were liberally salted with spite and prejudice. The inhabitants of the village and its neighbouring communities were either his friends or his enemies. There seemed to be no intermediate ground between the two groups. While they were grateful to learn so much from him, Colbeck and Leeming found his loquaciousness wearing and his pomposity irritating. When it was time for the railway policeman to leave, therefore, neither of them tried to detain him. They were glad to be left alone so that they could compare notes about what each of them had so far discovered. They were still deep in discussion when Tallis came in. He took only a few halting steps into the room then stood there with a look of utter bewilderment on his face as if he had no idea where he was. Colbeck beckoned him over.
‘Come and join us, Superintendent,’ he said, rising to his feet. ‘You look as if you might need a stiff drink, sir.’
‘Yes, yes,’ said Tallis. ‘Thank you, Colbeck.’
‘Brandy?’
‘Excellent.’
Colbeck went across to the bar counter and Tallis sat down at the table with Leeming. The superintendent still looked distracted. It was only when he’d taken a sip of the double brandy that was put before him that he came out of his reverie.
‘That’s better,’ he said.
‘You obviously viewed the body.’
‘I did.’
‘It must have been a gruesome experience,’ remarked Colbeck.
‘It was. I’d hate to have to go through that again.’
‘Why did you force yourself to do it, sir?’ asked Leeming.
‘It was my duty. He’d have expected it of me.’
‘Colonel Tarleton is dead. He’d never have known if you viewed his corpse or not.’
‘ I’d have known, Leeming. It would have made me feel guilty.’
‘Then it’s as well you went, sir,’ said Colbeck, quietly. ‘While you were away, we met Sergeant Hepworth, the railway policeman in charge of clearing the remains from the line. He’s very well informed about life in this little corner of the North Riding.’
‘What did he tell you?’
‘What didn’t he tell us?’ said Leeming, rolling his eyes. ‘The sergeant talked our ears off. Much of what we heard was irrelevant to our investigation but he did come up with one interesting notion.’
Tallis’s eyebrows lifted. ‘Oh? And what was that?’
‘He believes that Mrs Tarleton is still alive.’
‘That’s ridiculous!’
‘Well, we have no actual evidence of her death.’
‘There’s no other way to explain her disappearance, man,’ said Tallis, roused. ‘When a devoted wife goes missing for such a long period, she has to be the victim of foul play.’
‘Sergeant Hepworth doesn’t agree, sir.’
‘What, in God’s name, does he know about it?’
‘His daughter worked at the house,’ said Colbeck, ‘and was able to see at close quarters how the marriage operated. She came home with tales of dissension in the house – though I’m inclined to question the girl’s truthfulness. According to the girl who succeeded her, Ginny Hepworth was dismissed as maid-of-all-work because she was lazy, so she may well have an axe to grind.’
Tallis was impatient. ‘Come to the point, Colbeck.’
‘The girl alleges that the colonel and his wife were estranged.’
‘That’s absurd!’
‘She claims to have overheard arguments.’
‘Then she suffers from hallucinations.’
‘When were you last there, Superintendent?’ asked Colbeck. ‘When did you last visit them in their house?’
‘What difference does that make?’
‘Had you been there in the last year, for instance?’
‘Of course not,’ said Tallis, tetchily. ‘How could I spare time from my work to see friends who live so far away? Since I took over my present post, I’ve been slaving away at my desk seven days a week.’
‘That means you haven’t been here for over five years,’ Leeming calculated. ‘A lot can happen in that time, sir.’
‘The colonel and I kept up a regular correspondence.’
‘But I doubt if he’d have said much about his wife in his letters. He must have known that you hold peculiar views about marriage.’
‘My views are not peculiar,’ retorted Tallis, reddening. ‘They are based on observation. Marriage, in most cases, serves to emasculate a man and divert him from his true purpose in life. That was not the fate of Colonel Tarleton. His was a rare example of how marriage can help a husband to explore his true potential.’
‘My wife has done the same for me, sir.’
‘That’s a moot point, Leeming. What I see in you is a man whose attention is occasionally diverted by the demands of his family. Look to the inspector. Bachelors like Colbeck are far more effective upholders of the law. Now, will one of you please tell me exactly what this railway policeman is claiming, based on the dubious evidence of his daughter?’
‘In essence,’ said Colbeck, ‘his theory is this. Mrs Tarleton was alienated from her husband because she believed that he’d developed an interest in another woman. After a series of rows, she fled the house and – rather than admit the embarrassing truth – the colonel gave out that she had gone missing.’
‘That is preposterous!’ exploded Tallis.
‘It’s only a theory, sir.’
‘It’s a pack of damnable lies.’
‘The sergeant’s daughter did work there,’ Leeming reminded him. ‘And we do know that the colonel and his wife had separate bedrooms.’
‘That’s none of your business!’ howled Tallis.
Leeming cowered. ‘No, no, I agree, sir.’
‘Colonel Tarleton would no more look at another woman than he’d fly to the moon on the back of a brown cow. He observed his marriage vows to the letter. He’d never bestow his affections on another woman. To start with, he’d never let her anywhere near him.’
‘He did in this instance,’ said Leeming. ‘She worked there.’
Tallis was open-mouthed in astonishment. ‘Mrs Withers?’
‘They spent all their time under the same roof, sir.’
‘Good God, man! Have you taken leave of your senses? Mrs Withers is a servant. Colonel Tarleton would never dream of even looking at her in the way you imply. She’s beneath him. I’ll hear no more of this nonsense,’ he went on, getting to his feet and picking up his glass. ‘I’m going to bed.’
‘Aren’t you hungry, sir?’ asked Colbeck.
‘I couldn’t touch a thing – especially after listening to the arrant nonsense that you’ve just told me. Colonel Tarleton loved his wife dearly. I’ll trouble you to remember that from now on.’
After taking a long sip of his brandy, he stalked off. Colbeck was relieved that there were so few people there to witness Tallis’s volcanic loss of temper and he regretted passing on Hepworth’s theory about the missing wife. Something else worried him.
‘This case is arousing too many emotions in him,’ he observed. ‘I think his personal involvement is a handicap to his judgement. He has an image of the perfect marriage that existed when he was last here a number of years ago. Since then, a great deal has happened. To begin with, the size of the domestic staff at the house has been reduced and the garden is no longer maintained to such a high standard. Something very serious must have happened yet there seems to have been no hint of it in the letters sent from here to the superintendent.’
‘What do you think we should do?’
‘Persuade him to leave the investigation to us.’
‘It will not be easy.’
