The Railway Detective

‘Except for the young woman, that is. She was an innocent person who happened to be in the wrong company at the wrong time.’

‘Yet they still cut her throat?’

‘We are dealing with ruthless men, Miss Andrews.’

‘Father discovered that.’

‘How is he, by the way?’

‘He gets better each day,’ she said, brightening. ‘Unfortunately, he also gets angrier and louder. I have difficulty in calming him down.’

‘I refuse to believe that. You know exactly how to handle him.’

His fond smile was tinged with disappointment. Madeleine met his gaze and held it for some time, trying to read the message in his eyes while sending a covert signal in her own. Colbeck was strongly aware of the mutual interest between them but he did not feel able to explore it. His visitor eventually broke the long silence.

‘I had a more personal reason for coming, Inspector,’ she said.

‘Indeed?’

‘Yes, I feel that I owe you an apology.’

‘Whatever for?’

‘My behaviour when you called at our house.’

‘I saw nothing that could warrant an apology, Miss Andrews.’

‘My father spoke out of turn.’

‘He does seem to have an impulsive streak.’

‘It led him to say something that he had no right to say,’ explained Madeleine, ‘and I did not wish you to be misled by it. The person that he mentioned — Gideon Little, a fireman — is a family friend but, as far as I am concerned, he can never be more than that. Father thinks otherwise.’

‘Your private life is no business of mine,’ he said, trying to ease her obvious discomfort. ‘Please do not feel that you have to offer either an apology or an explanation.’

‘I just wanted you to understand.’

‘Then I am grateful that you came.’

‘Really?’

‘Really,’ he confirmed.

Madeleine smiled with relief. ‘Then so am I, Inspector Colbeck.’ She got to her feet. ‘But I must let you get on with your work. What am I to tell my father?’

‘That he has a very beautiful daughter,’ said Colbeck, letting his admiration show, ‘though I daresay that he already knows that. As for the train robbery,’ he went on, ‘I can give him no hope of an early arrest. Indeed, I think you should warn him to brace himself.’

‘Why?’

‘Because the man behind the robbery will be back. In my view, he is conducting a feud against the railway system and he will not rest until he has inflicted more serious damage upon it.’

‘What do you mean?’ roared Sir Humphrey Gilzean, striking the side of his boot with his riding crop. ‘The attempt failed?’

‘It was only a partial success,’ said Thomas Sholto.

‘How partial? Was there no explosion?’

‘Yes, Humphrey.’

‘Then what went wrong?’

‘The gunpowder, it seems, was not in the ideal position. All that it did was to dislodge the brickwork on one side of the tunnel.’

‘It was intended to block the entrance completely.’

‘That did not happen, alas.’

‘Why ever not, Thomas? I gave orders.’

‘They were disobeyed,’ said Sholto. ‘The men decided that they could achieve the same results with a smaller amount of gunpowder than you had decreed. They were proved wrong.’

‘Damnation!’

‘They’ve been upbraided, believe me.’

‘I’ll do more than upbraid them,’ snarled Gilzean, slapping the back of a leather armchair with his crop. ‘I gave them precise instructions. Had they followed them to the letter, the train that was coming from the opposite direction would have crashed into the debris and put the Kilsby Tunnel out of action for a considerable time.’

‘That did not happen, Humphrey. Damage was limited.’

‘I knew that we should have done the job ourselves.’

‘Jukes and the others have never let us down before.’

‘They’ll not get the chance to do so again,’ vowed Gilzean, prowling vengefully around the hall of his house. ‘I know that. Instead of disrupting the railway, we simply gave them a salutary warning. The Kilsby Tunnel will be guarded by an army of policemen from now on.’ He flung his crop onto the armchair. ‘We lost our chance through sheer incompetence.’

‘They did not realise how solid that brickwork was.’

‘Almost as solid as their heads, by the sound of it. I don’t like it, Thomas. This is a bad omen. Until now, everything has gone so smoothly.’

‘Our luck had to change at some time.’

‘Luck does not come into it, man,’ retorted the other. ‘It is merely a question of good preparation and perfect timing. That is what served us so well with the train robbery — discipline. Were I still in the regiment,’ he said, waving a fist, ‘I’d have the three of them flogged until they had no skin left on their backs. Just wait until I see them. Disobey orders, will they?’ he cried. ‘By God, the next time I try to blow up a tunnel, I’ll make sure that each one of those blithering idiots is inside it!’

Madeleine Andrews made no objection this time when he suggested that she might return home in a cab. Shadows were lengthening and Camden began to seem a long way away. As they stood in Whitehall, however, she made no effort to hail a cab and neither did Colbeck. She wished to stay and he wanted her to linger. Their brief conversation in his office had redeemed his whole day. When a cab went past, they both ignored it.

‘I read what the newspaper said about you, Inspector.’

‘Did you?’

‘Yes,’ replied Madeleine. ‘It listed some of the other cases in which you’ve been involved. You’ve had a very successful career.’

‘I am only one of a team, Miss Andrews,’ he said, modestly. ‘Any success that I’ve enjoyed as a detective is due to the fact that I have people like Sergeant Leeming around me.’

‘That face of his would frighten me.’

‘Victor has many compensating virtues.’

‘I’m sure that he has.’ She looked up quizzically at him. ‘How did you come to know so much about locomotives?’

‘They interest me.’

‘Father could not believe that you could tell the difference between a Bury and a Crampton locomotive. That pleased him so much.’

‘Good,’ said Colbeck, studying her dimples. ‘Driving a train has always seemed to be to be an exciting occupation.’

‘Not to those who actually do it, Inspector. Father has to work long hours in all weathers. Standing on the footplate in heavy rain or driving snow is an ordeal. And think of the dirt. His clothing gets so filthy that I have to wash it in several waters to get it clean.’

‘Has he ever wanted to change his job?’

‘No,’ she admitted. ‘He loves it too much.’

‘In spite of what happened to him this week?’

‘In spite of it.’

Colbeck grinned. ‘I rest my case.’

‘Being in a railway family is hard for any woman,’ she said. ‘Talk to Rose Pike. Her husband was the fireman.