He left quietly, avoiding Smithers.
***
Carswell, Gardiner Clough’s butler, was notstandoffish at all. He seemed to be expecting Cobb, for he usheredhim straight in. Then, ignoring the main hall, he took him by aroundabout route to the kitchen, where Clough, angular andhaggard-looking, was sitting beside the stove.
“Why the secrecy?” Cobb said, coming over,removing his coat and helmet, and sitting on a wooden chairopposite Clough.
“The wife,” Clough said.
Cobb had found out a little about Clough fromBagshaw, who took it upon himself to know what needed to be knownabout his betters. Clough had once been an active barrister, buthad married rich and was living nicely off his wife’s income. And,Cobb assumed, she would not approve of his peccadilloes.
“I just need to ask you a few questions aboutSarie Hickson,” Cobb said.
“I thought you might. I heard about her deathan hour ago. It came as a terrible shock, as you can imagine.Especially coming so soon after poor Sally.”
“She was killed the same way and by the sameperson who killed Sally Butts.”
“Then you’ve got to catch him, don’t you,before he kills again.”
“You can help us with that, sir.”
Clough looked up, his sharp features shadowedwith anxiety. “How?”
“Sarie was here last night.”
Clough nodded.
“She was a regular visitor?”
“Yes. Every week or so. Whenever my wife wasaway.”
“We found her in a strange costume.”
A brief smile passed over Clough’s face. “Ah,yes. She was playing Madame de Pompadour for me. She came and wentin costume.”
“What time did she leave?”
“Just before midnight, as usual.”
“Right. That confirms the time of death atabout twelve-fifteen. Thank you for that.” Cobb paused and thensaid, “You and Sarie had — ah, cordial relations?”
Clough was startled by the abruptness of thequestion. “Of course. She was a sweet girl. I’ll — I’ll miss hervery much.”
“Did she know who you were?”
“Of course not. She knew me only asLancelot.”
“But she knew this house, where you live,didn’t she?”
“How else could she get here?”
“She could easily figure out who livedhere.”
“But she didn’t, did she?”
Cobb wasn’t convinced by the vehemence ofthis response. He sensed a touch of panic in it.
“What are you driving at anyway?” Cloughsaid.
“I was just thinkin’ that you might bewillin’ to pay a lot fer keepin’ yer secrets safe from yerwife.”
“You think Sarie was blackmailing me? That’spreposterous!”
“If she was, that is a good motive fermurder, isn’t it?”
“But she wasn’t! And I may be a fool, but I’mno killer.”
Cobb realized he had, in his zeal, gone toofar. “I’m sorry fer bringin’ it up, sir.”
“I should think you would be!”
“You been very helpful.”
“Carswell will show you out.”
Via the roundabout route, Cobb thought.
***
Now that he had established the likely time of death- twelve-fifteen — Cobb went back to the police quarters to seekpermission to use two or three constables to do a house-to-houseinquiry in the block around the alley where Sarie Hickson had beenmurdered.
“Good work, Cobb,” Bagshaw said when Cobbtold him he had discovered the time of the murder from Clough..“And I trust you treated the gentleman properly?”
“With kid gloves, sir.”
“I’ll let you organize the house-to-house.Now fill me in on what else you’ve found out about this secondmurder.”
“Well, sir, I’m convinced we’re lookin’ atone killer and two crimes.”
“What do you base this bizarre conclusionon?”
“Bartholomew Pugh was a witness to the firstcrime, and he’s given us a clear description of Sally Butts’skiller: a tall gentleman with a fur hat, dark overcoat and bigboots.”
“That should prove helpful for finding thekiller of the first girl.”
“Well, we may get lucky and find a witnessfor the second crime, too. At least we’ll be able to comparedescriptions if we do.”
“But what’s the evidence for one killer?”
“The boots are the clearest link. I foundboot-tracks again — large boots with a star-shaped pattern on thesole. And Pugh says he saw a man with big boots.”
“Leading away from the scene?”
“Leading to Jarvis Street this time. Wherethey vanish.”
“But I told you before you cannot knowwhether these prints were made at the time of the murder. Theycould be just some gentleman on his way home.”
“But both girls were blond, sir. Sally hadher own hair and Sarie was wearin’ a blond wig. I’m sure that Sallywas taken fer a whore and Sarie was a known whore in Devil’s Acre.Those boots belong to a gentleman. So we’ve got a gentleman killerwho’s got it in fer blond whores, or just whores. He’ll kill again,I’m sure of it.”
Bagshaw leaned forward, taut as a spring. Histiny eyes shook in their sockets. “Now see here, Mr. Detective,you’re jumping to several conclusions at once. What do you want todo, spread panic through the city by saying we’ve got a maniac witha knife on the loose? No woman will feel safe on the streets!”
“But the crimes are in Devil’s Acre,sir.”
“And Devil’s Acre is full of respectablepeople every night of the week! No, Cobb, you’ve got two murders onyour hands. I want you to pursue John Kray for Sally Butts’smurder. He’s just the type of person to go off the deep end whenjilted. Get a warrant and search that house for a knife and aglove.”
“I’ve also got a gentleman’s scarf I foundnear the second scene with a ‘P’ on it,” Cobb said stubbornly.
Bagshaw’s gaze narrowed. “I know what you’rethinking, Cobb. I don’t want you near Pugh again. You’ve botheredhim enough, and you disobeyed me by seeing him without making anappointment.”
“I was thinkin’ of interviewin’ SimonWhitemarsh, sir. He was at the brothel last night and left aboutmidnight. He might’ve seen somethin’.”
“There you go again! You’re obsessed withgentlemen! That place is crawling with low-life and you’ve got topursue proper people.”
“Are you sayin’ I can’t talk toWhitemarsh?”
“Oh, go ahead. But I want Kray pursued, doyou hear? And I expect the house-to-house to turn up somethinguseful, considering the extra help I’m giving you. Now get out ofhere!”
Cobb was more than happy to leave.
***
While Rossiter and Wilkie took the description ofthe killer and went house to house in the area of each of thecrimes, Cobb got a search warrant from Magistrate Thorpe and wentto Kray’s cottage. Mrs. Kray answered the door, and was not pleasedto see the warrant Cobb brandished.
“You won’t find anything here, Cobb,” Kraysaid, trying to calm his mother. Cobb spent the next hourfruitlessly searching the Kray cottage. He felt foolish and veryannoyed with Bagshaw. It was so clear that the crimes wereconnected and that Kray had no motive whatsoever for killing SarieHickson.
“My son was home here all last night,” Mrs.Kray said in response to Cobb’s question. “From suppertime tillbreakfast.”
Cobb wasn’t surprised. He hoped, however, tobe surprised by the house-to-house inquiry. When he got back to thestation, however, he learned that no-one in Devil’s Acre had seenor heard anything. It was as if they had all been struck deaf anddumb. Fortunately the Chief was not there to hear the bad news: hehad been summoned to the Mayor’s office upstairs. Cobb decided togo and beard Whitemarsh — without an appointment.
Simon Whitemarsh answered his own door.
“I’m Constable Cobb.”
“I remember you, sir. What do you want?You’ve come at a very bad time.”
Cobb took a good look at Whitemarsh, whom heremembered from Madame LaFrance’s place as being a pasty-faced,soft-fleshed character with sleepy eyes. But the man before him wasquite flushed, as if he had been drinking, with bright red spots oneach of his cheeks. And his eyes were stark and staring, as ifhighlighted by kohl, with an unnatural brightness to them. Perhapshe had been taking opium.