‘We’ll have to catch the Brighton Express,’ he said.
‘I’m not looking forward to that, sir,’ confessed Leeming. ‘I’ll keep thinking about what happened last Friday.’
‘The line has been repaired and the debris removed.’
‘You can’t remove my memories so easily.’
‘No,’ said Colbeck, sadly. ‘The disaster will be printed indelibly on the minds of many people. Those passengers set out on what should have been a routine journey and ended up in a catastrophe.’
‘Thanks to Dick Chiffney.’
‘We have to prove that. What’s the situation with Josie Murlow?’
‘She’s vanished, sir,’ said Leeming. ‘I had a man watching her house but she never returned to it. She and Chiffney have obviously gone into hiding elsewhere.’
‘Have you circulated a description of her?’
‘Yes, Inspector – every policeman in the area is looking for her. Josie Murlow is a difficult person to mistake, as you saw for yourself. If she does break cover, someone will spot her.’
‘Chiffney is the person we really want,’ said Colbeck, ‘and we lack precise details about his appearance. All we know is that he’s very unprepossessing and has a bad squint.’
‘I know something else about him, sir,’ recalled Leeming, rubbing the back of his head. ‘Chiffney hits hard.’
‘We must strike back even harder.’
‘He won’t be able to sneak up on me next time. It’s the thing about this investigation that really fires me up – the chance to meet up again with Dick Chiffney.’
‘That chance may come sooner than you expect, Victor.’
‘I hope so.’
‘Who knows?’ said Colbeck. ‘By the end of the day, you might well have had the satisfaction of snapping the handcuffs on the elusive Mr Chiffney.’
A night in his arms had reconciled Josie Murlow to the fact that Chiffney had been ordered to kill someone. It was not the first time he had been hired by anonymous gentlemen. She knew that he had been paid to assault people in the past and had accepted that without a qualm. Chiffney liked fighting. He might as well make some money with his fists. Murder, however, was another matter and she had been frightened when she first realised what he had been engaged to do. Now that she had grown used to the idea, however, it did not seem quite so unnerving. Indeed, it gave her a perverse thrill.
What still troubled her was her own position. Knowing of his intentions without reporting them to the police meant that she was condoning Chiffney’s actions. In law, therefore, she would be seen as an accessory. Josie shuddered to think what would happen if they were ever caught but she consoled herself with the belief that it was almost impossible. Chiffney had convinced her that there was little risk attached to the enterprise. He simply had to strike decisively then withdraw from the scene. Payment would then follow.
Lying in bed, Josie wallowed in the comfortable certainty that they would not be caught. All that she had to do was to trust her man. He had, after all, bought her the necklace out of his first earnings and other gifts would soon come. Abandoning her house did not worry her. She had long ago grown weary of its lack of space and its endless deficiencies. Everything she valued had been taken from the place in a series of midnight visits. As well as bringing all of her clothing and her trinkets, Chiffney had even collected her favourite sticks of furniture. Henceforth, they would share a far better lodging.
As she gazed up at him, Chiffney was reaching for his jacket before slipping it on. On impulse, Josie heaved herself out of bed.
‘Let me come with you, Dick,’ she said.
‘You stay here, my darling.’
‘But I’m your woman. I want to be at your side.’
‘The police could be out looking for you.’
‘They won’t be looking for me in Brighton,’ she argued. ‘If you hail a cab outside the house, nobody will see me going to the station. Now we’ve got money,’ she went on, getting carried away, ‘we can travel first class. I’ve never done that before.’
‘This is something I have to do on my own, Josie,’ he said.
‘I know that, Dick, and I won’t get in your way. When the time comes, you simply leave me and go about your business. Afterwards, I could be a help to you.’
‘How do you mean?’
‘I’m like a disguise,’ she explained, grinning away. ‘A man and a woman together look respectable. Nobody would give us a second glance. When you’re on your own – even in that new suit you bought – people will notice that face of yours and those big, rough hands. You don’t look quite so respectable then, Dick.’
He was tempted. ‘That’s a good point, Josie.’
‘Can I come with you, then?’
‘He won’t like it. He told me to come on my own. If he realises you know more than you ought to, the gentleman might call the whole thing off. No,’ he concluded, ‘it’s too risky.’
‘There’s no need for him to see me.’
‘I’m sorry, my love. You’ll have to stay here.’
‘I won’t be cooped up again,’ she said, gazing around with a flash of anger. ‘Look at the place – there’s hardly room to move since you brought all my things here.’
‘You can go downstairs and sit in the kitchen.’
‘I want to be with you, Dick.’
He sniffed. ‘I can’t take that chance.’
‘Why not?’
‘Because you’d be a distraction,’ he said. ‘Instead of keeping my mind on what I had to do, I’d be worrying about you. It’s no good, Josie. I have to go alone.’
‘All right,’ she suggested, bargaining with him, ‘why don’t we both travel to Brighton separately and only meet up afterwards?’ he shook his head. ‘What’s wrong with that?’
Chiffney was blunt. ‘It’s not going to happen.’
‘But I
‘Stop it!’ he shouted, temper fraying.
‘Don’t you yell at me, you noisy bugger!’
‘Shut your gob and listen. There’s one very good reason why I don’t want you anywhere near Brighton today. I have to be alone. I’ve got a job to do, Josie. I failed yesterday and the gentleman was very annoyed with me. If I let him down again, he may find someone else and I could end up without a single penny. Is that what you want?’
‘No,’ she said.
‘Then that’s the end of it.’
Josie sulked in silence. She watched him as he reached under the bed for the rifle then wrapped it in a piece of sacking. He also stuck the pistol in his belt and stuffed ammunition for both weapons in his pockets. Getting back down on his knees, he groped under the bed once more. This time, he brought out a large telescope and hid that in the sacking with the rifle. In spite of the bubbling anger she felt towards him, Josie was curious.
‘Who gave you that?’
‘He did,’ said Chiffney. ‘I need to spy out the lie of the land.’
As the train set off from London Bridge station, Victor Leeming braced himself for an uncomfortable journey. Its only virtue was that it would be a relatively short one. The previous investigation had entailed a long train journey to Crewe and back. An even earlier one had forced him to travel to France, undergoing the sustained terror of crossing the Channel by boat before committing himself to the rattling uncertainty of the French railways. All things considered, the Brighton Express was the lesser of many evils. At least he was in the hands of his fellow- countrymen.
