Peril on the Royal Train (31 page)

‘My father was worried at the outset,’ said Mary, ‘and insisted on coming with me. When he realised that Mr Goodfellow was utterly trustworthy and that my virtue was not, after all, in danger, I was allowed to attend lessons without a chaperone. It was at The White Lion that I met Alfred and my life changed completely.’

Madeleine was a good listener, allowing Mary the freedom to talk at will without interruption. It was a touching story and not without a parallel in her own life. Like Madeleine, Mary Burnell had met a somewhat older man and moved gently through the stages of acquaintance, companionship and close friendship until she surrendered to unconditional love. Alfred Penn had financed Mary’s ambition to become an actress. Colbeck had identified and developed Madeleine’s talent as an artist. Beyond that point, there were profound differences. While Madeleine had found marriage and fulfilment, Mary’s dreams had been irreparably shattered.

‘Alfred bought a painting because it reminded him of me,’ said Mary. ‘It was the scene at the end of
Romeo and Juliet
when Juliet finds Romeo and thinks that he’s dead. Alfred told me that I’d take the role onstage one day and that it would make me famous. I never realised that I’d play the part in real life as I did earlier this evening. I know just how Juliet must have felt,’ she wailed. ‘I want to kill myself.’

‘Don’t say that, Mary.’

‘It’s true – I’ve nothing left to live for!’

Dissolving into tears, she flung herself into Madeleine’s arms.

The search was fruitless. Though he went systematically from room to room, Leeming could find nothing that confirmed Patrick Scanlan’s real name or that gave any hint as to who might have killed him. In fact, there were no telltale documents of any kind and he decided that they must be in the safe. Since he had no key – and lacked Scanlan’s skill as a cracksman – he was unable to open it. He felt that the one place where something might be hidden was in the main bedroom and he subjected that to the most thorough search, opening every drawer, crawling under the bed and even lifting the carpet to see if anything was concealed beneath the floorboards. Leeming was so engrossed in what he was doing that he didn’t hear the front door opening or pick up the sound of footsteps ascending the staircase. He was kneeling on the floor when he felt someone dive on top of him with force and get an arm around his throat. After believing that he was alone in the house, he was now engaged in a frantic fight.

His attacker was strong. The thick forearm was squeezing the breath out of Leeming. He reacted at once, bucking and twisting like an unbroken horse with a rider on his back. When he managed to loosen the hold a little, he suddenly rolled over sharply and dug his elbow hard into the man’s ribs. With a cry of pain, the attacker released him for a moment. It was all the time needed for Leeming to sit up and start to pound away with both fists. He could see that he was fighting a sturdy man of his own age with a misshapen nose. Taking punches to face and body, his adversary was also inflicting punishment of his own, flailing away with both fists and landing some stinging blows. It was minutes before the man’s resistance slowly faded under Leeming’s sustained attack. Both men were bruised, in pain and out of breath.

With a savage blow to the jaw, Leeming finally subdued him.

‘Who the devil are
you
?’ he demanded.

‘I live here,’ said the man.

When he saw that Madeleine had drawn all that she could out of their guest, Colbeck took a cab to the address that Victor Leeming had given him. After introducing himself to Mary Burnell’s father, he explained that she’d suffered a dreadful shock when she visited her friend. Burnell was horrified to hear the details. On the cab ride back to Colbeck’s house, he talked of the trust that he and his wife had placed in the man they called Alfred Penn. They’d found him thoroughly decent, reliable and generous to their daughter. Colbeck didn’t disillusion him. Recriminations would come later when Mary and her father learnt Alfred Penn’s real name and his true occupation. For the time being, they both needed to be protected from a second thunderbolt. It would have destroyed them.

Reaching the house, they saw that Mary was much calmer than she had been. The sight of her father made her get up from the sofa and stagger over to him. Enfolding her in his arms, he stroked her hair with a soothing hand. Her time with Madeleine had helped her to regain her composure but all that she wanted to do was to go back home. Colbeck escorted them out to the waiting cab and waved them off. He then went back into the house and gave his wife a fuller explanation of what had happened and who the murder victim was.

‘He’s a convicted criminal?’ she said in astonishment. ‘Mary talked about him as if he were some kind of saint.’

