"It seems a shame for a fine man like the Captain to be under suspicion of murder on the evidence of an acknowledged coward like Daniel Hickam, doesn't it? It isn't right, sir, is it?"
A Test of Wills, Chapter 1, p.16.

"We've got ourselves a paragon of all virtues, a man no one had any reason to kill. If you don't count Mavers—who happens to have the best alibi of the lot—you're left with Wilton and that damned quarrel. Tell me, Sergeant. What was Harris really like?"
"Just that, sir . . . A very nice man. Not at all the sort you'd expect to end up murdered!"
A Test of Wills, Chapter 3, p. 54.

Something had triggered the chain of events that ended in that meadow. Something said—or left unsaid. Something done—or left undone. Something felt, something glimpsed, something misunderstood, something that had...