‘On the contrary, Jack, we’ve worried her a lot but she thinks we can’t actually prove she was at that tavern, and she’s right. She wore a half-veil, the tavern was poorly lit and most of its occupants couldn’t see straight by that point in the evening anyway. They would never recognise her now.’ He threw back his head and sighed. ‘I had hoped she would admit it when we told her what we knew but it was a vain hope. Anyway, it will be very interesting to see what she does now.’
‘How did you get on with the servants, Peterson?’ Salter asked.
‘They maintain that they retired early and have no idea what their mistress got up to for the rest of the night.’
‘They’re hedging their bets,’ Salter said. ‘Don’t want to drop her in it but won’t give her a clean pass either.’
‘Can’t blame them for that,’ Riley said. ‘Stay out here in the street, Peterson, but keep out of sight. If she was the lady seen arguing with Ezra then she had to have an accomplice. If it was her husband, we will have trouble proving it. If it was anyone else, she’s now running scared and will almost certainly try to see him so that they can decide what to do next. She’s frightened, Jack, don’t worry. We’ll get her soon enough if she is the guilty party.’ Riley turned back to Peterson. ‘I will have Sergeant Barton arrange for you to be relieved as soon as I get back to the Yard.’
‘Don’t worry about me, sir. I won’t let you down.’
‘Good man.’
Salter put his fingers in his mouth and whistled to a hansom. The jarvey steered his long-suffering horse into a sharp turn, jabbing its mouth in the process, and stopped at the curb to collect them. Riley spent the short journey to Whitehall submerged in thought, pondering upon the identity of Verity’s most likely accomplice, always supposing he existed. Her reaction to his questions had left him doubting his own suppositions. Her husband was a distinct possibility, but Patrick, Sarah and her husband had solid alibis, so whom had she recruited?
Would Verity and Gregg have joined forces? Riley had not completely excluded James from his list of suspects, even though he believed his explanation for his behaviour on the night in question. They might need to come back to Albert, the other footman, at some point. Riley wondered now if he had dismissed Albert from his list a little too precipitously. He didn’t seem to have any designs upon Ida’s favours, but probably felt as resentful of Ezra’s boastful ways and disinclination to share the workload as the rest of the male servants in the Randall household. He might also be willing to go to extreme lengths to oblige Verity in return for monetary reward, or simply to rid the household of the blight that was Ezra.
If none of those people had acted alone or in partnership, then Riley would be obliged to look again at Ezra’s family and the shady characters he had mixed with in order to establish the framework for his sporting club. He sighed, thinking that the more he learned about the characters involved with Ezra, the less sure he was about anything.
‘You’re quiet, sir,’ Salter said as their cab turned into Whitehall. ‘Thinking about the case, I assume.’
‘I was thinking, Jack, that Ezra put so many people’s backs up that we might never get to the truth.’
‘It ain’t like you to be so pessimistic, sir,’ Salter replied as they climbed from the cab and Riley paid the fare.
‘Oh, I’m not giving up, Jack, but I am a realist. Anyway, let’s track Gideon down to his lair and put the fear of God into him.’
‘Now you’re talking, sir!’ Salter rubbed his hands together in gleeful anticipation. ‘There’s nothing I enjoy more than jogging suspects’ memories.’
‘That’s the spirit!’
Riley and Salter entered the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel, responsible for drafting all government bills, gave their names and asked to see Gideon. The clerk who attended to them disappeared and returned some minutes later to inform Riley that Gideon would see them.
‘So I should bloody well think,’ Salter muttered as they followed the clerk through a maze of narrow corridors with boxlike offices on both sides and internal windows only, full of clerks seated on high stools scribbling away industriously. None of them glanced up as Riley and Salter passed their lairs. Riley wondered what it must be like to work without ever seeing daylight and felt sympathy for their situation, even though he was well aware that these positions were much sought after.
‘Makes Scotland Yard look positively modern,’ Salter remarked.
‘The gentlemen from Scotland Yard, sir,’ the clerk said, having tapped at a door and been invited to enter.
Gideon’s domain was slightly more prestigious than the cages they had walked past, but not by very much. A small room with one equally small window set high behind his desk, letting in a very little natural light. There were books lining one entire wall, a filing cabinet in one corner and a neat pile of papers on Gideon’s desk. Riley had noticed two clerks in an outer office who did glance up, presumably because Riley and Salter were here to see their boss. Riley doubted that their identity would remain secret for long, and that speculation would quickly become rife as to the nature of Gideon’s crimes.
‘Lord Riley, what news can be so important that it brings you to my place of work?’ Gideon asked, putting aside his pen and standing. ‘Have you found out who killed that footman? If so, I must congratulate you upon
