shock at the very idea. She had been told that her eyes always looked enormously blue and sad after crying. She hoped that the men would be moved to pity.

Oh Maggie! He could kiss her... though of course it hadn't answered the question of why he'd taken it out. Though now, of course, it left the way open for admitting the mistake of taking it and that he'd wanted to speak to Captain Vickery and hadn't had a chance to.

He tried to keep his face blank, with the same expression on it as he'd been wearing earlier, but he could kiss Maggie right now, he really could.

He just hoped it had helped him enough.

"Who took the watch from Captain's Vickery bag?" Waldegrave asked her. The trick with the eyes did not move him to pity. They reminded him of a little white kitten his sister had had ...

"I'm getting to that," she replied with an irritated glance back at Waldegrave.

She continued. "So Gabe says, 'I have to take this cloak to Captain Vickery, and I'll see if I can talk to him about the watch.' But we're getting ready to march again, and there won't be much time to talk to him..." She cocked her head and continued with a bit more deliberation, choosing her words carefully. "So, we... we end up deciding that I'll hold the watch safe in my pocket, in case the thief comes back for it, like, and Gabe will go and try to talk to the captain."

"Answer Lieutenant Waldegrave's question," Edrington advised. "Which of you took the watch from Captain Vickery's bag?"

"I... I did, sir."

"Is that true, Miss Evans?" Waldegrave asked, his face still carefully expressionless.

She frowned slightly. "Well, yes, he took it out, just the same as he took out the cloak for Captain Vickery!" she said defensively as if daring them to accuse him of stealing that too. "And he showed me to ask what the writing said on the back."

"Rifleman Cotton took out the cloak and the watch." Waldegrave watched her, concentrating on her face. "And did he take anything else out of the Captain's bag?"

She frowned again. What did that have to do with anything? "I don't know. Sir."

What? Why would he take anything else out of the bag, apart from the cloak he'd been sent for and a watch that had no business being anywhere other than Padstowe's fob pocket? What did the Lieutenant hope to achieve by asking that?

"You saw him take the cloak out and the watch," Waldegrave said carefully. "But you did not see him remove anything else. And what happened then, once he had found the watch and asked you to identify it - to read the inscription."

She thought carefully for a moment. "I told him what it said - J M Padstowe, and he wondered why it was there. And that's when we talked about the man I'd heard the night before, and about telling Captain Vickery and all."

She hadn't seen him take anything else out, because he hadn't. He hadn't had time, for one thing, or reason to, for another. He'd only found the bloody watch in the first place because it was mixed up with the cloak.

Maggie glanced in Cotton's direction and raised her eyebrows at him. Strange ordeal, this. Nerve-wracking too.

Cotton saw the glance Maggie sent his way, and shrugged at her. He'd never be able to figure out how officers thought, never.

And he hoped he could somehow manage to come out of this with his skin whole.

"This was the man who you heard in the night, near the officers' baggage. The man you now believed was a thief. So - you saw Rifleman Cotton take out the cloak and the watch, but nothing else." He paused as Evans started to speak

The bastard was going to use Cotton's woman to convict him. How could anyone let him do that?

Beside him, Vickery murmured, "Be patient. You'll get your turn soon."

Perhaps she should clarify. "I didn't see him actually take the watch and the cloak out. I mean, I was close by, and I saw him going to the bag, but I was talking to the lads and all. I didn't see the watch until he called me over to look at the name on the back of it." Was that it? Was that the problem? What was this man getting at?

"And what did Cotton do with the watch?" Waldegrave asked the next question he had planned while his thoughts slid off in a different direction. Did the watch not come from the officer's bag after all?. Had Cotton had it all along, and just used this opportunity to ...

But those were questions for Cotton, not for the woman. Could he actually prove that Cotton had robbed the exploring officer? It was not what he had been told to do, but it would be a real success if he could. Be damned to those Riflemen and their claims that their discipline worked fine - a Rifleman robbing an officer would show that for the soft-hearted foolishness that it was.