‘I’ve watched you,’ she continued, her gaze fixed on him. ‘After Rose died, you seemed lost, but it was as if you wanted to be that way. You wanted it to hurt. You didn’t want anyone too close to you, you wouldn’t have let me near if I’d tried.’ She paused. ‘Now you have this murder the city’s talking about, and suddenly you’re you again. You’re Richard Nottingham, the Constable. You have a purpose.’ Her eyes were large and moist. ‘You have all that. And I’m Mary Nottingham, I’m still here. I’m still surrounded by the same things, the same memories, every single day.’
Slowly, with tenderness born from years together, from happiness and grief, he gathered her to him. She cried softly as he held her close. Silently, he thanked God. She felt so familiar in his arms, so much a part of him, a part he’d missed in these last weeks.
She pulled back suddenly, not hiding the tears, and wiping them away with the back of her hands.
‘Let me finish here.’
He smiled then unfolded her from his arms. They’d begun again. Together.
He’d barely taken three bites of the pie before there was a hurried pounding on the door. Glancing apologetically at Mary and Emily, he rose from the table to answer it. Josh was there, his legs muddy, breath coming fast and steaming on the air so he was hardly able to push the words out.
‘Mr Sedgwick asked if you’d come, boss. Right now.’
‘What’s wrong?’ Nottingham asked.
‘It’s that man from Graves’s warehouse.’
‘Rushworth?’ The Constable felt the pit of his stomach fall.
‘Yes. He’s vanished.’
Ten
‘Damn it.’ Nottingham paused to think. He thought he’d covered everything, that he was in control again. ‘Go back,’ he ordered quickly. ‘Tell John I’m on my way. Get men out. Look where he lives. Look in the taverns in case he went there. Look everywhere. And I want whoever was supposed to follow him at the jail in an hour.’
Forrester took off again, running as fast as his legs would move. Nottingham knew the reality. They’d search. If they were very, very lucky, they’d find Rushworth. But even as he hoped, he knew the truth would almost certainly be different. Wyatt had snatched him. The next time they’d see the man would be as a corpse with the flesh stripped from his back.
He turned back to look pleadingly at Mary. Emily gazed at him curiously.
‘I’m sorry,’ he said. ‘I have to go.’
Mary nodded in understanding. She’d heard the words so often before in their life together. He put on his old, plain buff coat, gathered up his greatcoat and swept out of the door, buttoning the garment as he walked quickly over the bridge and up Kirkgate, ploughing through the dense mud of the road.
At the jail Sedgwick was sitting behind the desk, frowning anxiously.
‘How did it happen, John?’ Nottingham asked angrily before the deputy could say anything. ‘There were supposed to be men on him.’
‘I had Morris following him. He’s not the best, but he’s usually reliable. He said Rushworth went down a ginnel. By the time Morris got there, Rushworth had vanished. He says he looked all over then came back here. Josh was on and he came and got me.’
‘Has someone tried his home in case Morris just lost him?’
‘I went over myself. Lives alone, his neighbours said. His wife died during the winter. Don’t worry, boss, I didn’t tell them anything.’
The Constable rubbed his chin, feeling the stiff rasp of stubble.
‘Have you talked to Morris?’
‘Aye, just for a minute, then I sent him out again.’
‘And what do you think. Is he telling the truth?’
He watched the deputy carefully framing his answer.
‘I believe him. He’s not a liar. He’s always been a solid man, boss, he does the work as best he can. It’s just. .’
‘What?’
‘He’s not too sharp. He’s fine for little jobs, but this might have been too much for him.’
Nottingham stared hard at Sedgwick. ‘So why did you pick him? You know how important this is.’
The deputy look back evenly. ‘You said you wanted men on it right away. He was there, the better ones weren’t.’
Nottingham grimaced in frustration.
‘I’m sorry, John, you were just doing what I’d ordered. I told Josh I wanted Morris back here. I’ll find out what happened. How many men do you have out looking?’
‘Every single one of them, except those keeping an eye on the judge, and he’s tucked up at home.’
Nottingham let out a long, slow sigh. ‘We’ll need men on the judge. We can’t afford any problems there. And scour the bloody city for Rushworth. We need to find him sharpish.’
‘Yes, boss.’
Nottingham was trying to sort through some papers, fretting and hoping for news, when the man walked into the jail. He knew Morris’s face, although they’d not spoken often. Morris was a stooped, scrawny man with a heavy, dark beard that grew to his chest. His hair was lank and matted, face and hands dirty; he looked like a beggar in his layers of ancient clothes.
‘Tha’ wanted to see me, sir,’ he said.
‘You were following Rushworth.’
Morris considered the statement. ‘Aye, that’s what Mr Sedgwick told me to do.’
‘I want to know everything that happened. Everything. Take your time. It doesn’t matter how small.’ Nottingham perched on the edge of the desk
‘I went down to that warehouse. Tha’ know the one?’
The Constable nodded.
‘I waited till they all come out for the day.’
‘Did you see anyone else waiting around?’
Morris shook his head.
‘No, sir.’
‘How did you know Rushworth?’
‘Mr Sedgwick had told me what he looked like.’
‘Where did he go after they all came out?’
He could see the man trying to slowly marshal his memories.
‘He went along the Calls. There were some people about, so I didn’t let myself get too far behind him.’
‘How far away were you?’
Morris tried to estimate the distance in his head. ‘Mebbe forty yards. Little bit more, perhaps. Fifty yards at most.’
‘Did he look around? Did he talk to anyone?’
‘Nay, he had his head down and he was striding out. Like people do when they’re going home from work. Glad to be free.’
‘And when he was in the Calls?’
‘He ducked into this ginnel. I know it, it’s just a short one, leads through to Kirkgate not far from t’ Parish church.’
‘What did you do?’
‘I walked faster so I wouldn’t lose him, sir.’
‘But you did lose him.’
Morris hung his head.
‘I know.’ He paused. ‘I’m sorry.’
