It did not take as long as he had expected. Within five minutes the clerk pulled out a thin file and produced one letter. He held it up with a pinched look of distaste.
'Here you are, sir, a copy of one letter from Mr. Etheridge to a Mrs. Florence Ivory, dated the fourth of January, 1886.' He held it out for Pitt to take. 'Although I cannot imagine how it will be of interest to the police.''
Pitt read it.
Dear Mrs. Ivory,
I regret your very natural distress in the matter of your daughter, but it has been decided, and I fear I cannot enter into any further correspondence with you upon the subject.
133
I am sure you will come in time to appreciate that all actions that have been taken were in the best interests of the child, which you as her mother must in the end also desire,
Yours faithfully, Vyvyan Etheridge, M.P.
'That cannot be all!' Pitt said peremptorily. 'This is obviously the end of a considerable correspondence! Where is the rest of it?''
'That is all I have,' the clerk said with a sniif. 'I expect it is a constituency matter. I daresay it is in Lincolnshire.''
'Then give me the address in Lincolnshire,' Pitt demanded. 'I shall go and search there.'
The man wearily wrote several lines of instruction on a piece of paper and passed it over. Pitt thanked him and left.
Back at Bow Street he went straight up to Micah Drum-mond's office and rapped impatiently on the door.
' 'Come in!'' Drummond looked up from a pile of papers, and seemed relieved to see Pitt. 'Any news? The further we look at the various anarchist groups we know, the less we find anything.'
' 'Yes sir.'' Pitt sat down without being invited; he was too preoccupied with his thoughts for it to have crossed his mind. 'There is a past constituent of Etheridge's it appears he promised to help in a matter of child custody, and then he sided with the father. She lost the child and is distraught with the pain of it. She has admitted she considers there are times when violence is the only recourse for certain wrongs. The evidence is that Etheridge betrayed her. However, she denies having murdered him.''
'But you think she did?' Drummond's pleasure at the thought of a solution was already dimmed by his own perception of the motive, and by something in Pitt's anger, a darkness that Drummond knew was not directed at the woman.
'I don't know. But it is too probable not to investigate. 134
Most of the letters may be at the constituency office, which is in his country home in Lincolnshire. I will have to go there and search. I shall need a warrant, in case some clerk or secretary refuses me permission, and a rail ticket.''
'Do you want to go tonight?'
'Yes.'
Drummond considered Pitt for a moment. Then he reached for a bell and rang it, and as soon as a constable appeared he gave his orders.
'Go to Inspector Pitt's home and inform Mrs. Pitt that he will be away tonight; have her pack him a valise, including sandwiches, and return here as quickly as you can. Keep the cab at the door. On your way out tell Parkins to make out a search warrant for the Lincolnshire home of Mr. Vyvyan Etheridge, for papers or letters that might contain threats to his life or his welfare, and anything to or from . . . ?'
'Florence or William Ivory,' Pitt supplied.
' 'Right. Jump to it, man!''
The constable disappeared. Drummond looked back at Pitt. 'Do you think it conceivable this poor woman did it alone?'
' 'Not likely.'' Pitt
