'If we can convince him that your father was innocent, we'll get him on our side – don't you see?'
'He thinks we killed that hangman.'
'That doesn't mean we don't use him, Adam.'
'Forget it.'
'Win agrees,' said Newman. 'If we cooperate with this Inspector, he may do us all a favour and help to clear your father's name. You want the man who really killed Joe Dykes to be caught, don't you?'
Hawkshaw gave him a strange look then took another long sip from his tankard. Wiping his mouth again, he got to his feet.
'Thanks for the beer, Gregory.'
'Where are you going?'
'I've got to see somebody.'
Without even a farewell, Adam Hawkshaw walked out of the bar.
Robert Colbeck was sporting a red silk waistcoat when he joined his superior for dinner and Edward Tallis glared at it with unconcealed distaste. Victor Leeming's apparel was far more conservative but he was criticised by the Superintendent for being too untidy. It did not make for a pleasant meal. Tallis waited until they had ordered from the menu before he pitched into the two detectives.
'What the deuce is going on?' he demanded. 'I send you off to solve one railway murder and a second one is committed.'
'We can hardly be blamed for that, sir,' said Colbeck.
'But it happened right under your noses.'
'Paddock Wood is some distance from here and the chaplain was killed somewhere beyond it. We have a rough idea of the location.'
'How?'
'Because we walked beside the line,' said Leeming, able to get a word in at last. 'The Inspector's theory was right.'
'It wasn't a theory, Victor,' said Colbeck, quickly, 'because we know that the Superintendent frowns upon such things. It was more of an educated supposition.'
'Don't try to bamboozle me,' warned Tallis.
'It would never cross my mind, sir.'
Leeming took over. 'Inspector Colbeck believed that the killer committed his crime soon after the train left Paddock Wood, then jumped off it before it reached the first station at Yalding.'
'A preposterous notion!' said Tallis.
'We proved it.'
'Yes,' said Colbeck. 'A shallow embankment runs alongside the line outside Yalding. We found a place where there were distinct footprints, as if someone had landed heavily and skidded down the grass. My supposition was correct.'
'I dispute that,' said Tallis. 'Those marks could have been caused by someone else – children, playing near the line, for instance.'
'A child would not leave a murder weapon behind, sir.'
'What?'
'We found it in some bushes close to the footprints.'
'A piece of wire,' said Leeming, 'covered in blood.'
'Then why didn't you bring it back with you?' asked Tallis. 'That's the kind of evidence we desperately need.'
'It's upstairs in my room, Superintendent,' Colbeck reassured him. 'The stationmaster at Yalding was kind enough to give me a bag in which to carry it. So at least we know where and precisely how the prison chaplain met his death.'
'What we really need is a suspect.'
'Two of them, sir.'
Tallis was sceptical. 'Not this phantom woman again, surely?'
'She was no phantom, sir,' said Leeming. 'There were two clear sets of footprints beside the railway line. The Inspector guessed it the moment we heard the news. The woman was there to distract the victim.'
'Both of them will hang when they're caught.'
'Yes,' said Colbeck, 'for the two murders.'
'You're certain we're dealing with the same killer here?'
'Without a shadow of doubt, sir.'
'Convince me,' said Tallis, thrusting out his chin.
Colbeck had rehearsed his report in advance. It was clear and concise, containing a description of what the Inspector had found at the scene of the crime and the supporting evidence that had been gathered. Leeming felt impelled to add his own coda.
'We even called at St Peter's Church in Paddock Wood,' he said. 'They still had the board that advertised the talk by the Reverend Jones. A large congregation turned up with lots of strangers among them.'
'Including, I should imagine, the killer,' said Tallis.
'He and this woman must have followed the chaplain to the station and seized their opportunity.'
'Yes,' said Colbeck. 'They realised that there wouldn't be many people on that train so there was a good chance that their victim would get into an empty carriage. The rest we know.'
'It means that I now have two railway companies demanding action from me,' complained Tallis. 'If anything, the management of the South Eastern Railway is even more strident. They say that disasters come in threes. Which is the next railway company to harry me?'
The waiter arrived with the first course and the discussion was suspended for a little while. Colbeck nibbled his bread roll and Leeming overcame his discomfort in the presence of the Superintendent to tuck into his soup. Only when Tallis had tasted his own first mouthful of soup was he ready to resume.
'This all began with an illegal prizefight,' he noted.
'With respect, sir,' said Colbeck, 'it goes back before that. It really started with the murder of Joseph Dykes.'
'That case is closed.'
'Not to the people who believe Hawkshaw was wrongly hanged.'
'Courts of law do not make errors on that scale.'
'It's conceivable that they did so in this instance,' said Colbeck. 'But, in one sense, it doesn't really matter. It's a question of perception, sir. The people who supported Nathan Hawkshaw saw what they honestly believed was an innocent man going to the gallows. They went to exhaustive lengths on his behalf.'
'So?'
'One of those people is the man we're after, Superintendent, and there are dozens to choose from. What happened at Twyford, and on that train last night to Maidstone, is rooted here in Ashford. The killer is probably less than a couple of hundred yards from where we sit.'
'Then find him, Inspector.'
'We will. Meanwhile, precautions have to be taken.'
'Of what kind?'
'We have to ensure that Jacob Guttridge and Narcissus Jones are not joined by a third victim,' said Colbeck. 'We're dealing with a ruthless man here. He may not be content with killing the hangman and the prison chaplain. Other people may be in danger as well.'
'What other people?'
'For a start,' said Leeming, chewing a bread roll, 'the policeman who came here to arrest Hawkshaw. His name is Sergeant Lugg.'
'Empty your mouth before you speak,' snapped Tallis.
'Sorry, sir.'
'Sergeant Lugg has been warned,' said Colbeck, 'but the person we need to contact is the barrister who led the prosecution team. He tore the case for the defence apart and made the guilty verdict inevitable.'
