The Excursion Train (12 page)

‘Has the Inspector said anything to you?’ he wondered, idly.

‘About what?’

‘Well…’ He gave a meaningful shrug.

‘About
what
?’ she repeated, looking him in the eye.

‘Something that a handsome man and a pretty young woman usually get round to talking about.’

‘Father!’

‘Well – has he?’

‘Robert and I are just friends.’

‘That’s all that your mother and me were until she let me kiss her under the mistletoe one Christmas,’ he remembered with a fond smile. ‘The trouble was that her parents came in and caught us. Her father gave me such a talking to that my ears burnt for a week. People were very strict in those days and I believe it was a good thing.’ He shot her a quizzical glance. ‘Do you think I’m strict enough with you, Maddy?’

‘
You’re
the person who needs a firmer hand,’ she said, giving him a peck on the cheek, ‘not me. And I’ve no complaints about the way you brought me up. How many other daughters have been allowed to sneak on to the footplate of a locomotive as
I once was?’

‘I could’ve lost my job over that.’

‘You took the risk because you knew how much it meant to me.’

‘And to me, Maddy. It was something we could
share
.’ He sat down on the sofa. ‘But you didn’t answer my question.Have you and the Inspector got any kind of understanding?’

‘Yes,’ she replied with a touch of exasperation, ‘we understand that we like each other as friends and that’s that. Robert is too involved with his work to spare much time for me and I’m too busy running this house and looking after you.’

‘At the moment.’

‘Please!’

‘Things could change.’

‘Father, will you stop going on about it?’

‘Well, I’m bound to wonder. He’d make a fine catch, Maddy.’

‘Listen to you!’ she cried. ‘When I first met Robert, you kept telling me not to waste my time on someone who was out of my reach. He was above me, that’s what you said. Too good for a girl from Camden.’

‘That was before I got to know him proper. He may look fine and dandy but his father was only a cabinetmaker, a man who worked with his hands. I can respect that.’

‘Try respecting me for a change.’

‘I always do.’

‘No, you don’t, Father,’ she said, vehemently. ‘Left to you, I’d have been married off to Gideon Little, a fireman on the railway, somebody who suited you, regardless of what I felt about him. Now you’re trying to push me at another man you like. Don’t you think that I have the right to choose my own
husband?’

‘Calm down, calm down,’ he said, getting to his feet.

‘Then stop badgering me like this.’

‘I was curious, that’s all.’

‘Robert and I are good friends. Nothing more.’

‘It always starts out that way.’

‘Nothing more,’ she insisted. ‘You must believe that.’

‘Oh, I do, Maddy, but I can’t ignore the signs.’

‘What signs?’

‘Him taking you out in that cab, for a start.’

‘It was only for a ride,’ she said, careful to say nothing about the visit to Hoxton. ‘What was wrong with that?’

‘Only that it’s strange that a detective in the middle of a murder investigation can find time to take anyone for a ride in a hansom cab. Some of the neighbours saw him pick you up from here. They told me how attentive he was.’

‘Robert is a gentleman. He’s always attentive.’

‘Then there’s the other signs,’ he pointed out, marshalling his case. ‘The ones you can’t hide, no matter how much you try.’

‘What are you talking about?’

‘The way your voice changes when you mention him. The way your face lights up when he calls here. And look at that painting you’ve been working on,’ he added, indicating it. ‘When someone spends that amount of time and effort on a present for a man, he begins to look like more than a friend.’

‘Robert loves trains, that’s all.’

‘There – you have a bond between you.’

‘Father—’

‘I’ve got eyes, Maddy. I can see.’

‘Well, will you please stop
looking
!’ she shouted.

Caught on a raw spot, Madeleine was torn between anger and embarrassment. It was no use asking her father to accept the situation because she did not fully comprehend it herself. When her emotions were in a tangle, however, the last thing she needed was to be questioned about her friendship with Robert Colbeck. Unable to contain her fury, she snatched up the painting and fled upstairs. Andrews heard her bedroom door slam shut. Annoyed with himself for upsetting her, he nevertheless felt able to sit down with a wry smile.

‘I must remember to get some mistletoe for Christmas,’ he said.

