Coley shrugged. ‘I was on my own.’
‘What about the man you claim handed you that suit?’
‘Never set eyes on him before.’
‘I don’t believe that he existed. Your friends, however, do exist. You run with a pack. You wouldn’t have the courage to do anything like that on your own. A man who’s too afraid to fight for his king and country needs someone else to hide behind.’
‘I’m not afraid of anything!’ yelled Coley.
‘Not even a long prison sentence?’
‘You can’t send me to prison. I done nothing wrong.’
‘That’s not what the jury will think,’ warned Marmion. ‘You were part of a mob involved in arson, trespass, theft, wilful destruction of private property and — directly or indirectly — in the death of the owner of the shop. Mr Stein was upstairs at the time.’
Coley swallowed hard. ‘I never touched him.’
‘That may be true but you might know someone who did. At the very least, you know other people who were there and they, in turn, can give us additional names.’ Marmion put his face close to him and spoke with quiet menace. ‘However long it takes, I’m going to track down every single person who was involved in that disgraceful attack and bring them to justice. The one I’m most anxious to meet is the man who started that fire then threw petrol on to it. Was it you or one of your friends, sir?’ Coley shook his head vigorously. ‘I’ll leave you to think it over. When I come back again, I’ll expect you to remember the names and addresses of those who brought you all the way from Shoreditch so that you could vent your spleen on an innocent man.’
‘I had nothing to do with that fire,’ asserted the prisoner.
‘Then who did?’
Coley eyed him warily. All his defiance had gone. The one thing on his mind was self-preservation. The scale of the notional charges against him was unnerving. When he’d been arrested before, he’d always managed to get away with a fine. Not this time. Inspector Marmion had rattled him. The prospect of a prison sentence suddenly seemed a real one. Coley tried to win favour.
‘I saw someone carrying a petrol can,’ he confessed.
It was a start. Marmion was content.
CHAPTER FIVE
To relieve the boredom of the long wait, Joe Keedy chatted to one of the policemen. Having spent years in uniform himself, Keedy had compassion for the men who patrolled the streets on their beat in all weathers. They were a visible deterrent to criminals and a sign of reassurance to the law-abiding public. Since the war started, the scope of their duties had widened considerably and they worked assiduously to discharge them. Notwithstanding their best efforts, however, they sometimes came in for harsh criticism. Herbert Stone was their latest detractor. He was pulsing with exasperation.
‘It’s maddening,’ he complained as he came over to Keedy. ‘The fire brigade is almost as bad as the police force.’
‘They’re only doing their job, sir,’ said Keedy.
‘Then why don’t they do it properly? The same goes for the police. You knew that trouble was expected. After what happened to the
‘We can’t police every street in London.’
‘People like my brother deserved preferential treatment,’ insisted Stone. ‘He was a man of standing in the West End. I’ll raise the matter with the commissioner himself — and I’ll also have stern words to say about the fire brigade.’
‘Why is that?’
‘I’ve been insulted, Sergeant. The officer in charge of the operation has just told me that, if I don’t stop badgering him, he’ll have me removed by the police.’
‘He doesn’t want to be impeded, sir.’
‘I’m not impeding anyone,’ argued Stone, pointing at the shop. ‘My brother is dead in there. I’m entitled to know why they’re taking such an eternity to bring him out.’
‘It’s still too dangerous to go in,’ said Keedy, seeing a chance to get rid of him. ‘My information is that it may be past midnight before they’ve cleared the debris. There’s really no point in hanging on until then, sir. You can’t make a formal identification here. That will have to be done at the morgue.’
‘I want to see my brother.’
‘Perhaps you should consider his family, Mr Stone. His wife will be worried sick and you mentioned a daughter earlier. She’s bound to be very anxious. In the event of bad news, they need to be prepared.’
It took Stone a few moments to regain his composure.
‘Yes,’ he conceded, anger subsiding, ‘you’re right, Sergeant. My sister-in-law will fear the worst and so will Ruth. They must be told the truth.’ After consulting a pocket watch, he reached a decision. ‘I’ll drive back to Golders Green. This is not something that I can do over the telephone. I need to be there in person.’
‘That’s very considerate of you, sir.’
Stone wagged a finger. ‘But I’ll want to know the moment the body has been moved.’
‘We’ll contact you at once.’
‘Here’s my card.’ Slipping the watch back into his waistcoat pocket, he took out his wallet and extracted a business card. He handed it to Keedy. ‘Ring that number any time of night. I’ll be up.’
‘Leave it with me, sir.’
‘Out of respect to my brother, I feel that I ought to stay,’ said Stone with a final glance at the shop, ‘but you’re right — my place is with his family. Goodbye, Sergeant.’
‘Goodbye, sir.’
‘We don’t want to impede the fire brigade any more, do we?’
On that sarcastic note, Stone wheeled round and headed off towards the street where he’d parked his car. Aggressive as the man’s manner had been, Keedy nevertheless felt sorry for him. Losing a brother was a severe blow and Stone now had to pass on the bad tidings to his family. Keedy did not envy him the task. In the course of his work, he’d had to impart bad news to people and most had been unable to bear it. He hated being the one to spread grief and despair.
Now that the fire had been extinguished, the firemen were working heroically to clear up the mess so that they could shore up the vestiges of the ceiling. Because a famous British vessel had been sunk, a business that had taken many years to build up had been burnt out of existence in little more than two hours. Its proud owner, it seemed, had been murdered and his safe plundered. It was not simply a case of mob violence. They were looking for a killer.
A car approached and pulled up nearby. Marmion got out and surveyed the scene before strolling over to Keedy.
‘I don’t see Mr Stone anywhere,’ said Marmion.
‘I sent him home, Inspector. He was making a nuisance of himself to the fire brigade and he was far from complimentary about the police. I pointed out that his brother’s family would be desperate for news and implied that he was the best person to deliver it.’
‘Well done, Joe. He has my greatest sympathy but the truth is that he was only in the way.’
‘It was a double triumph,’ boasted Keedy. ‘I not only got rid of him, I saved us the awkward job of being the bearers of bad tidings.’ His grin warned Marmion that there was a joke coming. ‘You might say that I killed two birds with one Stone.’
Marmion groaned. ‘I’m glad you didn’t tell him that.’
‘How did you get on at Vine Street?’
‘Oh, it was worth the visit. One of the men arrested had nothing of value to say but the other was quite helpful once I’d persuaded him of the dire position he was in. He gave me the names and addresses of three friends
