The ginger cat strolled into the room and curled itself around Peel’s leg. Tilling went to shoo the cat from the room but Peel shoved it away with the end of his boot. The cat scurried over to where Pyke was standing. Pyke bent over to stroke it. The cat arched itself around his leg and began to purr.
‘I know what you intend to ask me but I am afraid nothing can be done in this instance.’ Peel’s smile had no warmth. ‘Given the extent of your own lawlessness and the rather odd and disrespectful manner in which you conducted yourself at your trial, I am not in a position to grant you a pardon.’
‘I’m sorry about that, because it will force me to place the contents of this document in the public domain.’ He reached into his jacket pocket and produced an envelope.
Peel’s eyes narrowed. ‘And what, pray, is this document?’ Pyke removed the first page from the envelope. ‘It’s an affidavit sworn by Andrew Magennis, the father of Davy Magennis, before a solicitor in Armagh.’ He passed it to Peel. ‘In it, he describes how Tilling rode to Armagh in person in order to recruit Davy into the Irish Constabulary.’
‘So?’
Pyke felt the coldness of Peel’s stare. ‘On subsequent pages, he recounts a confession Davy made to him shortly before he took his own life. Davy admits to having murdered his brother, his brother’s mistress and baby.’
‘May I see the rest of it?’
‘Not at this juncture. What would be the point? I have no promise of goodwill on your part.’
Peel glanced nervously at Tilling. ‘If it could be proven this man was responsible for the murders . . .’
Pyke nodded, as though giving this notion serious consideration. ‘I’m still not minded to let you see the rest of the affidavit. I would, though, like to make you aware of a man called Simon Hunter, a rector from a church in Mullabrack, County Armagh. Hunter also heard Davy’s confession and said that, if he was instructed to give evidence in court and was placed under oath, then he would corroborate this assertion.’
‘That Magennis committed the St Giles murders?’ Tilling sounded sceptical.
Pyke nodded.
‘Then why not let us see the rest of this affidavit?’
‘I might do, but not before I have received an official pardon from the Home Office.’ This time he looked at Peel.
‘You will not receive any such pardon without revealing the contents of that document.’
Pyke shrugged. ‘Then I shall take my chances with the press.’
‘This is most vexing. Most vexing indeed.’ Peel was scowling. His face had reddened. ‘It is even more vexing in the light of the robbery and unwanted disturbances on land owned by Lord Edmonton.’
‘I had no hand in the Shoreditch robbery,’ Pyke said.
‘For some reason, I find that difficult to believe,’ Tilling responded.
Pyke shrugged. ‘If someone were to steal the crown jewels from the Tower, I would no doubt be blamed for that, too.’ Pyke walked over to the bay window and looked out at the view over Hampstead Heath. ‘But the disturbances on Edmonton’s land are a different matter. What if I could arrange for them to cease?’
‘And how could you manage that?’ Peel demanded.
‘The point surely is, if I could manage it, and in light of the damage I could potentially cause you by revealing that you knowingly executed the wrong man for the St Giles murders, then wouldn’t it seem appropriate to come to some kind of arrangement with me?’
Peel still seemed unconvinced. ‘You have the ear of this particular mob?’
‘I think it is fair to assume that Pyke has played some role in fermenting and channelling their unhappiness,’ Tilling said, arching his eyebrows.
‘I don’t have any control over their righteous anger, but at present their grievances are limited in scope. I could perhaps broker an agreement to ensure fairer conditions of service and a slightly improved wage.’
A long time ago, Pyke might have comforted himself with the notion that he was not, nor had ever been, part of the system of rule and law enforcement that he occasionally served, but his belief in his own independence had long since been eroded.
Peel frowned. ‘But surely that would mean having to negotiate a deal with Edmonton, wouldn’t it? And from what I hear, you would be unlikely to elicit a favourable response from him.’
‘Leave Edmonton to me,’ Pyke said, walking over to the fireplace. ‘But if I can placate the mob, with or without Edmonton’s assistance, would I be right to think that we have an agreement?’
Peel glanced at Tilling. ‘I have given no such assurance.’
‘But you will.’ Pyke smiled amiably. ‘Because you don’t have a choice.’
Tilling looked at Peel, and then at Pyke, and shrugged. ‘Pyke would seem to be holding a strong hand.’
Peel’s face reddened further.
‘So we have an agreement?’
In the end, Peel gave him a grudging nod. But he did not stand or offer to shake Pyke’s hand.
Later, as Tilling followed Pyke to the front door, he patted him on the shoulder. He was smiling. ‘You handled yourself well.’
Pyke accepted the compliment. ‘But you’ll make sure Peel’s true to his word?’
‘You still don’t understand, do you? Peel is not your enemy here.’ Tilling started to shake his head.
‘Can I ask you a question?’ Pyke said, buttoning up his jacket.
‘Of course.’
‘The last time we met, you said something about Vines and Sir Richard Fox, the two of them being closer than I thought.’
‘So, ask them about it. Not me.’
‘I can’t ask Vines. Apparently he’s in Scotland at a family wedding.’
The interest in Tilling’s face faded. ‘Scotland? I saw him the other day walking down the street.’
They shook hands and Pyke wandered down the steps towards the heath. It was only then that the implication of Vines being in London finally struck him.
It was after midnight when Pyke made it back to the Old Cock tavern in Holborn. He entered the building through the back door and went straight down to the cellar. He lit a candle, jammed it into a tin sconce and carried the flickering light carefully through to the room where Villums had built a cage for the creatures used in the ratting contests. Villums paid sewer hunters sixpence per rat; the hunters themselves worked in pairs, for if they worked alone they ran the risk of being overwhelmed by their venomous prey. Villums preferred sewer to water-ditch rats because he reckoned they were meaner and hence posed more of a challenge to the dogs. They were certainly ravenous; the three hundred or so creatures that currently occupied the wooden cage had stripped the fifty-stone carcass of the dead bear in less than five minutes.
Earlier, Pyke had bound Swift’s wrists and ankles to the outside of the cage with rope; below Swift’s tethered form was a seething carpet of sinew, wet black fur, whiskers, beady eyes, pincer teeth and ribbed tails the size of horsewhips.
In the end, it had simply been a matter of who had responded quickest. Since Pyke’s reactions had been sharper than Swift’s and Pyke had reached for his knife before Swift could decide what course of action to take, it was Pyke who had triumphed in their skirmish. Pyke had forced the blade of his knife deep into the flesh of Swift’s thigh and immobilised him. He had then transported Swift from Russell Square to the tavern in Swift’s carriage.
Lifting the candle up in order to throw some light on Swift’s unmoving body, Pyke inspected his adversary for a while. He was nearer forty-five than thirty-five, Pyke decided, with bushy, sandy-coloured hair and a gaunt, almost oblong face. He was by no means an attractive man, but there was something arresting about his features; his taut, weathered skin, his slate-grey eyes, his pursed lips and his almost translucent eyebrows gave the impression of someone who had been mummified. But it was his mole that attracted one’s attention; it was an ugly purple mark, almost as large as a half-shilling coin, located in the middle of his chin.
Swift seemed barely alive so Pyke opened a bottle of gin and sloshed it liberally into his eyes. When that did not rouse the man, Pyke took out his knife, heated the metal blade over the flame of the candle for a few moments, steadied himself, sliced the mole from Swift’s chin and then daubed the open wound with gin.
For an instant, Pyke was worried the man’s agonised screams might have attracted the attention of those
