elsewhere.'
'Do you plan to return to Kent today?'
'No, Mr Redmayne. I will be staying in London for a few days.'
'My home is entirely at your disposal.'
'A kind offer, sir, but one which I must decline. Before I fell asleep last night, I reached a decision. It is vital that I visit our house in Westminster because it may contain clues which will be of great help to you. That being the case, I am forcing myself to go there.'
'I would be happy to accompany you.'
'That will not be necessary,' she said almost primly. 'I would prefer to be alone. Dirk will take me there in the coach.'
Christopher took a seat opposite her as Jacob brought him his breakfast. They ate in silence until the servant left the room. Penelope was a trifle nervous. He noticed that she avoided his eyes.
'I hope that you have no regrets, Miss Northcott,' he said.
'Regrets?'
'About staying under my roof.'
'None at all, Mr Redmayne,' she said, looking up at him. 'And it was convenient to have an inn around the corner in Holborn where my coach and coachman could be lodged for the night.'
'You give me the impression that you would have preferred to spend the night there yourself.'
'That is not the case at all, I promise you, and I am sorry if my manner suggests otherwise. You have been generosity itself but my mind is in turmoil over recent events. Please excuse me if I appear at all rude,' she said with a penitent smile. 'I am merely preoccupied.'
'Of course.'
'Is there anything you wish to ask before I leave?'
He grinned. 'I have questions enough to detain you for a week.'
'You will have to save them until a more fit time.'
'I will,' he said. 'Just remember that I am always here. If you need help of any kind while you are in London or, more to the point, if you do uncover what you conceive to be useful evidence at your house in Westminster, you know where to find me.'
'At the sign of the Kind Landlord.'
'Is that what I am?'
'You keep a comfortable inn, sir.'
'It has been blessed by your presence, Miss Northcott.'
His frank admiration unsettled her slightly and she was grateful when the rumble of wheels was heard outside. A glance through the window confirmed that her coachman had arrived. Showering him with more thanks, she rose from the table and crossed to the door. He followed her until a thought made her stop.
'There is something which deserves my particular thanks, sir.'
'Is there?'
'Your discretion,' she said. 'When we talked last night, you refrained from asking what anybody else would have asked at the outset.'
'And what was that?'
'How much of what I told you my fiancee must have known.'
'Nothing at all, surely.'
'I hope that is the case, naturally, and my heart assures me that it is. But you are more aware than I of how closely Mr Strype's business affairs were intertwined with my father's. They met frequently here in London. It must have crossed your mind that Mr Strype may have stumbled on some unpleasant facts about his future father-in- law.'
'It never entered my thoughts,' he lied.
'I do not believe you.'
'Then let me put it another way, Miss Northcott. It does not concern me. I consider it a matter between you and your fiancee.'
'Your tact is appreciated.'
Jacob opened the front door to let her out and Christopher helped her into the coach. When she settled into her seat, she spoke to him through the window.
'Please let me know if your investigations start to bear fruit,' she said.
'They already have,' he said with a smile which he instantly changed to an earnest frown. 'I will, Miss Northcott. But how will I reach you? I do not have your address in Westminster.'
'You will find it in my note.'
'What note?'
'The one I left for you in my bedchamber,' she said, 'thanking you for your hospitality. As you may imagine, I had great qualms about this visit but I feel reassured now. I just hope that some of the information I brought you may prove useful.'
'It is invaluable.'
'What will you do next?'
'Go straight to Mr Creech's office in Lombard Street to confront him with your findings. He must have known about this Marie Louise Oilier all along. And there is much else which that lawyer has been concealing from me. Not any more, Miss Northcott,' he vowed. 'You have given me the ammunition I need. I will make him divulge everything. I'll not leave his office until I have got the full and unequivocal truth out of Solomon Creech.'
The body was floating in mid-stream. It had lain beneath the water for some time before bobbing back to the surface in so bloated a condition that it was hideous to behold. The passengers in the boat turned away in disgust but the watermen were used to such sights. One of them shipped his oars and uncoiled the rope which lay at his feet. When he and the others resumed their journey across the Thames, the boat was towing the dead man by his ankle.
An hour later, the corpse was lifted on to a slab at the morgue to be examined by a surgeon. It was a gruesome task. Even though the chamber was sweetened by herbs, the stink was nauseating. The man's face was swollen to twice its original size and so distorted that his closest friends would never recognise him. Birds had started to peck at his face, rendering it even more repulsive. The trunk and limbs were also grotesquely inflated, splitting open his apparel in several places. Spewed up by the River Thames, he was one huge ball of putrefaction.
The surgeon turned to his assistant with a sigh.
'Cut off his clothes and we will make a start.'
'Do not prevaricate!' warned Christopher. 'Tell me where he is.'
'I do not know, sir. That is the truth.'
'You must know. You are Mr Creech's clerk.'
'He simply told me that he was going away for a few days.'
'To hide from me.'
'Your name was not mentioned, Mr Redmayne.'
'What of the name of Sir Ambrose Northcott?'
'That was at the forefront of his mind,' admitted the other. 'The last thing he said was that he would have to go aboard Sir Ambrose's ship to transact some business with the captain.'
'What was the nature of that business?'
'I can but guess.'
Christopher saw that no purpose would be served by haranguing the clerk. Geoffrey Anger was a harmless individual, loyal to his employer but quite unable to lie convincingly on his behalf. He cowered before the
