The Railway Detective

‘Three, Inspector. He came in to place the order and returned for a fitting. The third time was to collect the suit.’

‘And to pay for it.’

‘He did that with something of a flourish.’

‘Did he ever tell you why he had moved to London?’

‘Oh, yes,’ said Trew, handing the jacket back to Colbeck. ‘It was an ambition that he had nursed for years but domestic concerns kept him in the Midlands. At long last, he told me, he had a means of escape.’

‘What else did he say?’

‘That he was going to enjoy his retirement.’

‘Not for very long, alas,’ said Colbeck, sadly. He looked around at the various items of clothing on display. ‘Being measured for a suit is usually an occasion for light conversation with one’s tailor. Did you find Daniel Slender a talkative man?’

‘To the point of garrulity, Inspector.’

‘In what way?’

Ebenezer Trew needed no more encouragement. Feeling that he had aroused Colbeck’s disapproval, he tried to atone by recalling snatches of the various conversations he had had with his customer. Most of it was irrelevant but enough was of interest to the detective for him to let Trew ramble on. When the tailor’s reminiscences came to an end, Colbeck seized on one remark made by Slender.

‘He told you that he intended to move in society?’

‘That is what I took him to mean, Inspector,’ said Trew. ‘I think that his exact words were that he would be ‘rubbing shoulders with a different class of person.’ It was one reason why he wanted a new suit.’ He gave an ingratiating smile. ‘Have I been of any assistance?’

‘A little, Mr Trew.’

‘Good. I aim to please.’

‘Did your customer furnish you with an address?’

‘Of course,’ said Trew, seriously. ‘I insisted on that. Had we not known where he lived, we would not have undertaken the work. We are very punctilious about such matters.’ He opened a ledger and leafed through the pages. ‘Here we are,’ he said, stopping at a page and pointing a finger. ‘Mr Slender had lodgings at 74, Delamere Street.’ He offered the ledger to Colbeck. ‘You may see for yourself, Inspector.’

‘There is no need for that, Mr Trew,’ said Colbeck, who knew the street well. ‘It seems that you were not as punctilious as you imagined. The last time that I was in Delamere Street, it comprised no more than two dozen houses. In other words, Daniel Slender was residing at an address that does not exist.’

Trew was shocked. ‘He lied to me?’ he said with disbelief. ‘But he seemed to be so honest and straightforward.’

‘Never judge by appearances,’ advised Colbeck, putting the jacket back into his bag. ‘They can be very misleading.’

‘So I see.’

‘Goodbye, Mr Trew.’

‘One moment, Inspector,’ said the tailor. ‘I am still trying to come to terms with the notion that one of my customers was murdered. Do you have any idea why Mr Slender was killed?’

‘Of course.’

‘May one know what it is?’

‘Not at this stage,’ said Colbeck, unwilling to discuss the details of the crime with a man he found increasingly annoying. ‘Of something, however, I can assure you.’

‘And what is that?’

‘He was not killed for his new suit, Mr Trew,’ said the detective, crisply. ‘Or, for that matter, because he had an unfortunate accent.’

Leaving him thoroughly chastened, Colbeck went out of the shop.

On his second visit, Victor Leeming found the Royal Mint a much less welcoming place. Hoping that the detective had brought good news, Charles Omber was disturbed to hear that no significant progress had been made in the investigation and that suspicions were still harboured about his colleagues. He had defended them staunchly and said that he would take a Bible oath that there had been no breach of security at the Mint. An argument had developed. Omber was determined to win it. Leeming finally withdrew in some disarray.

When he got to Euston Station, he found that Colbeck was already in the waiting room. It was thronged with passengers. The Inspector had suggested they meet there for two reasons. It would not only keep them out of range of the simmering fury of Superintendent Tallis, it would, more importantly, take them back to the place from which the mail train had set out on its doomed journey.

Colbeck saw the jaded expression on the Sergeant’s ugly face.

‘I take it that you found nothing,’ he said.

‘Only that Mr Omber has a very nasty temper when his word is challenged. He refuses to accept that the Mint could be at fault.’

‘Do you believe him, Victor?’

‘No, sir,’ said Leeming. ‘I have this doubt at the back of my mind.’

‘Was Mr Omber deceiving you, then?’

‘Not at all. His sincerity is not in question. In fact, he spoke so passionately on behalf of his colleagues that I felt a bit embarrassed for even suggesting that one of them may have leaked information about the movement of gold coin.’

‘Yet your instinct tells you otherwise.’

‘Yes, Inspector.’

‘Then rely on it, Victor. It rarely lets you down.’

‘Thank you,’ said Leeming. ‘How did you get on in Bond Street?’

‘I met a tailor whom I would never dare to employ.’

‘Why not?’

‘Which of the ten reasons would you care to hear first?’

Colbeck told him about his meeting with Ebenezer Trew and why he had disliked the man so much. He explained what the tailor had said about his erstwhile customer. On one point, Leeming wanted elucidation.

‘Daniel Slender had retired?’ he said.

‘Apparently.’

‘Could he afford to do so, Inspector?’

‘He sold the house in Willenhall, remember, and he would have had a certain amount of savings. Then, of course, there is the money that he would have received from the train robbers.’

‘More or less than William Ings?’

‘More, I should imagine,’ said Colbeck.

‘Mr Ings got the best part of two hundred pounds.’

‘Yet all he did was to tell them that money was being carried by train to Birmingham on a specific day. Mr Slender’s contribution was far more critical,’ he noted. ‘Without those keys and that combination number, they could never have opened the safe so easily. That would have left them with two options — trying to blow it open with a charge of gunpowder or taking the whole safe with them.’

‘That would have entailed the use of a crane,’ said Leeming.

‘And taken far too long. Speed was the essence of the operation and Daniel Slender’s help was decisive. I think that he was paid handsomely in advance with a promise of more to come.’

‘Much more, probably.’

‘Yes,’ said Colbeck. ‘When you do not intend to part with another penny, you can afford to offer any amount by way of temptation. It may well be that Mr Slender was lured to the embankment last night in the hope of receiving the rest of his pay.’

‘Instead of which, his head was smashed in.’

‘They do not take prisoners, Victor.’

‘Mr Slender must have wished that he had stayed in Willenhall.’

‘The attack on him was so ferocious that he had no time to wish for anything. It was a gruesome but quick