‘You depend upon your mother to fund your political ambitions,’ Riley said.
‘Ha! It would be more accurate to say that she supplements our income. I don’t earn a great deal as a civil servant, even though my position is relatively senior, but since Verity has decided that I will one day become a member of parliament, standards must be maintained.’
‘Your wife makes all your career decisions for you, does she, sir?’ Salter asked. ‘She must be quite a forceful lady.’
‘You have no idea, Sergeant. No idea at all.’
‘My point is,’ Riley said, ‘that the merest hint of scandal would derail your ambitions.’
‘Mother will never change her ways. Remove one embarrassment and she will soon replace him with someone else even more unsuitable. I think she does it to prove something to herself. She feels worthless because of events that occurred when she was young. She told me that much once, but I’ve never been able to get more out of her on the subject. Anyway, Verity knows that Mother will always do as she pleases. Trust me, Verity has nagged me often enough about her behaviour, begging me to do something about it and…damn, I’ve just made my wife look guilty, haven’t I?’
‘I prefer honesty,’ Riley replied. ‘And I can assure you that we won’t arrest anyone until we have verified our facts.’
‘Decent of you.’
Riley couldn’t decide if Gideon was more relieved or disappointed. All he knew was that he had never seen a less likely political leader. If a man couldn’t even assert his authority in his own household, then he had precious little chance of convincing an apathetic public to place their trust in him.
‘Can you think of anyone connected to your family who would feel such a compelling need to kill your mother’s lover?’ Riley asked.
‘Frankly, no. If you’re thinking of Father then you’re barking up the wrong tree. He and mother are affectionately inclined, perfectly attuned and content to lead separate lives up to a point. I asked him once why he put up with it and he simply told me that her sexual needs were of absolutely no interest to him. He said that marriages—lasting marriages—transcended the physical and that Mother would always remain devoted to him because they understood one another perfectly. And she seems to. I’ve watched them together since then and I have to say that I begin to understand what he means. She doesn’t embarrass him in public by flaunting her affairs and behaves impeccably in social situations.’ Gideon smiled. ‘Mother is the greatest possible fun and charms all of Father’s stuffy old connections into more congenial frames of mind.’
‘Very well. We will of course be speaking with Lord Rothsmere, and providing he confirms what time you left his establishment, I can’t see that we will need to trouble you again.’
Gideon stood and extended his hand to Riley. ‘I am obliged to you,’ he said, ringing a little bell to summon a clerk to show them out.
‘Poor bugger,’ Salter muttered once they were outside again. ‘Makes you wonder why he married such an ambitious chit.’
‘Money,’ Riley said, sighing. ‘Most things in life come down to money. She brought a substantial inheritance to the marriage, but they’ve already run through it.’
‘It’s interesting to learn that his wife’s from Clapham.’
‘Yes, Jack, very interesting indeed. But what I found even more interesting was the casual manner in which Gideon dropped the fact into conversation.’
‘You think he did it in a deliberate attempt to point the finger of suspicion at his wife?’
‘The possibility crossed my mind.’
Chapter Nine
Back at Scotland Yard, Riley asked Sergeant Barton to arrange for someone to relieve Peterson and received a grunt by way of acknowledgement. He then retired to his office, where he spent the next half hour going through his other inspectors’ cases and giving instructions regarding the investigation of a recent spate of burglaries. Satisfied that the two men were on top of their investigations, he sent them on their way moments before Salter put his head round the door.
‘Carter and Soames are back, sir. James was in that tavern right enough, but no one can recall what time he arrived or when he left. He wasn’t seen speaking with anyone but the landlord remembers him because he had to stop him from getting into a ruckus with another customer. Something over nothing, the landlord called it.’
‘It sounds to me as though our friend wanted to be noticed and remembered.’
‘I thought that an’ all.’
‘Interesting,’ Riley said sighing, motioning to the chair in front of his desk. Salter lowered himself into it. ‘I don’t suppose we’ll be able to track down the man he got into a dispute with, or that it will help our investigation even if we could. Let’s leave it for now. It will likely not be the best way to deploy our resources—at least not until we have more evidence that points to James’s involvement.’
‘Do you think it is him, sir?’
Riley took a moment to consider his response. ‘Not sure. Our problem is that almost everyone involved in this case had reasons to want rid of Ezra; some more compelling than others. Ezra dislodged James from his position as Ida’s favourite and didn’t behave with discretion once he stepped into his shoes. I don’t know about you, Jack, but I can’t think of many men who’d stomach such blatant goading.’
Salter sighed. ‘Aye, you’re not wrong. So what now, sir?’