‘Nobody whose house he burgled would subscribe to that view of him.’

‘He took her in completely.’

‘Evidently,’ said Colbeck, ‘he was a persuasive man. Yet while he had an influence on her, Mary had made a profound impact on him. One could see that from the painting I just told you about. He was clearly enthralled by her.’

‘It’s not difficult to see why, Robert. She’s very beautiful.’

‘Many men would have had designs on her.’

‘Scanlan behaved like a perfect gentleman. That’s what set him apart from the others. Her parents approved of the friendship.’ Madeleine sucked her teeth. ‘Both they and Mary will be devastated when they learn the truth.’

‘I tried to postpone that awful moment. But tell me what she said, Madeleine.’

‘A lot of it was repetition. She was still reeling from the discovery she made at the house. Mary said that it was a special occasion. Her friend was due to receive a lot of money today as a result of a business venture. He’d promised her a gift.’

‘The business venture was almost certainly the burglary at Mr Renwick’s house,’ said Colbeck. ‘Instead of being paid by the man who hired him, he was silenced for good. It was unfortunate that she was due there this evening.’

‘Were there no servants in the house?’

‘I saw none when I was there.’

‘So they would have been alone when she got there.’

‘That speaks volumes for the amount of trust she had in him.’

‘It went beyond trust, Robert,’ said Madeleine. ‘She worshipped the man. Mary nursed the hope that they might one day marry.’

‘At least she’s been rescued from that fate. It would have been a marriage built on shifting sand. Scanlan’s luck would have run out sooner or later. He’d have been imprisoned and Mary would have seen how ruinously naive she’d been.’

‘She’ll realise that anyway in due course.’

‘I fear that she will,’ said Colbeck, ‘but it’s a question of degree. The unmasking of a dear friend is of a different order to the exposure of a husband in whom one has reposed all one’s love and hope. However,’ he went on, glancing at the clock on the mantelpiece, ‘I must return to Scotland Yard. The superintendent will expect a report on the latest developments.’

‘Will you tell him about
my
involvement?’

‘I think not, Madeleine. He’d never accept that a woman could be of such value in the investigative process and he’d chide me for not taking Mary Burnell straight to him.’ After giving her a kiss, he headed for the door. ‘By the time I get there, Victor will have finished his search of the house. I have every hope that he’ll have found something of interest to us.’

Leeming usually stayed as far away from Tallis’s office as he could and always felt uneasy when summoned there. On this occasion, however, he went willingly because he had a prisoner in tow and could expect praise. The man who’d attacked him at the house was Ned Layne, servant and cook to Scanlan. When he heard that his master had been murdered, he refused to say anything. After handcuffing him, Leeming hauled him off to Scotland Yard. Surly and uncooperative, Layne sat on a chair in Tallis’s office while Leeming and the superintendent stood over him. When they fired questions at him, they got no response.

‘Withholding information from the police is a crime,’ said Tallis, ‘and you are in enough trouble as it is. You’re the accomplice of a notorious villain.’

Layne gave a dismissive shrug. Being in police custody held no fears for him. It was clearly not the first time that he’d been questioned by detectives.

‘Speak up, man!’ yelled Tallis.

‘May I ask him something, sir?’ ventured Leeming.

‘It would be a waste of time, whatever you ask.’

‘It’s worth a try, Superintendent.’

Leeming looked down at him. The fight with Layne had left him with sore knuckles and an ugly bruise on his face but the servant had come off worst. Layne had lost a couple of teeth in the encounter and one eye was half-closed.

‘I don’t blame you for jumping on me like that,’ said Leeming. ‘You thought I was an intruder and you tried to protect your master’s property. That’s what any servant should have done. But, as I told you, Patrick Scanlan was murdered. Do you want the same thing to happen to you?’ Layne sat up as if paying attention for the first time. ‘Your master burgled the home of a Mr Renwick. Does that name ring a bell with you?’ Layne shook his head vigorously. ‘Don’t lie to us.’

‘I’ve never heard of a Mr Renwick,’ said Layne, finding his tongue at last. ‘My master never tells me where he’s going when he leaves the house.’

‘But you know that he’s up to no good.’

