Blood on the Line

Colbeck gave her an abbreviated account of his visits to Wolverhampton, Birmingham and Manchester. He did not simply do so out of courtesy. To begin with, he knew that he could trust her to keep all the information to herself. But there was another reason why he liked to keep her abreast of his movements. Madeleine had been able to offer practical help in some of his past investigations. Had he known about the involvement of a woman, Tallis would have been apoplectic. The superintendent felt that policing was essentially a male preserve. He’d be astounded if he knew how much Colbeck had relied on Madeleine to collect evidence on his behalf.

‘Now that you’ve told me your news,’ she said, ‘I can pass on mine. Brace yourself for a shock, Robert.’

‘Is it that serious?’

‘It is to me – Father is going to retire.’

He was startled. ‘Does he really mean it this time?’

‘He was going to hand in his resignation this morning.’

‘Well, that is an unexpected disclosure,’ said Colbeck, ‘but it’s a pleasing one. After all those years of sterling service, he’s earned the right to retirement. A lesser man would have given up when he took that beating from the train robbers but your father fought his way back to full health and was soon back on the footplate.’

‘It will bring about some changes,’ she cautioned.

‘Yes, you won’t have to get up early every morning to make his breakfast and to send him off.’

‘That’s a benefit but there’ll be hazards as well.’ Her gesture took in the whole room. ‘The main one is that I’ll lose my studio. I work best when I’m alone and I’m going to have Father here.’

‘There’s a simple answer to that, Madeleine.’

‘Is there?’

‘Yes – you can use a room in my house as a studio. After all, it’s only a matter of time before you move in there permanently.’

‘That’s what I was coming to,’ she said, tentatively. ‘Father has been badgering me to set a date for the wedding. I know that you don’t wish to be rushed and I understand why, but it would be helpful if I had at least some idea of when it would be.’

Colbeck took her impulsively in his arms. ‘If it were left to me,’ he said, softly, ‘I’d marry you tomorrow. But the demands of my job won’t permit that, alas. Since the time we became engaged, I’ve had one case after another to deal with. I work from dawn to dusk seven days a week, Madeleine.’

‘I accept that,’ she said, pushing back a strand of hair from his forehead. ‘As soon as one investigation finishes, another one starts. I can see that this latest case will eat up all your time. That’s in the nature of police work. It’s just that I would like to have a date to give Father so that he’ll stop hounding me.’ She smiled hopefully. ‘Is that an unfair request?’

‘No, Madeleine,’ he answered. ‘It’s an extremely fair one. You are right about this investigation. It will need my full commitment and take precedence over everything else. I have personal reasons for wanting to catch Jeremy Oxley. It’s something of an obsession, so I must ask you to bear with me. When it’s all over,’ he told her, ‘I promise you that we’ll sit down together and finally set a date for our wedding. Will that please your father?’

She laughed happily. ‘It will please me a lot more, Robert.’

Oxley was the best lover she’d ever had. He knew how to take his time and to ensure that Irene enjoyed full satisfaction. He was the first man to whom she gave herself completely. With the others, she’d always held something back. Irene had been in her early teens when she learnt how to use her charms on a man. She would secure his interest, tighten her hold, then tease, torment and ensnare him until he’d do whatever she wanted. All of her early victims had been young men lured by a promise of surrender that was often never fulfilled. When they made the mistake of putting absolute trust in her, she chose the moment to strike then disappeared with their money or other valuables. Many were too embarrassed by their own gullibility to report the crime to the police. Those – like Lawrence Holte – who did want her arrested discovered that she was remarkably elusive.

As she lay naked in bed with Oxley that evening, she did not have to think about stealing from him or decide when to take to her heels. They were partners and their spoils were shared equally. It was inconceivable that she would ever run away from him.

‘Are you happy?’ he asked, lazily stroking her breast.

‘I’m happier than I’ve ever been, Jerry.’

‘Is that because of me?’

‘What other cause could there be?’

‘I wondered if it was to do with what happened during the rescue. When I’d killed for the first time, I felt this glow inside me for days. Even when I’d been arrested, I had this extraordinary sense of pleasure.’ He tapped his chest. ‘I’d taken another man’s life.’

‘That thought gives me no pleasure at all.’

‘It’s like a coming of age.’

‘I see it differently,’ she said, uneasily.

It was still there at the back of her mind. Irene might no longer shiver when she recalled the moment she fired the gun, nor did she flinch when she thought about the two bodies being butchered by a speeding train. Yet it would not go away. Every so often the grotesque memories would pop up uncontrollably in her brain and cause her intense regret. Only in Oxley’s arms was she safe from any twinges of guilt. Alone with him, nothing else mattered.

‘You could have been an actress,’ he observed.

‘I don’t have the training for it, Jerry.’

‘Training isn’t necessary when you have such natural ability. You know how to play a part, Irene. Your performance fooled all three of those policemen.’

‘There were only two on the train.’

‘I was thinking about the one who told you what time we’d be leaving Wolverhampton – Constable Marner.’

She giggled. ‘I put a pillow inside my dress and told him that I was carrying a child. He couldn’t wait to help me then.’ Her face clouded. ‘What will happen to him?’

‘Nothing at all,’ he assured her. ‘He’ll have the sense to keep his mouth shut. Otherwise he’ll be arrested for being an accessory and will end up behind bars.’

‘That’s what worries me. If he’s caught, he’ll be able to describe me. We talked for several minutes. He had a good look at me, Jerry.’

Oxley grinned. ‘Not as good as the one that I’m having,’ he said with a laugh, gazing at her smooth, shapely body. ‘Policemen will always be tempted by a bribe. It’s the same with prison warders. They’re so poorly paid that five or ten pounds looks like a fortune to them. That’s how I escaped when I was on remand. I bribed someone to look the other way.’

‘How did you smuggle the money into prison?’

‘There are always ways to conceal it when you’re searched. Mind you,’ he went on, ‘you have to choose the right person. I picked on Marner because I sensed that he was our man.’

‘Think how he must have felt when he discovered that he’d been tricked,’ she said. ‘Two of his friends went to their deaths because of him. That would have upset him terribly.’

‘It serves him right, Irene.’

He reached for the bottle of champagne on the bedside table and emptied it into the two glasses. Handing one to Irene, he picked up the other and raised it in a toast.

‘Let’s drink to a prosperous future together!’

‘Yes,’ she said, ‘I’ll drink to that any time.’

‘If we take a new name, change our appearance again and keep on the move, nobody will ever catch us.’

‘What about Inspector Colbeck?’

‘Oh, I think I have his measure, Irene. He’s very clever but I can outmanoeuvre him. I was arrested in Wolverhampton and escaped on the way to Birmingham. That’s where he’ll begin his search. So we’ll hide in the last place he’d expect to find us.’