Since her brother-in-law was there, she sought his opinion.
‘What did you make of Joe Keedy?’
‘I thought he was an interesting chap,’ said Raymond. ‘He’s alert, committed to his job and obviously very efficient at it.’
‘Did you know that he’s captured an escaped prisoner?’
‘Yes, I saw a brief mention of that in the newspaper.’
‘Joe tried to play it down but Harvey was there at the time. He knows how brave and resourceful Joe was. The arrest took place in a river, so they got soaked to the skin in the process.’
Raymond smiled. ‘And I thought that
‘It doesn’t stop you doing it.’
‘Nothing would ever stop me, Ellen — it’s a mission.’
‘I know.’ She closed the door of the shed and took him back into the house. ‘So Joe Keedy made a good impression on you, did he?’
‘He’d make a good impression on anybody, especially the ladies.’
‘Yes, he is rather dashing.’
‘Yet I suspect that he puts work before all else.’
‘Just like Harvey,’ she said.
‘It’s probably just as well. If he was on the loose, Joe Keedy would break a lot of hearts.’
It was a timely reminder to Ellen that she and Alice were not the only women to be aware of his charms. Keedy was a roving bachelor. There had doubtless been many others who’d got close enough to him to entertain hopes of a deeper and more permanent relationship with the detective. He had always let them down. Ultimately, he valued his freedom. Ellen needed to remember that. In urging her daughter to go in pursuit of Keedy, she had been setting Alice up for an inevitable disappointment. It was another reason to reproach herself for raising the subject.
‘I hope that I was able to help,’ said Raymond. ‘Joe seemed to think that I had. I don’t envy him his task. He’s courting danger.’
‘You do that all the time, Ray.’
‘Rude names and the odd missile are what I have to put up with for the most part, Ellen. That’s not the case with Joe. Some of these groups he wants to investigate are full of violent men. They pledge allegiance to a doctrine that actually encourages them to use force.’
‘Joe Keedy can defend himself.’
‘It’s just as well,’ said Raymond. ‘If he starts to probe too hard in the wrong places, he’ll be in jeopardy.’
There were so many of them. That’s what distressed Keedy. In their search for organisations with an anti- Semitic agenda, the detectives he’d assigned to the task had discovered several names to be added to the list given him by Raymond Marmion. Even more distressing than the number of groups was the propaganda that they put out. Keedy leafed through a pile of it and recoiled at its crudity and naked prejudice. Jews were reviled for things they could not possibly have done. There were absurd allegations of Jewish plots to seize power in Britain and impose punitive taxation. One pamphlet even accused them of being behind the sinking of the
The reports on his desk suggested that most of the groups were more inclined to make vile threats than to implement them but there were those dedicated to direct action against what they saw as the relentless encroachment of Judaism. Of the names before him, Keedy took a special interest in the True British League. The headline on its leaflet was unambiguous: JEWS ARE A POISON INJECTED INTO THE NATIONAL VEINS. The leaflet went on to claim that every foreign office in Europe was controlled by Jewish moneylenders who had fomented the war in order to exploit it for profit. The charges were patently ludicrous but Keedy knew that there would always be those who believed them. It was time to get acquainted with the organisation. He had already dispatched detectives to infiltrate some of the groups that had aroused his suspicion. Keedy had saved the True British League for himself.
Sir Edward Henry was tied up in a series of meetings for most of the day. It was not until late afternoon that Marmion was able to see him. When he showed the commissioner the drawings of the shop, and told him of the deduction he’d made on the basis of them, he was given a verbal pat on the back.
‘Well done, Inspector! You’ve explained the inexplicable.’
‘It’s only a theory, Sir Edward.’
‘It has the ring of truth to me.’
‘We shall see.’
‘Let me get this right,’ said the commissioner, recapitulating. ‘You believe that someone was concealed in the building before that mob got anywhere near it. Where could he hide?’
‘The attic is the obvious place. From that vantage point, he’d have been able to see that gang coming along Jermyn Street. Once the attack started and the diversion was created, he came down into the office, killed Jacob Stein and emptied the safe.’
‘How could he know that the safe would be open?’
‘He couldn’t,’ replied Marmion. ‘That was pure luck. I think that he was only there to commit murder. When he saw that the safe had been left obligingly open, he helped himself to its contents.’
‘The murder seems to have been planned so carefully.’
‘Mr Stein paid for being a creature of habit.’
‘I’m just grateful that his daughter was not there when the killer struck or she, too, might have been murdered.’
‘She had a problem of her own to contend with, Sir Edward.’
‘Yes — those two men lurking in the alley. It must have been a terrifying experience for her.’ He touched Marmion’s shoulder. ‘I’m so pleased that you and Sergeant Keedy managed to apprehend Cochran so quickly. We can’t have a rapist on the loose.’
‘Cochran has another charge to face now,’ said Marmion, ‘and it’s one of attempted murder. The sergeant and I will act as witnesses.’
‘You caught him red-handed, so to speak.’
‘I’m hoping that it will encourage Ruth Stein to face the man in court. If she knows he’s certain to be convicted on the other charge, she has no worries that he’ll be released to torment her again. That will reassure her.’
‘We need to put Cochran and Gatliffe away for a long time.’
‘I’m certain that that will happen, Sir Edward.’
‘Good.’
Marmion updated him on the progress of the investigation. A detective had been deployed to watch David Cohen’s movements. Other men had been told to gather more information about Howard Fine and Cyril Burridge. The people whose names were on Herbert Stone’s list of potential enemies were also being contacted. Marmion had cast his net wide.
‘What about Sergeant Keedy?’ asked the commissioner.
‘He’s testing his own theory.’
‘An anti-Semitic element is clearly present, Inspector.’
‘He’ll bring it out into the open. Since we were landed with this case,’ observed Marmion, ‘we’ve gathered a lot of significant evidence. What we lack is the connecting thread that runs through it and brings it all together. I’m looking to the sergeant to find it.’
He was there again. She sensed it. As soon as Dorothy came out of the shop, she knew that she was being watched. Though she looked in every direction, she saw no sign of her stalker. Taking out her keys, she locked up the shop then walked briskly away. There was only one way to solve the mystery. Discounting the possibility that it
