had to find the strength to keep both of us from sinking into absolute despair. And yes, he has suffered. He loved them as much as I did. He’s just better at hiding his feelings than I am.’
‘He told us that, on the day in question, he got back here to find you in great distress.’
‘He was late home that evening because he’d been to see a client in Darlington. By that time, I was sick with worry. Bertram wanted to ride over to the house to make sure that all was well and to put my mind at rest. For some reason,’ she admitted, ‘I wouldn’t let him. I convinced myself that, if anything unpleasant had happened to Miriam, her husband would have sent word. Oh dear!’ she wailed, a hand to her mouth. ‘I’ll have to go through it all again at the inquest tomorrow. I’m not sure that I’ll be able to manage it.’
‘I’m sure that you will, Mrs Reader,’ said Leeming.
‘And so am I,’ added Colbeck. ‘You’ve done splendidly here with us and you’ll do the same in public.’ He folded up his map. ‘We’ll intrude on your grief no longer.’
‘The pain is all the more searing because we don’t know what befell Miriam that day. Until the truth comes out, I’ll never be able to mourn her properly.’ She turned moist eyes upon Colbeck. ‘We’ve been everywhere but the search has so far been in vain. Is there any hope at all that you can find her, Inspector? Is there any hope that we’ll finally know the truth?’
Touched by her plight and by the ravaged beauty of her face, Colbeck weighed up the evidence he had already gathered.
‘I think that I can guarantee it,’ he said.
CHAPTER SEVEN
It had been a full day for Madeleine Andrews. After sending her father off to work, she’d cleared away the breakfast things and checked what was in the larder before making her shopping list. She then let in the woman who came to clean the house and dressed to go out, taking a large basket with her as she walked towards the market. Buying the week’s rations never seemed like a chore to Madeleine because she always met friends with whom she could chat and she invariably called in on her aunt. Afternoon was given over to her work and she spent a long time at her easel, bringing another vivid railway scene painstakingly to life on the canvas. Only when the light began to fade a little did she abandon her art, turning instead to the latest novel borrowed from Robert Colbeck.
Mrs Gaskell’s Cranford diverted her for an hour or so with its charming portrayal of events in a quiet Cheshire village, describing, as it did, a leisurely existence that had great appeal to her. It certainly bore no relation to the more hectic metropolitan world in which she lived. Madeleine was still engrossed in the book when she heard familiar footsteps on the pavement outside. Caleb Andrews had returned from Euston after his usual stop at a public house frequented by fellow railwaymen. He was in an affable mood when she let him in, taking off his cap and coat before slipping into the kitchen to wash off some of the day’s grime.
‘Supper will be ready soon,’ she told him.
‘It can wait until you’ve read the article.’
‘What article is that?’
‘The one about Inspector Colbeck, of course,’ he said, popping his head around the door. ‘Well, it’s not exactly about him but he’s mentioned in it.’
‘Where?’ she asked, seizing the rolled-up newspaper from the pocket of his coat. ‘What page is it on?’
‘Where else would it be but the front one?’
She saw the headline. ‘Is it this one about suicide in Yorkshire?’
His head vanished. ‘That’s it, Maddy.’
She recoiled with dismay when she read the article because it went into unabashed detail about the injuries sustained by Colonel Tarleton. While she was pleased to see a word of praise for Colbeck’s record of solving crimes relating to railways, she was sorry that he was involved with such a grisly event. It was a long article and she read it through twice. Face and hands now scrubbed, Andrews came out of the kitchen.
‘It’s something we all fear, Maddy,’ he said. ‘We’re all afraid that some fool will step out in front of us one day when we’re driving along at top speed. It could happen to any of us.’
‘The colonel was no fool, Father. He was an educated man and, according to this, he had a distinguished military career. It seems that he took his life because his wife was missing, presumed dead.’
Andrews nodded. ‘He has my sympathy. I know what losing a wife can do to you.’ He put a grateful arm around her. ‘This fellow didn’t have a daughter like you to help him through it.’
‘He has a daughter and a son. They must be horrified.’
‘Don’t forget the driver. He’s probably suffering badly as well.’
‘What made the colonel choose that way to die?’
‘Madness – it’s the only explanation. Why didn’t he shoot himself if he couldn’t carry on? Or why didn’t he drown himself in a river? That’s what I thought of doing.’
‘Father!’ she scolded.
‘It was only on the day of the funeral, Maddy,’ he said, holding up an apologetic palm. ‘It was when I realised that I’d never see your mother again that I had a moment of weakness. Luckily,’ he went on, brightening, ‘I had you to make me see sense and I’ve found a new life – for a while, anyway.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Well, it’s not going to last, is it? Sooner or later, you’re going to marry Inspector Colbeck and live in his house.’
‘You’ll be very welcome to visit us any time you wish,’ she said, putting the newspaper aside. ‘Robert has told you that himself.’
‘Newly married couples like their privacy.’
She gave a dry laugh. ‘I’m not sure that we’ll have much of a private life. Robert works long and irregular hours. He’s ever likely to charge off to a different part of the country at a moment’s notice.’
‘I don’t mind that – as long as he has the sense to travel on one of our trains.’
‘Don’t be silly!’
He gave her an affectionate squeeze. ‘Are you pining?’
‘I always miss him.’
‘And I daresay that he misses you. He’d better. I want my daughter missed good and proper. I don’t want a son-in-law who forgets you the moment you’re out of his sight.’
‘He’d never do that, Father.’
‘Good,’ he said. ‘No matter what I was doing, your mother was never far from my mind when she was alive. You and her were what kept me going through hard winters and long shifts. As for the inspector, he should be on his way back to London soon. The inquest is tomorrow. Once that’s over, he can catch the next train.’
‘You didn’t read the article properly, Father.’
‘Yes, I did.’
‘Then you should have realised that Robert would never leave a place where there was unfinished business. A woman is missing and feared dead. He’ll want to find her and arrest someone for the murder. It could keep him in Yorkshire for some time.’
Andrews frowned. ‘I don’t like the sound of that.’
‘It’s something we have to accept.’
‘I don’t mean him staying there,’ he explained. ‘It’s the danger he might be in. Now that he’s going to be one of the family, I’ve started to worry about him. Investigating a suicide is harmless enough but he’s also looking for a missing person.’
‘Robert has a way of finding people he’s after.’
‘Someone may decide to stop him doing that.’
‘I don’t understand,’ she said.
‘I’m talking about the killer, Maddy.’
She swallowed hard. ‘Oh, I see.’
‘He’s not going to give himself up without a fight,’ said Andrews. ‘When a man has already committed one
