He broke off as Leeming arrived, riding one horse and towing another by the rein. He had also collected Colbeck’s hat and handed it to him as he dismounted.
‘Thank you, Victor,’ said Colbeck, releasing his prisoner.
‘I’m sorry that I couldn’t keep up with you, sir.’
‘I managed without you this time. I’ve got a use for those handcuffs now,’ he went on, turning to Bruntcliffe. ‘This is Sergeant Leeming and he’d like you to hold out your wrists.’
Glowering at both of them, Bruntcliffe obeyed. Leeming snapped the handcuffs into place then gave a triumphant grin.
‘We’ve finally solved the murder,’ he said, happily, ‘and stopped Mr Tallis descending on us tomorrow.’
‘Don’t celebrate too soon,’ warned Colbeck. ‘This gentleman has admitted freely that he committed certain crimes but murder is not one of them. I’m inclined to believe him.’
Leeming was shaken. ‘But he was seen getting his blood money from Adam Tarleton.’
‘What blood money?’ demanded Bruntcliffe.
‘You were out riding with him. When you got close to his house, he handed over your payment. We have a witness.’
‘Then he must be half-blind. The only time I had money from Adam was when I came out of prison, and he was repaying a loan I’d made to him in the past. He’s a good friend and the only one to stand by me when I was locked up.’
‘So what did he give you that day?’ asked Leeming.
‘He gave me something better than money,’ replied Bruntcliffe with a smirk. ‘He gave me a letter of introduction to the lady who owns the cottage where I spent the last two nights. Adam told me that I’d be sure of a warm welcome there and I’ve no complaints. It was where he used to stay when he came back to Yorkshire without telling his mother or his stepfather.’ He pointed in the direction of the cottage. ‘Ask the lady, if you don’t believe me.’
‘We will, sir,’ said Colbeck.
‘One thing I must stress. She didn’t know she was harbouring a petty criminal. She’s completely innocent.’
‘I question that,’ said Leeming, shocked by what he’d heard. ‘If the lady can permit herself to be passed so easily from one man to another, then her innocence is in grave doubt.’
‘We’ll talk to her before we leave,’ decided Colbeck. ‘Meanwhile, there’s another job for you to do, Victor. Since you have such a talent for rounding up loose horses, perhaps you’d be so good as to catch that one.’
He indicated the horse that he’d been riding earlier. Having shed Colbeck, the animal had run on for a couple of minutes before jumping over a dry stone wall and slowing to a halt. It was now cropping the grass unconcernedly in the middle of a flock of sheep. Leeming studied them with misgiving.
‘Well, go on,’ urged Colbeck. ‘They won’t harm you. I’ve yet to hear of anyone being savaged by a wild ewe.’
About to move off, Leeming was stopped by a sudden thought.
‘There’s something that worries me, Inspector,’ he said.
‘What is it?’
‘Well, in the space of a morning we’ve lost our two chief suspects. If neither of them committed the murder, who did?’
Agnes Reader bided her time until they were about to leave. Having chosen the keepsake she’d been offered – a tiny silver brooch in the shape of a thistle – she said that she would replace the jewellery box.
‘No, no,’ said Eve, ‘let Mrs Withers do that.’
‘It won’t take me a second,’ Agnes told her.
She went out into the hall and glided up the stairs as swiftly as she could. Letting herself into Miriam Tarleton’s bedroom, she put the box back on the dressing table and crossed to the writing bureau in the corner. There was no housekeeper to interfere this time. Agnes lowered the lid of the desk and pulled out one of the little drawers. She put a hand into the space. Her fingers felt for a wooden lever and she eventually found it. When she pressed it down, a secret drawer popped out from the side of the bureau in the most unexpected place. Reaching into it, all she could find were several small keys. Relief coursed through her so strongly that she almost swooned.
‘Thank God!’ she murmured.
When they stopped at the cottage, it did not take Colbeck long to establish that its female owner was completely unaware of what Bruntcliffe had been doing in the name of revenge. He bade her farewell. The three men headed back towards Northallerton on horseback. Leeming was thankful that they moved at a more sedate pace and glad that they had a prisoner to show for their efforts. At the same time, he was depressed by the realisation that the killer was still at liberty and that they had very little evidence as to his identity. When they reached the town, they handed Bruntcliffe over to one of the constables and watched him being charged before he was shut away in the lock-up. Back in the saddle, Leeming passed on the fruits of his meditation.
‘It has to be Sergeant Hepworth,’ he concluded.
‘We shall certainly take a closer look at him,’ agreed Colbeck. ‘What better way to conceal your guilt than by joining in the search for a woman whom you actually murdered?’
‘No wonder he offered his services to us, Inspector.’
‘Yes, he wanted to know exactly how the investigation went. That way, he could always stay one step ahead of us.’
‘I think we should arrest him immediately,’ said Leeming.
‘We don’t want to make another mistake, Victor. Let’s be absolutely sure of our facts before we accuse him of anything.’
‘But we know he sent those letters. His son told us.’
‘Sam Hepworth would change his story the moment his father gave him a clip around the ear. No, we must proceed with caution. Hepworth is a railway policeman. He’s familiar with the way that suspects are questioned. We mustn’t show our hand too early.’
‘He’s our killer, sir. I know it.’
‘You felt the same about Adam Tarleton.’
‘What that man did was sinful,’ said Leeming, bristling, ‘and I was revolted that we should learn about it on the Lord’s Day. How could any man hand over a woman like that to a friend? Does he have no moral scruples?’
‘You didn’t speak to the lady in question,’ Colbeck told him, ‘but I did. Let me simply say that Bruntcliffe and Tarleton were, in my opinion, not the only guests to share her bed. Where young men are concerned, she appears to be very compliant.’
‘Then I’m glad I stayed outside.’
On the ride from Northallerton, they took the identical route used by Miriam Tarleton, going past the spot where they believed the murder had taken place. They paused for a while so that Colbeck could reconstruct the ambush in his mind. Dismounting from his horse, he went to inspect the wheel marks made in the ground. After looking in both directions, he climbed back into the saddle.
‘It has to be the place,’ he said. ‘They’d be screened from view at this point. Whoever intercepted her had to be someone she knew, someone whose presence wouldn’t alarm her in any way.’
‘Sergeant Hepworth.’
‘It’s possible.’
‘It’s probable, sir. Who could be less likely to alarm her than a policeman?’
Colbeck grinned. ‘I know a policeman who alarms you, Victor.’
‘I’m not talking about the superintendent. Mrs Tarleton must have known Hepworth. Everybody else does and he’s not a man to hide his light under a bushel. If she met him here,’ argued Leeming, ‘the lady would have been reassured by the sight of that uniform.’ He gave a short laugh. ‘I wonder if he ever takes it off.’
‘I fear that he may sleep in it,’ said Colbeck.
‘Hepworth must have known Mrs Tarleton would be walking that day on this particular route.’
‘Yet his name wasn’t on that list.’
‘What list?’
‘It was the one that Mr Reader gave us when he brought that card from the rector’s wife. It was compiled by
