Colbeck was sceptical. ‘That interpretation of facts,’ he said, ‘only holds water if there really was some intimacy between the colonel and Mrs Withers. Having met the housekeeper, I find it hard to believe that she’d engage in any kind of impropriety and events have shown that theory to be wildly eccentric.’
‘Ginny saw what she saw, Inspector.’
‘But she saw it through rather bleary eyes if she was close to exhaustion most of the time. According to you, Mrs Tarleton learnt of this clandestine romance and fled the house.’ He leant forward. ‘How do you explain the fact that we exhumed her body early this morning and confirmed that she was a murder victim?’
‘The colonel must have killed her,’ argued Hepworth, wagging a finger. ‘He had to silence his wife before she told everyone what was going on in the house.’
‘Colonel Tarleton did not commit murder,’ said Colbeck with rasping authority. ‘I’m absolutely certain of that. Nor did he develop an inappropriate interest in his housekeeper. Your daughter only imagined that. What drove him to take his life was grief over the loss of a beloved wife. It’s reprehensible of you to blacken his name with hints of scandal at the house.’
‘I haven’t blackened his name,’ denied Hepworth, squirming under the reproach. ‘I merely reported what Ginny sensed. You and Sergeant Leeming are the only people I told, I swear it. And even though the colonel and I had that argument, I was more than ready to help when his wife first went missing.’
‘Yes,’ recalled Colbeck, ‘I believe you were paid for that.’
‘It wasn’t just me. He offered money to everyone who’d take part. But that wasn’t what made me give up my free time to join the search. I felt sorry for the man.’
‘Weren’t you still angry that he’d dismissed your daughter?’
‘It was a crisis, Inspector,’ said Hepworth, righteously. ‘In those circumstances, you forget petty differences. I forgot about Ginny and I even overlooked what he did to Sam.’
‘Who is Sam?’
‘He’s my lad. Though he’s a bit slow between the ears, he’s very willing and does all sorts of jobs around here to earn an honest penny. One of the things Sam liked most was going on a shooting party.’
Colbeck’s interest was sparked. ‘Why was that?’
‘He always used to carry the colonel’s gun for him. Until I had the argument over Ginny, that is,’ Hepworth went on. ‘Next time he tried to go out with a shooting party, Sam was sent packing by that vindictive old curmudgeon. So you see,’ he said as if he’d just been exonerated, ‘I was ready to forgive and forget. That’s the kind of man Eric Hepworth is.’ He patted his chest. ‘I have a big heart, Inspector.’
Refreshed and restored by a night in his wife’s arms, Victor Leeming arrived at a railway station for once with a modicum of enthusiasm. When he entered the maelstrom that was King’s Cross, he was still beaming. Built only a few years earlier as a terminus for the Great Northern Railway, the station was on a cramped site with tunnels close to the platform ends. What caught the eye of any newcomer, however, were the two vast glazed arches that spanned the whole structure and gave it a sense of space and wonder. Having gone there reluctantly on the previous occasion, Leeming now found a moment to look upwards and gape. He was still marvelling at the construction when someone tugged at the sleeve of his frock coat.
‘Good morning,’ said Madeleine Andrews, voice raised above the general hubbub.
He was astonished. ‘I never thought I’d see you here.’
‘I came in the hope of catching you. I was lucky. In a crowd like this, I could easily have missed you.’
‘And you came on your own?’
‘Yes, I walked along the towpath from Camden.’
‘That’s a very dangerous thing for a young woman to do,’ he said, worriedly. ‘You should really have had someone with you.’
‘There were plenty of people about and lots of barges on the canal. I sensed no danger. Besides,’ she went on, ‘I was anxious to give you this.’ She handed over her letter. ‘Could you deliver it for me, please?’
He glanced at the name on the envelope. ‘The inspector will be delighted to receive this. Though he never talks about it, I know that he misses you as much as I miss Estelle.’
‘Was your wife pleased to see you last night?’
‘She was overjoyed, Miss Andrews, and so were the children. It was a lovely surprise for them.’
‘My lovely surprise came in the form of a letter. That’s why I felt I had to reply to it.’ They moved aside to get away from the crush of bodies. ‘I do hope this case won’t take as long as you fear.’
‘So do I,’ he said. ‘Inspector Colbeck is very tenacious. He’ll not rest until the murder is solved. Even in the time I’ve been away, he’ll have made progress.’
‘The people I feel sorry for are the children. To lose their mother must have been an awful shock. Before they recovered from that, their stepfather committed suicide in the most horrible way. It seems such a strange thing to do, walking along a railway track.’
‘It certainly left nothing to chance.’
‘Why did he do it?’
‘The Inspector believes that he was sending a message.’
‘What sort of message?’
‘We haven’t found that out yet, Miss Andrews.’
‘Did the colonel have some connection with railways?’
‘None that I know of,’ said Leeming, looking down a platform at a waiting train. ‘Anyway, I’m afraid that I can’t stop now. My train leaves in a few minutes. I’ll have to go.’
‘Of course, Sergeant – I’m sorry to hold you up.’
‘I don’t want to miss it. After all, I have an important letter to deliver.’ He held up the envelope. ‘The inspector will want to see it at the earliest possible opportunity. In fact, if I know him, he’ll be waiting at the station to meet me.’
Colbeck sat on a bench at South Otterington station and watched the passengers climbing on board a train to York. Railways had always held a fascination for him. He never ceased to be amazed at the way steam had conquered distance, putting the entire country within the grasp of every traveller. He loved the constant bustle, the ear-splitting clamour and the distinctive smell of stations like Euston, Paddington and Waterloo. Here, in this corner of the North Riding, he’d found the perfect antidote to the large, enclosed London termini with their daily pandemonium. This station was tiny by comparison, open to the skies and intensely personal. As the village’s link with the outside world, it performed a valuable function without detracting from the sense of a tightly knit and self- supporting community.
Once the stationmaster had despatched the train, Colbeck felt able to stroll across to him. Silas Ellerby gave him a warm greeting.
‘Good morning to you, Inspector!’
‘Good morning to you, Mr Ellerby,’ said Colbeck, noticing that his cheeks looked more rubicund than ever. ‘I envy you.’
Ellerby laughed. ‘You’re the first person who’s ever done that.’
‘You work in such pleasant surroundings, you see fresh faces every day and you exert such power over those hissing monsters we call locomotives. Once they’re here, they’re under your control.’
‘You’ve only been watching me on a fine summer’s day, sir. This is not such a pleasant place to work in the winter when the rain pours down and the wind sweeps through. As for the so-called fresh faces, they’re usually the same ones every day. You and the sergeant are the only strangers to come here in the last month. I’m the one who envies you, Inspector,’ said Ellerby. ‘Making trains leave on time is important but it’s not as exciting as the work that you do.’
‘Being a detective has its drawbacks as well.’
‘What sort of drawbacks?’
‘Well, you have to ask searching questions that people don’t want to answer. You have to delve into their private lives and they resent that.’
‘That’s only if they have something to hide, Inspector. When you have a clear conscience like me, you don’t mind any questions.’
‘In that case, I’ll put one to you, if I may.’
‘Then you can count on a straight answer, sir.’
‘Is it true that you and the colonel once locked horns?’