‘I do what I’m paid for.’

‘I’m sure that you do,’ said Leeming, ‘and, in return for your wage, you keep your mouth shut about Scanlan’s activities. But this burglary was not the same as the others. It was part of a much bigger crime.’

‘That’s why your life is in danger,’ said Tallis, relieved that they finally got the man to talk. ‘Had you been at the house, you’d have been killed as well.’

‘I’ve done nothing!’ protested Layne.

‘You’re an accessory to a crime – to a series of crimes, probably.’

‘But the one that concerns us,’ said Leeming, ‘occurred at the home of Archibald Renwick. Someone was ready to pay a lot of money to your master because they knew of his reputation. But it seems as if they didn’t honour their side of the bargain. Instead of getting his reward, he was killed. The man who hired your master will be looking for you now because you could bear witness against him.’

‘But that burglary was nothing to do with me,’ asserted Layne.

‘You
knew
about it. That’s enough.’

‘All I know is that a man came and offered my master four hundred guineas to break into a house. He gave a deposit at the start and was due to pay the rest of the money today. That’s why Miss Burnell was invited.’

‘She’s the young lady who found the body, sir,’ said Leeming to the superintendent. He swung instantly back to Layne. ‘Think about this. People who can afford four hundred guineas obviously have a lot of money at their disposal. If they can hire the most successful burglar in the city, they can also hire the most efficient killer. He’s already disposed of your master.
You
are his next victim.’

‘Unless you help us to catch him first,’ said Tallis.

‘But I don’t know who he is,’ bleated Layne.

‘You know who came to the house with the offer of money.’

‘Yes,’ said Leeming, ruefully. ‘You wouldn’t have treated him the way you treated me, would you? He wouldn’t have been assaulted. No, you’d have let him in the front door and overheard what he said to your master. It’s not a large house. It would have been easy for you to eavesdrop.’

‘What was the name of the man who came?’ asked Tallis.

‘What did he look like?’

‘Did he say
why
he wanted that particular house burgled?’

‘Was he alone when he came?’

‘How did Scanlan pass on the information he’d gleaned from the safe?’

‘Why didn’t they pay him there and then?’

‘Tell us everything you know, Layne.’

‘It’s the only way to make sure you stay alive,’ said Leeming, meaningfully.

Layne was scared. Though his master was a man well able to take care of himself, he’d nevertheless been murdered in his own home. Being in police custody was no guarantee of safety. If they really wanted Layne dead, it could be arranged somehow. The only way to remove the threat was to help in the search for the killer. Having spent a lifetime hating and avoiding the police, Layne now had to work with them.

‘Very well,’ he said, morosely. ‘I’ll tell you what I know.’

The telescope was the most expensive thing he’d ever bought but it had already proved its worth. Having delighted Bella Drew, it enabled him to see something in the distance that he’d have missed with the naked eye. Time spent alone with Bella was too precious to be wasted on anything else but Jamie Farr didn’t forget what he’d spied from the top of the hill. Early next morning, therefore, he set off for a walk with his dog. It was not long before he had company. A cry made him turn and he saw Bella struggling to catch up with him. Waving his tail excitedly, Angus went to meet her and ran in circles around her. When she reached Farr, he embraced her warmly.

‘I thought ye couldnae get away today,’ he said.

‘I’m off to my grannie’s but I wanted to catch ye first.’

‘Well, I’m glad ye came.’ The dog barked. ‘So is Angus.’

‘Where are ye going, Jamie?’

‘Can’t ye guess?’

‘No,’ she said.

He held up the telescope. ‘Have ye forgotten what we saw yesterday?’

‘Ah, ye mean those people oot for a drive.’

‘Tha’ were no’ a drive, Bella.’

‘Then why were they there?’

‘I’m hoping to find tha’ oot.’

Her face brightened. ‘D’ye think it’s to do with yon crash?’

‘Aye, it might be.’

‘What do ye hope to find?’

‘I ken what I’d
like
to find,’ he said, ‘and tha’s a way to earn the reward. I’m doing this for us, Bella.’

By way of reply, she hugged and kissed him. Then she stepped back.

‘I’m away to my grannie’s,’ she said. ‘Guid luck, Jamie.’