Even in the uncertain light from the gas lamp, Colbeck could see the damage inflicted on his face and, when Leeming got up to greet him, the Sergeant let out a grunt of pain. It was late evening when the Inspector got back to his office in Scotland Yard and he was distressed to find his colleague in such blatant discomfort. There was also a faint but very unpleasant whiff coming from him.

‘What happened, Victor?’ he asked.

‘I saw seven stars at the Seven Stars,’ said Leeming, laughing at his own feeble joke. ‘I was fool enough to mention the name of Jake Bransby and took a beating for it.’

‘How badly were you hurt?’

‘I’ll live, Inspector – just about. The Superintendent was so worried that he wanted to call in a doctor to examine me. Mr Tallis also made me wash three times but I still can’t get rid of that stink.’

‘How did you acquire it in the first place?’

‘The worst possible way.’

Leeming had been waiting for a chance to tell his story to
a more sympathetic audience and he left no detail out. What he could not tell Colbeck was who actually assaulted him and how he got from the yard at the rear of the public house to a cesspit some streets away. As he described the attack itself, his injuries started to throb violently and his swollen lips felt as if they had been stung by wasps. Reaching the end of his narrative, he took a long sip from the glass of water on the desk.

‘I blame myself for this,’ said Colbeck, apologetically.

‘Why, sir?’

‘I should never have sent you there.’

‘I was getting on well until I tried to be too inquisitive.’

‘I was hoping that they had not yet made the connection between Jacob Bransby and the public hangman but it was too much to ask. You have to admire his courage.’

‘Yes,’ agreed Leeming. ‘Going in there among the ruffians of Bethnal Green when he must surely have stretched the necks of a few villains from that part of London. Just as well they never knew who he was or they’d have done more than sling him in a cesspit.’

‘Your visit was not entirely wasted, Victor.’

‘I hoped you’d say that.’

‘You found out that almost everyone at the Seven Stars went off to support the Bargeman in that fight. They even drew up a list.’

‘With a certain person from Hoxton near the top.’

‘When the killer learnt that,’ said Colbeck, ‘he didn’t need to follow his victim in search of the right moment to strike. He knew that Guttridge would be on that excursion train – so he waited.’

‘With that woman.’

‘With or without that woman, Victor. That’s another little mystery for us to solve. Was she involved or was she just another passenger?’

‘I’ve no idea.’

‘Perhaps we’ll find out when we go to Ashford tomorrow.’

Leeming gaped. ‘Ashford?’

‘If you feel strong enough to accompany me.’

‘Yes, yes. Of course.’

‘Are you certain about that?’

‘Yes, I am,’ said the other, straightening his shoulders. ‘It’ll take more than a few punches to keep me out of action, sir – though my wife may not see it that way. I’m dreading the moment when I walk through that door tonight. You know how Estelle can carry on.’

‘Would you like me to speak to her?’

‘Oh, no.’

‘But I can tell her what sterling work you were doing for us in Bethnal Green when you were set upon. Praise can be soothing.’

‘Estelle will need more than a few kind words from you to calm her down, sir. Leave my wife to me. I know how to handle her. Meanwhile,’ he went on, nodding in the direction of the door, ‘make sure you have a good story ready for the Superintendent. He’ll come storming in here any moment to ask why you went to Maidstone.’

‘How did he react when you struggled back here earlier?’

‘He seemed very sorry for me at first – even helped me in here. And being the Superintendent, of course, he wanted retribution. Assaulting a police officer is a serious offence.’

‘Except that they didn’t know what your occupation was.’

‘Thank God! I’d not be alive now, if they had.’

‘Nobody involved in law enforcement is very welcome in Bethnal Green,’ said Colbeck, ‘and we both know why. It’s the children I feel sorry for. They have no choice. If they’re born there, crime is the only means by which they can survive.’

‘Too true, sir.’

‘So what did Mr Tallis want to do?’

‘Send a bevy of constables to arrest the landlord and his wife,’ said Leeming with a grimace, ‘but I managed to talk him out of that. It was those two bruisers who set about me and I’d never recognise them again. Even if I did, it would be my word against that of everybody else in the Seven Stars and they’d swear blind that I was lying. I’ve got no witnesses to speak up for me.’

‘That doesn’t mean that we let these bullies get away with it, Victor,’ said Colbeck, sharply, ‘but I’m glad that you dissuaded the Superintendent from any precipitate action. It needs a more subtle approach. When time serves, we’ll pay another visit to the Seven Stars.’

