The Silver Locomotive Mystery

of the blame.’

Edward Tallis had a distrust of the opposite sex that sometimes threatened to spill over into misogyny. Leeming had heard his views on the subject a number of times. He feared that he was about to do so again but he was spared another lecture. There was a firm tap on the door. In response to Tallis’s command, Robert Colbeck entered. After an exchange of greetings, the newcomer put a friendly hand on Leeming’s shoulder.

‘What are you doing here?’ he asked. ‘You should be at home, resting and being spoilt by your wife.’

‘That’s exactly what I told him,’ said Tallis.

‘He’s earned it, sir. Being so modest, he’ll not have told you about the bravery that he showed in Cardiff. In pursuit of a killer, the sergeant risked his life.’

‘Then he deserves congratulation.’

‘I want to be here,’ said Leeming, ‘taking part in the search for the man who gave me such a headache. When we catch up with him, I have a score to settle.’

‘That time will soon come,’ Colbeck told him.

He took a seat and delivered a succinct report on events in Cardiff. The other men were shocked to hear that Winifred Tomkins had spurned the assistance of the police and tried to deal directly with the thief. They both felt that she had been lucky to escape without physical injury and were angry that she had prevented Colbeck from being present at the exchange and therefore in a position to make an arrest. The report provoked Tallis into a familiar tirade.

‘That’s another aspect of the female character that appals me,’ he said, reaching for a cigar from the box on his desk. ‘Women do have a propensity to meddle, to get involved in things over which they can never have any control. Mrs Tomkins is a perfect example. With help on offer in the shape of Inspector Colbeck, she blithely decided to take matters into her own hands. She thought, in effect, that she could do what a policeman is trained to do and she learnt that she had severe shortcomings.’ He bit off the end of the cigar. ‘When will women learn that they have no place whatsoever in the fight against crime? They’d only get in the way and invite injury.’ He lit the cigar and puffed hard on it. ‘Thank heaven we don’t have them here in the Detective Department to hinder us.’

‘I’ve never found that women hinder us,’ said Leeming, loyally. ‘If anything, my wife does the opposite. Estelle is a great help.’

‘Yes,’ added Colbeck, ‘and I disagree that they have no place in the fight against crime. The time will surely come when we are glad to welcome women into the police service.’

‘It had better not come in my time,’ grumbled Tallis.

Colbeck could have told him that, in a sense, it already had because he had enlisted the aid of Madeleine Andrews on a number of cases and her contribution had always been valuable. Knowing that the information would only bring certain condemnation from Tallis, he held his peace and inhaled the aroma of the cigar. It reminded him of the faint whiff he had sniffed at Carys Evans’s cottage, evidence that Sir David Pryde was also a cigar smoker.

‘What has been happening while we’ve been away?’ he asked.

‘We’ve not been sitting on our hands,’ replied Tallis.

‘Do you have any news of Stephen Voke?’

The superintendent repeated what he had earlier told Leeming. Colbeck absorbed the intelligence before reaching a decision.

‘I’ll leave from Paddington first thing in the morning,’ he said.

Leeming was puzzled. ‘Are you going back to Cardiff, sir?’

‘No, that’s the one place he wouldn’t dare to show his face after all that’s happened. Stephen Voke left London with the intention of starting up in business elsewhere. One of the towns he considered,’ Colbeck went on, ‘was Cardiff. My guess is that he chose somewhere within relatively easy reach of Wales by rail. On the day that he and his accomplice left London, they would have needed to unload their luggage at the new abode before going on to Cardiff unencumbered.’

Tallis braced himself. ‘I fear that you’re about to spring another of your infamous theories on me, Inspector.’

‘It’s less of a theory than a piece of intuition, sir,’ said Colbeck. ‘I think that Stephen Voke would choose a town with a railway station so that he could be easily reached by potential customers. I know for a fact that he travelled to Cardiff to deliver an item he made for a client. If he’s in a small town, he’ll need custom from a wider circle. The search for him must therefore begin on the Great Western and on the South Wales Railways. Somewhere between here and Cardiff, I think we’ll find Stephen Voke settling into a new life.’

‘He could be in a different part of the country altogether,’ argued Tallis. ‘Railways go everywhere.’

‘I happen to know that he’s especially fond of Wales.’

‘I’m not surprised,’ said Leeming. ‘Wales has been very good to him. It’s given him a silver coffee pot, a large amount of money, a carriage and two horses. Those are rich pickings for a few days’ work. I’ve learnt to rely on your intuition, Inspector,’ he declared, ‘so I’ll come with you tomorrow.’

‘You’re looking for a needle in a haystack,’ complained Tallis.

‘Perhaps, sir,’ returned Colbeck, ‘but it will be a very large needle in a very small haystack. When two people move into a new community for the first time, they are bound to get noticed, especially if one of them opens a shop as a silversmith. Mr Voke’s occupation narrows the search immediately. We’ll find them.’

‘It’s a pity we can’t call on the assistance of Superintendent Stockdale,’ said Leeming, wistfully. ‘He was a tremendous help to us in Cardiff and would like to see this case through to the end.’

‘No doubting that, Sergeant. Unfortunately, he’s preoccupied with another crime at the moment – a kidnapping.’

‘Oh – who was kidnapped?’

‘Miss Kate Linnane,’ said Colbeck, ‘the celebrated actress. She was due to play Lady Macbeth this evening. I sincerely hope that they manage to cope without her.’

They all knew. Laura Tremaine had given a competent performance at the rehearsal but it never took wing. Unable to conquer her nerves, she managed nothing more than a brave stab at the part. Nigel Buckmaster was the first to congratulate her afterwards but he knew that she was no Kate Linnane. He assured her that she would grow fully into the role in front of the audience but that prospect only served to increase her dread. Laura was going to take the stage as the unworthy substitute of an actress who had brought real venom to the part. All that the new Lady Macbeth had achieved was petulance. While everyone in the company knew her deficiencies, they tried to ignore them. Laura received nothing but praise and encouragement.

As the time of performance drew near, her feelings of sheer inadequacy were intensified. Her dresser burbled away happily about the triumph awaiting her but Laura was not persuaded. Even during the rehearsal, when Buckmaster had given a deliberately muted version of Macbeth, she had been totally eclipsed by him. When he released his full power that evening, she would trail helplessly in his wake. Panic set in once again. Buckmaster tried to rally her, coming into her dressing room in his costume and false beard.

‘You can do it, Laura,’ he told her. ‘I know that you struggled this afternoon but that was your first attempt. Put those troubles behind you now. Destiny beckons. This is your moment.’

‘I feel sick,’ she admitted.

‘So do I and so do all of us. It’s one of the perennial hazards of this profession. The moment you step on to that stage, the discomfort will vanish in a flash. You’ll be Lady Macbeth in every particular.’

His words gave her enough confidence to believe that she might get through the performance without any real mishap but there was no question of matching him. Instead of being a steely wife exhorting him to commit murder, she would be making a polite request for him to assassinate a king. Her Lady Macbeth would have surface value but no depth. Nigel Buckmaster, the man she looked upon as a theatrical paragon, would never forgive her. Instead of being the start of a brilliant career for her, Macbeth would bring her dreams to an end.

In the event, she never even got to utter a single word of her new role. With barely twenty minutes before the curtain was raised, Kate Linnane flung open the door of the dressing room and stormed in like an avenging angel. She eyed Laura with contempt.

‘How dare you!’ she exclaimed, eyes blazing. ‘What on earth are you doing in my costume?’

Afflicted by a blend of horror and relief, Laura was speechless.