Her face puckered with concern. ‘Have you committed a crime?’
‘I done my country a service,’ he boasted, ‘and I had a good laugh while I was doing it. That’s all I’m ready to admit.’
Slicing off a piece of fish, he thrust it into his mouth and munched away. Irene was disturbed. A meal that had been quite pleasant had turned into a cause for alarm. Ernie Gill was a diehard Liverpudlian who’d sworn time and again that he would never leave his native city. Yet here he was, strutting around London in his best suit and revelling in the idea of making mischief. What was his real reason for leaving Liverpool and what sort of trouble had he created since he’d arrived in the capital? On balance, Irene decided, she did not want an answer to either question. It was best not to know.
Harvey Marmion was collating all the information gathered by his team of detectives. He was so immersed in his work that he didn’t hear the knock on the door and was only aware of his visitor when Joe Keedy’s shadow fell across the desk.
‘Good morning, Joe,’ he said, looking up.
‘I hear that we’ve found one of our mystery men.’
‘That’s right. His name is Howard Fine and he’s the young tailor who worked briefly at Mr Stein’s shop. He’s definitely not our killer. When his former boss was being stabbed, Fine was in Brighton with his family.’ He glanced at the sheet of paper in front of him. ‘According to this, he has a perfect alibi.’
‘He needs interviewing nevertheless.’
‘Yes, I’m having him brought in today.’
‘What about the other former employee?’ asked Keedy. ‘You know — the man who left after a big row?’
‘We’re still looking for him.’
‘He was called Porridge or something like that.’
‘Cyril Burridge,’ corrected Marmion with a laugh. ‘People who knew him say that he was a first-rate tailor with many productive years in the trade.’
‘Then why did he suddenly disappear?’
‘We’ll ask him when we find him, Joe. We’ll also ask him why he and Stein fell out after such a long time together. David Cohen, who managed the shop, said that Burridge seemed set to spend the rest of his life working in Jermyn Street.’
‘So what went wrong, Inspector?’
‘The only person who can tell us that is the man himself.’
‘If he’s that experienced,’ said Keedy, ‘he must have found a job elsewhere by now.’
‘Oh, he has. Burridge was snapped up by one of Stein’s bitter rivals in Savile Row. It was the first place our lads looked but it seems that Burridge is on leave at the moment.’
‘Where has he gone?’
‘Nobody seems to know,’ replied Marmion. ‘When they called at his house, there was nobody there.’
‘Do you think he’s gone into hiding?’
‘It’s beginning to look like that, Joe.’
He handed a report about the man to Keedy who flicked through it before putting it back on the desk. In his opinion, Burridge had to be considered as a suspect. He reasoned that someone who had been in the business for so many years would be familiar with Stein’s routine and very much aware of what the safe in the upstairs room had contained. Another factor weighed with Keedy.
‘Burridge is not a Jewish name, is it?’
‘No,’ replied Marmion. ‘He’s a chapel-going Yorkshireman from Barnsley. That’s what Cohen told me anyway. I had the feeling that Burridge was not the manager’s best friend. He could be blunt.’
‘They speak their mind in Yorkshire.’
‘I’m all in favour of plain speaking, Joe.’ He rose to his feet. ‘It means that you know where you stand with people.’ He checked his watch. ‘I’d like you to interview Mr Fine, if you will. He’s on his way here right now. It’s probably a waste of time but you might just get a nugget or two out of him. There’s no harm in trying.’
‘What will you be doing, Inspector?’
‘I’ll be grilling some other people who took part in the raid on the shop. While we were away, our lads tracked down three of them in all but not — alas — the man with the petrol can.’
Marmion went on to inform him that John Gatliffe had been released on bail but that Oliver Cochran had been refused bail and was remanded in custody. The inspector had no fears that Gatliffe would abscond. The soldier was ashamed of what he’d done and was ready to take his punishment. Instead of returning to his family as a courageous soldier, he’d had to slink home with his tail between his legs and explain the situation to his parents. Cochran, by contrast, still maintaining his innocence, was likely to make a run for it if set free. He was better off behind bars where he could not intimidate his friend.
‘We may have done the pair of them a favour,’ said Keedy. ‘Prison might turn out to be a lighter option than being stuck in a trench while the Germans use them as target practice.’
‘I fancy that Cochran and Gatliffe would disagree. Compared to the regime they’ll face in prison, the army will seem like a relief. And think of the humiliation they’re going to suffer.’
Keedy remembered the ordeal endured by Ruth Stein.
‘I’d rather think about the humiliation the girl suffered.’
Marmion nodded. ‘So would I, Joe — so would I.’
‘I’d better go and see if Mr Fine has arrived.’
‘Ask him if there were any tensions at the shop.’
‘I don’t think he was there long enough to find out.’
‘You never know.’
When Keedy left the room, Marmion resumed his seat and began to sift through the paperwork. He was soon interrupted by a tap on the door. As it opened, a young detective constable stepped into the room. He cleared his throat before speaking.
‘There’s a gentleman outside who insists on speaking to you, Inspector,’ he said.
‘Then show the fellow in.’
The constable beckoned to someone in the corridor and a well-dressed man in his fifties strode purposefully into the office.
‘Inspector Marmion?’ he enquired.
‘That’s me, sir,’ said Marmion.
‘I’m Cyril Burridge. I understand you’ve been looking for me.’
Irene Bayard visited the shoe shop as a customer rather than as the sister of its manager. Dorothy, however, insisted on giving her preferential treatment and served Irene herself. While her sister was trying on a third pair of shoes, Dorothy tried to probe.
‘When will you be seeing Ernest again?’ she asked.
‘We haven’t set a date.’
‘It’s good for you to have a friend in London.’
‘He’s not that kind of friend, Dot.’
‘He proposed to you, didn’t he? So he must be keen.’
‘Yes,’ said Irene with a sigh. ‘He’s keen all right.’
‘What happened yesterday? All you’ve told me is that you had a nice lunch together. There must have been more to it than that.’
‘There wasn’t.’
Having put on both shoes, Irene stood up and walked up and down to test them for comfort. Then she stood in front of the mirror to see how they looked. Dorothy waited while her sister had another stroll up and down the shop. Irene eventually sat down again.
‘The left one is pinching my foot slightly,’ she said. ‘Perhaps I’ll need a larger size after all.’
‘I’ll get a pair for you to try.’
Dorothy darted off into the storeroom. Irene removed the shoes and turned one over to see the price marked on the sole. Her sister came back with a pair in the same style. Dorothy put them on.
‘How do they feel?’ asked Dorothy.
‘Much better, thanks.’
‘You’ve always had wide feet.’
‘It comes from spending so much time on them, Dot. When I worked for Cunard, I was always at someone’s beck and call. It will be nice to have a job where I can work sitting down.’
‘Did you tell Ernest about the toy factory?’
‘Yes.’
‘Does he have a job yet?’
‘He was going for an interview yesterday.’
‘Where?’
‘I’ve no idea,’ said Irene, slipping on both shoes then standing up and promenading again. She stopped in front of the mirror and examined the shoes from various angles. ‘These are really comfy.’