The Silver Locomotive Mystery

Robert Colbeck was pleased to see that the manager was in a less hysterical state that morning. Now that the corpse had been removed, Archelaus Pugh felt that he was in charge again and could devote all his energies to the smooth running of the hotel. It was he who told the inspector that Kate Linnane was now able to see him at last. Colbeck went up to her room at once. He did not expect her to add much to what Nigel Buckmaster had already told him but he wanted to hear a woman’s appraisal of the silversmith.

In response to his knock, he was invited into the room. He opened the door to find the actress reclining on the chaise longue with a book in her hands. Wearing a silk robe with a floral pattern on it, she looked up with an inquiring smile. Colbeck closed the door then introduced himself.

‘I’m pleased to meet you, Inspector,’ she said, smile remaining in place as she looked him up and down. ‘I do apologise for not being able to see you yesterday but I was profoundly upset by what happened here yesterday. The murder was only three doors away.’

‘I’m glad to see that you’ve recovered now, Miss Linnane.’

She put her book aside. ‘You’ve spoken to Nigel, I gather.’

‘Mr Buckmaster was very helpful.’

‘I hope that I can be equally helpful,’ she told him. ‘But do please sit down.’

‘Thank you,’ said Colbeck, taking a seat and noting that she had been studying the text of Macbeth. ‘I understand that you think this tragedy is in some way connected with the play you’ve chosen to perform in Cardiff.’

‘I’m convinced of it, Inspector Colbeck.’

‘Have you had bad experiences with Macbeth before?’

‘More than once,’ she replied with a slight grimace. ‘The worst occasion was in Abergavenny last year. I was in the middle of the sleep-walking scene when a balcony at the rear of the hall collapsed. There was the most appalling amount of noise and dust so I simply raised my voice over it. Miraculously, nobody was badly injured but I was so grateful to get offstage at the end of the scene.’

‘I don’t think you’ll have that problem in Cardiff, Miss Linnane.’

She rolled her eyes dramatically. ‘I always have a problem in Wales,’ she moaned. ‘That’s why I hate coming here. On our last visit, we performed The Merchant of Venice in Swansea.’

‘Then you doubtless took the role of Portia.’

‘I tried to, Inspector. During my speech in the trial scene one night, a dog suddenly scampered up on to the stage and bit Bassanio on the ankle. Laughter drowned out every subsequent line.’

‘I’m sure you overcame the interruption like the consummate artiste you are,’ he said, nobly. ‘I had the good fortune to see your Desdemona and your Ophelia. Both were truly memorable.’

‘Thank you!’ she said with a delighted titter. ‘I had a feeling that you might be a theatregoer though, judging by your appearance, you should be on the stage rather than in the audience. You have the look of a born actor, Inspector.’

‘I did toil in an allied profession,’ he admitted. ‘For some years, I was a barrister and there’s a histrionic element in every court case. To that extent, I was something of an actor though I could never aspire to the standard set by you and by Mr Buckmaster. However,’ he went on, ‘diverting as it would be, I haven’t come to discuss the world of theatre. A more pressing business has brought me here.’

‘Mr Kellow!’ she sighed. ‘It’s terrifying to think that such a thing could happen to him. I was amazed to hear that he was in this hotel. When he left us at the station, he was going to deliver the coffee pot to a house on the outskirts of the town.’

‘Someone clearly deflected him from that purpose.’

‘How?’

‘That’s a matter for conjecture at this stage. Perhaps you could begin by telling me what impression Mr Kellow made on you.’

‘To be quite frank,’ she said, ‘he made very little impression at first. He was out of his depth, Inspector. When he stepped into a first class carriage, he was floundering. We managed to bring him out of his shell eventually and he had a simple integrity that was rather touching. Nigel and I both had the feeling that he was being exploited by his employer, who under-paid and over-worked him, but Mr Kellow nevertheless spoke highly of him. And when he showed us that coffee pot,’ she continued, eyebrows arching in unison, ‘we were astonished. It was nothing short of magnificent.’

‘Mr Buckmaster says that you have a penchant for silver.’

‘I crave it, Inspector,’ she confessed, using sensual fingers to caress her silver necklace. ‘I love the sight, the feel, the gleam of it. I’ve been an avid collector for years. Fortunately, most of the pieces have come from admirers in whom I took the trouble to confide my life-long yearning for silver.’ Getting up, she crossed the room to open a portmanteau, taking out a velvet-covered jewellery box. ‘These are some of the gifts that Desdemona garnered for me.’

Opening the lid of the box, she showed him an array of rings, brooches and earrings, all superbly fashioned in silver. The most striking object was a small statue with arms outstretched. Colbeck was quick to identify it.

‘That’s you as Desdemona,’ he said. ‘I remember that gesture vividly as you pleaded with Othello.’

‘Nigel presented it to me at the end of that season,’ she said, taking the statue out to admire it. ‘You can imagine how much the contents of this box cost, Inspector, and I travel with larger objects as well. It’s the other reason I went to ground in here yesterday,’ she told him, replacing the statue and closing the lid. ‘If someone was prepared to kill for a silver coffee pot, I felt that my own collection might be in danger – not to mention my life.’

‘The hotel has a safe, Miss Linnane.’

‘That’s where everything will go when I leave for the theatre.’

‘A wise decision,’ he said.

Admiring her as an actress, Colbeck found her less appealing as a woman, her self-absorption masking any finer qualities she might have. Her towering vanity matched that of Nigel Buckmaster. He waited until she had put the jewellery box away in the portmanteau and resumed her seat. She beamed at him with the confidence of a woman who could rely on her beauty to enchant any man.

‘How would you describe Mr Kellow?’ asked Colbeck.

‘He was very reserved, Inspector,’ she replied, ‘and ill at ease in our company. As a rule, when I find myself travelling in public, men have a tendency to steal at least a glance at me. Some just stare blatantly. Mr Kellow barely raised his eyes. I felt that he was rather immature for his age – or perhaps naive would be a better word. He was certainly not a man of the world.’

‘That may have been his downfall, Miss Linnane.’

‘As a silversmith, however, he obviously had a promising future ahead of him. When he talked about that coffee pot, he came alive for the first time. I felt that he was a kindred spirit – bewitched by the magic of silver. He spoke with such intense pride about his work.’

‘He also mentioned a sister, I hear.’

‘Yes, Inspector. The poor creature only has one week’s holiday a year. Mr Kellow was saving up to take her to Margate. He was a very caring brother.’

‘So it seems,’ said Colbeck. ‘What else can you tell me about him? Did you see, for instance, if anyone was at the station to meet him when the train pulled in?’

‘I saw nobody waiting for him.’

‘But there might have been someone.’

‘The platform was very crowded and I had to make sure that my luggage was unloaded properly. By the time we left the railway station,’ she said, ‘Mr Kellow had long disappeared. Yet instead of delivering that coffee pot, he was in this very hotel – being killed only yards from my door!’ She put the back of her hand to her forehead as if about to swoon, an attitude, Colbeck recalled, that she had struck as Desdemona. ‘Nigel actually identified the body. He told me that it was a frightening spectacle. I could never have gone into that room.’

‘That’s why the superintendent didn’t call upon you.’

‘I prefer to remember Mr Kellow as he was on the train.’

‘That’s a sensible policy, Miss Linnane.’