Leeming was vengeful. ‘I’ll look forward to that, sir.’

‘Look forward to what?’ demanded Tallis, bursting in through the door in time to hear the words. ‘Ah!’ he said, seeing Colbeck, ‘you’ve deigned to return from your unauthorised visit to Maidstone, have you?’

‘It was a very productive trip, sir,’ replied Colbeck.

‘That’s beside the point.’

‘You must allow me some latitude in a murder inquiry.’

‘I asked to be kept abreast of any developments. That means you inform me of your movements
before
the event rather than after it.’

‘When I made the decision to go to Maidstone, you were in a meeting with the Commissioners and I could not interrupt
that.’

‘Then you should have waited until the meeting was over.’

‘I’ll not make any progress in this investigation by sitting on my hands in here, Superintendent,’ said Colbeck, evenly. ‘You demanded a speedy result so I moved with urgency.’

‘So did I,’ Leeming put in.

‘Be quiet, Sergeant,’ barked Tallis.

‘Yes, sir.’

‘And have a good bath before you come here tomorrow. You still smell like something that crawled out of a blocked drain.’

‘Victor will not be in the office tomorrow,’ said Colbeck. ‘He and I will be going to Ashford in Kent.’

‘How kind of you to tell me, Inspector!’ returned the other with mock sweetness. ‘It’s always comforting to know where my detectives actually are.’ His voice hardened. ‘I trust that you have an extremely good reason for wanting to hare off to Kent again.’

‘Yes, sir. That’s where the killer of Jacob Guttridge lives.’

‘And what makes you think that?’

‘The Inspector has this theory, sir,’ interjected Leeming, earning himself such a glare of naked hostility from Tallis that he wished he had not spoken. ‘I’d better leave it to him to explain.’

‘Thank you, Victor,’ said Colbeck.

Legs wide apart, Tallis folded his arms. ‘I’m waiting, Inspector,’ he said, coldly. ‘I want to hear about this productive trip to Kent.’

‘So do I,’ said Leeming, eager to learn what progress had been made. ‘You obviously fared a lot better than I did today. Did you get to Maidstone prison, Inspector?’ He caught Tallis’s
eye again and took a hasty step backwards. ‘Sorry, sir. I didn’t mean to hold him up.’

Colbeck had made copious notes during his visit but he had no need to refer to them. His training as a barrister had sharpened his memory and given him an ability to assemble facts in the most cogent way. His account was long, measured and admirably lucid, making it easy for both men to understand why he had spent so much time in Maidstone. Victor Leeming was intrigued to hear about such colourful characters as Reverend Narcissus Jones and Obadiah Lugg but it was the accumulation of pertinent facts that weighed much more with the Superintendent. It was not long before the folded arms dropped to his side and the stern expression faded from his countenance.

When the recitation finally ended, Tallis came close to a smile.

‘You’ve done well, Inspector,’ he admitted.

‘Thank you, sir.’

‘It looks as if you may at last have stumbled on a theory that has a grain of truth in it. Notwithstanding that, we are still a long way from making an arrest and that is what the Great Western Railway wants.’

‘It’s what we all want.’

‘Then when do you expect it to take place?’

‘In the fullness of time,’ said Colbeck, smoothly.

‘I need something more specific to tell the railway company,’ said Tallis, ‘and to appease the pack of reporters who keep knocking on my door.’ He glanced at Leeming. ‘I thank heaven that none of them were here when the Sergeant returned from Bethnal Green in all his glory. I tremble to think what the newspapers would have made of that.’

‘I’d have been a laughing stock,’ wailed Leeming.

‘It’s the bad publicity that concerns me. This Department has more than its share of critics. Whatever we do, we must not give them ammunition they can use against us.’ He turned to Colbeck. ‘So what do we tell them?’

‘The same thing that we tell the railway company,’ said Colbeck with a confident smile. ‘That we have made significant progress but are unable to disclose details because the killer would be forewarned and might be put to flight. More to the point,’ he continued, ‘the Sergeant and I want to be able to shift our interest to Kent without having any reporters barking at our heels.’

‘How long will we be in Ashford, sir?’ asked Leeming, worriedly.

‘A couple of days at least, Victor. Maybe more.’