have to face up to what you did instead of trying to run away from it. Most important of all,' he stressed, 'you mustn't take all the blame on your own shoulders.'
'I can't help it, Inspector.'
'You were led astray by your stepfather.'
'That isn't how it was.'
'He admitted his guilt by giving his life to save yours.'
'It was not like that,' she told him, her eyes filling with tears.
'Joe Dykes did touch me in that lane but that was all he did. I only pretended that he did much more than that. Before I ran back here, I even tore my dress. I wanted Nathan to comfort me. That's how it all started,' she said with a sob in her voice. 'I just wanted him.'
By the time he got back to the inn, Victor Leeming had decided that his visit to Wye had not been in vain at all. He had something to report. To his disappointment, however, he did not find Colbeck at the Saracen's Head. In the Inspector's place were George Butterkiss and a complete stranger. The Constable leapt up at once from his chair and came across to Leeming.
'I found him, Sergeant,' he declared, as if expecting a reward.
'Who?'
'Amos Lockyer. Come and meet him.'
He took Leeming across to the table and introduced him to his friend. The two of them sat down opposite Lockyer, a short, fleshy man in his late fifties with an ugly face that was redeemed by a benign smile. His hand was curled around a pint of beer and, from the way he slurred his words, it was clearly not his first drink of the day.
'How did you track him down, Constable?' asked Leeming.
'I remembered the Romney Marshes.'
'Why?'
'Because I once told George that I'd like to retire there,' said Lockyer, taking up the story. 'I had an uncle who was on his last legs and he promised to leave his cottage to me. I got word of his death when I was working at Leeds Castle. That was no job for me,' he told them with disgust. 'I wasn't born to fetch and carry for my betters because I don't believe that they were any better than me.' He gave a throaty chuckle. 'So, after I'd buried Uncle Sidney, I decided to retire.'
'That's where I found him,' said Butterkiss. 'At his new home.'
'You did well,' conceded Leeming.
'Thank you, Sergeant. But how have you got on?'
'The first two ladies on that list could be discounted at once, but I'm not so sure about the third. What can you tell me about Kathleen Brennan from Wye?'
'Nothing beyond what I told you before.'
'There was something very odd about Mrs Brennan.'
'You should have asked me about her,' said Lockyer, helpfully. 'What's odd about Mrs Brennan is that she's the only woman I know who wears a wedding ring without having been anywhere near a husband.' He grinned amiably. 'A husband of her own, that is.'
'She's not married?'
'No, Sergeant, and never has been.'
'How do you know her?'
'From the time when she used to serve beer at the Fountain,' recalled the older man. 'This was before your time, George, so you won't remember Kathy Brennan. She was very popular with the customers.'
'That was the feeling I had about her,' said Leeming. 'She was too knowing. As if she was no better than she ought to be.'
'Oh, I don't condemn a woman for making the most of her charms and Kathy certainly had those. They were good enough to start charging money for, which was how she and I crossed swords.'
'You mean that she was a prostitute?' asked Butterkiss.
'Of sorts,' said Lockyer, indulgently. 'And only for a short time until she saw the dangers of it. I liked the woman. She always struck me as someone who wanted a man to love her enough to stay by her but she couldn't find one in Ashford. What made her change her ways was that business with Joe Dykes.'
'I don't remember that,' said Butterkiss.
'What happened?' prompted Leeming.
'Joe was in the Fountain one night,' said Lockyer, 'and he took a fancy to Kathy. So off they go to that lane behind the Corn Exchange. Only she's heard about his reputation for having his fun then running off without paying, so she asked for some cash beforehand.'
'Did he give it?'
'Yes, Sergeant. But as soon as Joe had had his money's worth up against a wall, he attacked the poor woman and took his money back from her. Kathy came crying to me but, as usual, Joe had made himself scarce. He was cruel.'
'In other words,' said Leeming, realising that he had just been given a valuable piece of information, 'Kathleen Brennan had a good reason to hate Dykes.'
'Hate him? She'd have scratched his eyes out.'
It was at that point that Robert Colbeck returned to the inn. Seeing the three of them, he came across to their table. As soon as he had been introduced to Lockyer, he took over the questioning.
'Did you follow Jacob Guttridge to his home?'
'Yes,' replied Lockyer, uncomfortably.
'Then you are an accessory to his murder.'
'No, Inspector!'
'Amos didn't even know that he was dead,' said Butterkiss, trying to defend his former colleague. 'The first he heard about the murder – and that of the prison chaplain – was when I told him about them.'
'It's true,' added Lockyer, earnestly. 'I was stuck on a farm, miles from anywhere. You don't get to read a newspaper when you're digging up turnips all day. When George told me what's been going on, I was shaken to the core.'
'Yet you admit that you followed Guttridge,' noted Colbeck.
'That's what I'm good at – finding where people live.' He took a long sip of his beer. 'I knew he'd lie low in Maidstone prison after the execution so I stayed the night there and waited at the station early next morning. Mr Guttridge caught the first train to Paddock Wood then took the train to London from there. Unknown to him, I was right behind him all the way.'
'Like a shadow,' said Butterkiss, admiringly.
'Not exactly, George, because he walked much faster than me. This old injury slows me right down,' he said, slapping his thigh. 'He almost gave me the slip in Hoxton. I saw the street he went down but I didn't know which house was his. So I waited on the corner until he came out again and I followed him all the way to Bethnal Green.'
'To the Seven Stars,' said Colbeck.
'That's right, Inspector. How did you know?'
Leeming was bitter. 'We know all about the Seven Stars,' he said. 'If you went there, you must have discovered that Guttridge was going to be on that excursion train to watch the big fight.'
'It was the only thing that people were talking about,' explained Lockyer. 'The landlord was making a list of all those who were going to support the Bargeman. Jake Guttridge was one of the first to put himself forward, though he gave a different name. I don't blame him. The Seven Stars wasn't the place to own up to being a hangman.'
'What happened afterwards?'
'I trailed him back to Hoxton. The trouble was that he spotted me and broke into a run. I had a job to keep up with him but at least I got the number of his house this time. I earned my money.'
'From whom?'
'The person who paid me to find his address.'
