‘What are you after?’
‘I think you know that.’
‘Dick is not here.’
‘I’d still like to speak to you.’
After looking him up and down, she stood reluctantly aside and let him step into the house. The first thing he noticed was the stink, a compound of rancid food, household filth and the reek from the vast unwashed body of Josie Murlow. The room was small, cluttered and sparsely furnished. A tattered carpet lay over the flagstones. Colbeck had to duck under the cobweb-covered beam.
‘Well, now,’ she said, tossing her hair back over her shoulder to expose her new necklace, ‘you
‘When did you last see Mr Chiffney?’
‘I told the sergeant that – it was over a week ago.’
‘Did he give any indication where he was going?’
‘I’d have stopped the bastard if he had. Dick was my man.’
‘Had he ever gone off before?’ said Colbeck.
‘He wouldn’t have
‘Yet he had the courage to go this time. Why did he do that?’
She became defensive. ‘Well, it wasn’t because of anything I did or said, Inspector,’ she insisted. ‘I gave him everything a man wants. We lived here as close together as any man and wife – a lot closer, judging by some of the miserable faces on the men I see in this part of the city,’ she went on, meaningfully. ‘Their wives keep a cold bed. My bed is as warm as toast.’
‘Did Mr Chiffney always work on the railway?’
‘When he could get a job,’ she replied. ‘Dick worked for a lot of different railway companies over the years. He’s good at what he does, Inspector, there’s no two ways about that. But he hates taking orders and always has a row with someone or other. Dick is a bit too ready to use his fists. Mind you,’ she stipulated, ‘he was always provoked.’
‘How long had he worked on the Brighton line?’ said Colbeck.
‘I think it was a year or more.’
‘If he had such a record of violence, why did they employ him?’
‘He knew someone who got him the job,’ she explained. ‘Dick liked the work so he was on his best behaviour. It was only when that foreman hit him that Dick lost his temper.’
‘Has he tried to work on the railways since then?’
‘Nobody would touch him now the word’s got round about him looking for a fight. Listen,’ she said, squaring up to him, ‘why are you and that Sergeant Leeming so interested in Dick Chiffney? What’s he supposed to have done?’
‘He may have done nothing at all,’ Colbeck assured her. ‘We just need to eliminate him from our enquiries. That’s why we’re so anxious to speak to him – as I’m sure
‘I’m very anxious, Inspector.’
She spoke with feeling but with none of the raging fury that Victor Leeming had reported. Colbeck wondered what had brought about the change in her manner. Josie Murlow had softened in a way that could not wholly be attributed to the effect of gin, the fumes of which he could still detect. He moved slightly so that he could look into the kitchen, noting the cheese left on the table along with two plates. Somebody else had been there recently.
‘May I ask you a favour?’ he said.
‘You can ask anything you like, Inspector,’ she replied, running both hands over the contours of her body, ‘and it won’t cost you a penny. I’d have charged the sergeant but he ran away. I’ve got a flagon of gin upstairs if that takes your fancy.’
‘As it happens,’ said Colbeck, meeting her bold gaze, ‘I never touch it. You’re obviously a woman of experience in these matters so I don’t need to remind you of the penalty of offering blandishments to a member of the Metropolitan Police.’
She was defiant. ‘They don’t all refuse, I can tell you!’
‘The favour I wish to ask is this. If and when Mr Chiffney does return, please advise him that it’s in his best interests to get in touch with me at Scotland Yard. That way, his name can be cleared.’
‘You still haven’t told me what you think he’s done.’
‘It’s a railway matter.’
‘Has Dick been punching another foreman, then?
‘No,’ answered Colbeck, ‘it’s a little more serious than that.’
Dick Chiffney loaded the pistol again and took careful aim at the empty bottle standing on the tree stump. When he pulled the trigger, there was a loud report then the glass exploded into a thousand shards. Birds took wildly to the sky in an unrehearsed symphony of protest. Chiffney grinned at his success and set another bottle on the stump.
He was deep in the woods, far away from the nearest human habitation and therefore free from the possibility of any interruption. This time, he stood a few yards farther away from his target. Apart from his companion, his only witnesses were the birds. When he had loaded the weapon again, he took aim, peered along the barrel then fired. The bullet struck its target a glancing blow, detaching a small piece of glass and causing the bottle to spin crazily round before falling on to the ground. Chiffney was annoyed at his failure.
The man who had been watching him handed over a rifle.
‘Try with this next time,’ he ordered. ‘You may not get close enough to use the pistol.’
Robert Colbeck arrived back at his office to find Victor Leeming waiting there for him. The sergeant described his second interview with Matthew Shanklin and added what he felt was a telling detail.
‘As I was shown out of the house,’ he said, ‘I spoke to the maid.’
‘Go on.’
‘I asked her if Mr Shanklin had ever possessed a telescope and she told me that he did.’
‘Good work, Victor,’ said Colbeck. ‘That was astute of you. I had a feeling that you’d unearth something interesting if you paid Shanklin a second visit. Did you believe his claim that he suffered from migraines?’
‘No, sir,’ replied Leeming. ‘I think he simply wanted a day off. It’s just as well that he isn’t a detective. The superintendent doesn’t believe in using sickness as an excuse. He’d have us on duty if we were suffering from double pneumonia.’
‘In fairness to Mr Tallis, he applies the same rule to himself. Nothing short of complete paralysis would keep him away from here. What you learnt this morning,’ Colbeck went on, ‘could be very significant. There’s patently a link between Shanklin and Chiffney.’
‘They could be accomplices, sir.’
‘It’s something we must bear in mind.’
‘Did you visit Chalk Farm?’ asked Leeming, eagerly.
‘Yes, Victor, I had a most diverting time.’
He gave a full account of his conversation with Josie Murlow. Leeming was astonished at his bravery in actually going into the hovel to question her. Colbeck made Josie sound like a different woman to the one who had unnerved him.
‘Didn’t she rant and rage, then?’ he said.
‘I think she’s mellowed since you were there, Victor.’
‘Mellow or not, sir, I’d rather steer clear of her.’
‘Unfortunately, you won’t be able to do that,’ said Colbeck. ‘I want you to keep a close watch on the lady.’ Leeming spluttered. ‘Have no fear – you won’t have to meet her face to face, and you certainly won’t go there dressed like that. You’ll be in disguise, Victor.’
‘I’ll need a suit of armour to feel safe near that woman.’
‘She was hiding something. When I mentioned Chiffney’s name, she didn’t curse and threaten as she did
