him.
He agonised for a long time over what he should do. In the event, the decision was made for him because the door of the hovel opened and the man came out. After wiping a hand across his mouth, he came back up the street. Lowering the paper, Leeming folded it up and stuffed it into his pocket. He then took a good look at the approaching figure. The fellow was certainly big and brawny enough to be Josie Murlow’s lover and he was around the same age as her. He had also been shown great affection on his arrival. It had to be Chiffney. He and his woman had been reconciled.
Careful not to forewarn the man, Leeming turned on his heel and lumbered off, moving slowly so that he would soon be overtaken. The moment that the man went past him, the sergeant pounced. He grabbed him by the shoulders, spun him round then held him by the lapels of his jacket.
‘What are you doing!’ protested the man.
‘Dick Chiffney?’
‘Let go of me!’
‘Are you Dick Chiffney?’ demanded Leeming.
‘No, I’m not,’ said the other, struggling to get away.
‘What’s your name?
‘That’s my business.’
‘I’m a member of the Metropolitan Police and I just saw you going into Josie Murlow’s house.’
‘No harm in that, is there?’
‘That depends on who you are.’
‘If you must know,’ said the man, exhaling beer fumes into Leeming’s face, ‘my name is Luke Watts and that’s the truth. You can ask anyone – ask Josie, if you like.’
Leeming released him. ‘Then you’re not Dick Chiffney?’
Watts was offended. ‘Do I
‘I seem to have made a mistake, Mr Watts.’
‘Yes – a bad mistake.’
‘But if you’re not Chiffney,’ said Leeming with a glance at the hovel, ‘what were you doing in Josie Murlow’s house?’
The man smirked. ‘What do you think?’
Edward Tallis had never been hampered by indecision. When action was needed, he took it instantly. Hiring a cab outside Scotland Yard, he was driven to the offices of the LB&SCR. He was immediately shown into the room occupied by Harvey Ridgeon. The captain was nonplussed to see him storming through the door.
‘What brings you here, Superintendent?’ he asked.
‘This,’ replied Tallis, tossing a copy of the evening newspaper on to the desk. ‘It’s the early edition – have you read it?’
‘I can’t say that I have.’
‘It contains defamatory statements made by you about my officers. Worse than that, it brings a covert investigation into the full glare of publicity and thereby weakens its effectiveness.’
‘It was ineffective enough already.’
‘I demand an apology.’
‘You’ll get nothing at all if you try to hector me,’ said Ridgeon, coolly. ‘Why don’t you sit down and give me a chance to see what it is that I’m supposed to have done?’
Choking back another accusation, Tallis removed his top hat and sat down opposite the desk. Ridgeon, meanwhile, opened the newspaper and saw the headline that had upset the Superintendent. Police Chase Phantom Killer. Highly critical of Tallis and Colbeck, the article contended that the train crash was the result of an accident caused by the driver of the Brighton Express. Ridgeon was quoted a number of times.
‘You pour scorn on hard-working detectives,’ complained Tallis.
‘Not in the way that I’m quoted here,’ said Ridgeon. ‘I give you my word that I didn’t actually say some of these things.’
‘You spoke to the press, Captain Ridgeon, and that was fatal. They always twist what you tell them. If you’ll forgive my language,’ said Tallis, ‘a man in your position should know that a newspaper reporter is a man who swallows nails and shits screws. This unprincipled scribbler didn’t even have the courtesy to speak to me.’
‘That’s not true, Superintendent. According to him, he came to Scotland Yard as soon he heard about the crash and asked if the police were taking an interest in it. You told him that you were not.’
‘It was an honest answer.’
‘Yet you’d already dispatched Inspector Colbeck to the scene.’
‘I authorised him to go in the light of a request from the railway company. At that time,’ said Tallis, ‘there was no indication of any criminal activity in relation to the crash. Strictly speaking, therefore, I had not set an investigation in motion. When I did so, I hoped that it could operate without the so-called gentlemen of the press looking over our shoulders. Thanks to that libellous article,’ he went on, pointing to the newspaper, ‘the whole world now knows about it.’
‘Then they can judge for themselves whether or not a police investigation is appropriate.’
‘No, they can’t, Captain. People can only make a considered judgement if both sides of a case are presented to them. Only one is offered in that article –
‘I must correct you there, Superintendent.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘The Inspector was good enough to reveal it to me.’
Tallis frowned. ‘When was this?’
‘Earlier today,’ said Ridgeon.
‘Colbeck made no mention of any visit to you. It was certainly not something I’d have endorsed. I felt that we’d said everything that needed to be said between us in my office.’
‘The Inspector took a less inflexible view of the situation than you, Superintendent. He had the sense to see that my work might complement his own. We had a long discussion.’
‘Really?’ said Tallis, infuriated at being wrong-footed.
‘I admired him for his candour and heard what he had to say. His argument was very cogent. Unfortunately,’ said Ridgeon, ‘it was fundamentally flawed.’
‘Those are the very words quoted in that article.’
‘I stand by them.’
‘In the fullness of time, you may be embarrassed by them.’
‘I think not, Superintendent.’
Tallis glowered. ‘Do you realise what you’ve done, sir?’
‘I’ve given straight answers to straight questions.’
‘Oh, you’ve done a lot more than that. You’ve just opened a Pandora’s box. Every newspaper in London will now be baying at the door of my office. That article has not simply made a mockery of our investigation,’ said Tallis, ‘it’s also a stark warning to the villains behind the crash that we are pursuing them. If they have any sense, they’ll have left London already.’
‘Yes,’ said Ridgeon, unable to resist sarcasm, ‘and stepped straight back into the sensational novel from which they escaped. That’s where they belong, after all – in the world of imagination.’
Getting to his feet, Tallis snatched up his newspaper and left.
Colbeck had also been dismayed by the article. After sending Madeleine Andrews home in a cab, he had bought a copy of the newspaper at the railway station and read it on his way back to Scotland Yard. It made him regret his decision to speak to Ridgeon in confidence. He was wounded and disappointed by what the Inspector General of Railways had done. A difficult and complex investigation had suddenly become even more arduous.
His immediate concern was how upset Madeleine would be when she read the article and saw the biting criticism of the Railway Detective. Caleb Andrews was in the habit of buying the newspaper at Euston station when
