‘We won’t, sir. Victor and I owe you our thanks.’
‘Yes, sir,’ agreed Leeming, picking up his cue. ‘We need you to back us. Captain Ridgeon didn’t like what we were doing.’
‘I’m not sure that I do,’ said Tallis, twitching his moustache. ‘You may have identified the intended target of the crash but are no nearer finding those who seem to have engineered it.’ His gaze fell on Leeming. ‘What new information have you garnered today, Sergeant?’
Leeming cleared his throat before launching into his report. It was short, apologetic and delivered with breathless speed. Tallis reacted with a mixture of sarcasm and outrage.
‘What have you been doing all day?’ he asked. ‘Twelve hours of detective work have yielded precisely nothing. If the Sunday Trading Bill had become law this year, at least you’d have been spared the chore of running pointlessly from one public house to another.’
‘I think you’re being unfair on Victor,’ said Colbeck. ‘Because he was a plate-layer, Dick Chiffney has to be a major suspect.’
‘Then find the man, Inspector.’
‘We will, sir.’
‘And track down his accomplice – if such a person exists.’
‘I’m certain that he does,’ said Colbeck. ‘From everything that Victor learnt about Chiffney, it seems clear that he’d never be capable of planning and carrying out the work on his own. Someone far more calculating has been giving the orders.’
‘It could be Matthew Shanklin,’ suggested Leeming.
‘I don’t want to know who it could be,’ said Tallis, scornfully. ‘Tell me who it actually is and produce the evidence to prove it.’
‘We’ll start by locating Dick Chiffney,’ decided Colbeck.
‘That won’t be easy, Inspector,’ warned Leeming. ‘If the woman he lives with can’t find him, what chance have we got?’
‘We’ll catch him, Victor.’
‘Then we need to do so before Josie Murlow gets hold of him, sir, or there’ll be nothing left of Chiffney to question.’
Josie Murlow was dozing in a chair when she heard the noise. It brought her awake instantly. When a second stone hit the window of the living room, she struggled up, ready for combat, flinging open the front door and peering into the half-dark. Through the gloom, she could pick out a familiar shape.
‘Is that you, Dick Chiffney?’ she challenged. ‘Don’t think you can come back here with your snivelling excuses.’
‘I’ve brought no excuses, my love,’ said Chiffney, taking a few tentative steps forward. ‘But I’ve brought a flagon of gin.’
Her manner softened. ‘Where have you been, you devil?’
‘I’ll explain that later, Josie.’
‘You left me high and dry.’
‘I was sworn to secrecy, my love. I was working for a gentleman and he paid me well.’ He came closer, allowing her to see that he was wearing a new suit. ‘Do you like the look of this?’
‘How could you afford that?’
‘I can afford a lot more, Josie, and you’ll share in my good luck.’ He gave a sly smile. ‘If you want to, that is.’
Chiffney was only yards away now. He was a hulking man with broad shoulders and massive fists. A broken nose and a squint turned an ugly, misshapen face into a grotesque one. He had even fewer teeth than she did. Josie took time to make her decision, remembering the lonely nights without him and aching to take revenge. At the same time, she was a practical woman. A man with money in his pocket was always welcome and – whatever his reasons for leaving – Chiffney had come back to her at last. She spat on the ground before speaking.
‘What kind of gin is it?’ she asked.
‘The very best, my love,’ he said.
‘And is it paid for?’
‘Everything is paid for, including the present I brought you.’
She was tempted. ‘You’ve got a present for me?’
‘I couldn’t come back empty-handed now, could I?’ he said with a leer. ‘As soon as I saw it in the shop, I thought of you.’
‘What is it?’
‘Invite me in and I’ll show you.’
She folded her arms. ‘I swore that you’d never cross this threshold again.’ Chiffney lowered his head in disappointment then turned to walk away. ‘But since you’re here,’ she added, quickly, ‘you may as well come in.’
Chiffney rallied, turned around and rushed to embrace her. As they went into the house, Chiffney kicked the door shut behind them then muffled the questions she hurled at him with passionate kisses. When he broke away from her, he felt in a pocket and whisked out a string of garnets on a gold chain. The necklace sparkled in the light from the candles. Josie was thrilled with the gift. Nobody had ever bought her anything so expensive before. He helped her to put it on.
‘It’s wonderful, Dick,’ she cried, looking in a mirror.
‘So are you, my love.’
‘Let’s get some glasses,’ he said, going into the kitchen.
Josie followed him. ‘Who needs glasses?’ she said, snatching the flagon from him and uncorking it to take a long swig. ‘Did you miss me, Dick Chiffney?’
‘Every second I was away.’
‘Show me how much.’
Chiffney cackled with joy. After taking a swig of gin himself, he put the flagon aside, tore off his coat and reached for her. Big as she was, he lifted Josie up in his arms and carried her upstairs to the bedroom. Lowering her onto the bed, he flung himself on top of her and they kissed away their differences. Josie soon forgot about his apparent desertion of her and his inability to forewarn her of his movements. All that mattered now was that Chiffney had lots of money and an overwhelming desire for her. Josie laughed joyously. Her man was back.
Later on, as they had a supper of cheese and gin, Chiffney gave her a partial explanation of where he had been, unable to tell her the whole story or to name the man who had employed him.
‘What I can tell is this, my love,’ he confided, swallowing a hunk of cheese. ‘There could be more money to come.’
‘Could there?’
‘I was paid for one job but there’s another to be done now.’
‘It’s against the law, though, isn’t it?’ she guessed.
Chiffney sat back in his chair. ‘Who cares?’ he said airily. ‘One day’s work will bring in a lot more money and nobody will be any the wiser. It’s against the law but it’s safe.’
‘No, it isn’t,’ she cautioned, remembering her visitor earlier that day. ‘You’d better take care, Dick.’
‘Why do you say that?’
‘Because someone come looking for you,’ she told him. ‘It was a detective from Scotland Yard.’
He was jerked out of his complacency. ‘Are you sure, Josie?’
‘His name was Sergeant Leeming.’
‘What did he want?’
‘All he’d tell me was that he needed to speak to you. He said it was something to do with the railway.’
Chiffney got to his feet. ‘That’s impossible!’ he exclaimed. ‘How could he possibly know?’
‘Know what?’ she asked.
‘Nothing, my love,’ he said, reaching for his coat. ‘I’ve got to get out of here. Don’t worry,’ he went on as she tried to stop him. ‘I’ll send word where I am when I’ve found somewhere to hide. But I can’t be caught here when there’s such a big pay day to come. If I get that money,’ he promised, pausing to take a guzzling kiss, ‘then the two of us can afford to get out of this place.’
‘Why are the police after you, Dick?’
But she was talking to thin air. Chiffney had already fled through the back door and left it wide open. Josie closed it and leant against it as she mused on how fleeting happiness could be. Then she felt the necklace around her fleshy neck and noticed the flagon of gin still standing on the table. There were compensations.