‘Then I am glad. It will give Maureen the boost she needs. If what you say about her is true, she is wasted in Clapham.’
‘Well, I made sure madam overheard me telling Maureen that I would definitely be ordering one of her creations for myself and advising my friends to do the same.’
‘Thank you.’ Riley leaned across to kiss her. ‘You are now a trendsetter.’
‘I’m not sure about that, but I am pleased to lend my modest approval to Maureen’s efforts.’
Chapter Ten
Riley enjoyed his evening, relaxing in the undemanding company of his oldest friends. The conversation naturally turned towards his latest investigation. Olivia in particular was intrigued by the tawdry particulars. Jake didn’t know the family and was unable to suggest any helpful avenues for Riley to explore. Olivia hinted at the reasons for Ida’s compromised reputation, having heard rumours about Buckingham at the time, but admitted that it was mostly speculation and educated guesswork on her part. Riley didn’t tell her that she had got it right.
He arrived at Scotland Yard the following morning invigorated. His doubts about his ability to get to the bottom of things had been eradicated and he was ready to attack the case with fresh determination. He dealt with his other inspectors’ developments quickly and then caught the train to Clapham, meeting Salter outside the Plough at the agreed time.
‘Blimey, sir,’ Salter said, as soon as he saw Riley. ‘Lady Riley and your niece have well and truly made sure that my Maureen’s star is in the ascendency. Seems madam didn’t snap at her for the rest of the day after such important ladies honoured her premises with a visit, and that’s unheard of.’
Riley smiled. ‘I’m told that your daughter has talent. Amelia and Sophia were enchanted by what they saw.’
‘Well, we’re much obliged to you, I’m sure. Mrs Salter will dine out on the story for weeks, if not months,’ he added.
‘Then I am glad for her sake.’
Salter rubbed his hands together. ‘Afraid I can’t return the favour by giving you any good news resulting from my investigations in here last night.’ He jerked a thumb in the direction of the tavern. ‘Most of the regulars remember Ezra being in there. They reckon he was larger than life and difficult to overlook. A few remember a woman too, but the descriptions vary. She was anything from a dwarf to a giant. Twenty to fifty. ’Bout the only thing they did agree on is that she wore dark clothes and a hat with a veil and that she was having a right old go at Ezra about something, but he just laughed at her.’
‘Don’t worry, Jack, I didn’t seriously expect to get anything from it, but the ground needed to be covered.’ He turned towards the tavern. ‘Right, shall we go and have another little chat with Bishop?’
‘By all means.’
‘You again,’ Bishop said, looking up from polishing his beer taps. There were no customers this early in the day, but Riley knew that they would start to trickle in soon and that Bishop would want them out of the place before then. ‘What do you want now? You’re ruining my trade, Jack. In here last night bothering honest folk with questions and now back again this morning.’
‘And we will keep coming back until we get to the bottom of things,’ Salter told him. ‘The chief inspector has questions for you, so I’ll thank you to keep a civil tongue in your head and come round this side of the bar so that he can talk to you. Otherwise, I might feel tempted to have someone come and check the strength of your ale, just to make sure it ain’t being watered down.’
‘Here, you can’t go making accusations like that with no evidence to back ’em up.’ Bishop pushed out his chest, looking highly affronted. ‘My customers would lynch me if they even suspected they were being diddled, which they ain’t.’
‘It’s in your best interests to help us then,’ Salter pointed out with his customary, down to earth logic. ‘Course, if you’d prefer, I could have a couple of uniformed constables come in here and frogmarch you up to Scotland Yard for questioning, right in front of the customers you hold so dear.’
‘Yeah, all right.’ Bishop put his polishing cloth aside and took a seat across from Riley in the otherwise empty taproom. ‘What do you wanna know?’ he asked.
‘You are aware that Ezra, or John Dawson as you’d know him, was planning to open a sporting club?’ Riley asked.
Bishop gave a grudging nod. ‘Yeah, all right, I did hear the odd rumour.’
‘I imagine there isn’t much that happens around these parts that you don’t get to hear about, one way or another.’
‘I’m a bit like a priest, Chief Inspector. I hear things but I know better than to spread rumours. I wouldn’t stay in business for long if I didn’t know how to keep me mouth shut and me opinions to meself.’
‘It won’t surprise you to learn then, that John was recruiting pretty girls to act as hostesses in his club.’
‘And we’ve yet to find a girl who didn’t jump at the chance,’ Salter added.
‘What about it?’ Bishop asked, scowling in a furtive manner.
‘Your daughter was approached. She wanted to take the position and you were strongly opposed to the idea,’ Riley said, making it a statement of fact rather than
