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When his unexpected visitor called, Captain Harvey Ridgeon was studying reports in the office loaned to him by the railway company. He rose to his feet and offered Colbeck a subdued welcome.

‘I should have thought you’d be out looking for ruthless villains, Inspector,’ he said with a slight edge.

‘I wanted to speak to you first, sir.’

‘What use can I be? I don’t believe that the people who caused that accident even exist. They’re phantoms of your imagination.’

‘We must agree to differ on that,’ said Colbeck, pleasantly. ‘It seems to me that, though we take opposing views, we are both striving for the same result – namely, to find out what caused that disaster.’

‘You know my view, Inspector Colbeck.’

‘Given your position, I respect it. I have the feeling that you might respect my position a little more if you were aware of the evidence on which it’s based.’

‘I doubt that.’

‘At all events,’ said C you had the right to know how our investigation was proceeding even though you did your best to bring it to a complete halt yesterday.’

‘There’s not room for two us in the inquiry,’ asserted Ridgeon.

‘I believe that there is, Captain. What’s more, we have a greater chance of learning the full truth if we pool our resources, so to speak. Yes,’ he said before Ridgeon could interrupt, ‘I know that you feel a police investigation is an irritating irrelevance but I hope to convince you to think again. I’ve come here in the spirit of cooperation. Is it too much to ask for a small amount of your time?’

‘Superintendent Tallis showed no spirit of cooperation.’

Colbeck smiled. ‘He and I have somewhat different approaches to these situations, sir. I trust that you’ll find mine less abrasive.’

Ridgeon studied him warily for a moment then relaxed slightly. ‘I’m sure that I will, Inspector,’ he said. ‘Why don’t we both sit down then you can say your piece?’ As they each took a seat, Ridgeon pulled a face. ‘I must say, that I don’t envy you one bit, working under the superintendent.’

‘Mr Tallis is a fine detective,’ replied Colbeck, loyally, ‘and it needs someone with his experience of command to keep the rest of us in order. You must have realised that he was an army man.’

‘Oh, he made that abundantly clear.’

Ridgeon gave a first smile as he remembered the confrontation with Tallis at Scotland Yard. Though he had left feeling disappointed, he admired the superintendent for standing unequivocally by his officers in the teeth of a protest about their behaviour. For his part, Colbeck sensed an easing of the tension between the two of them. In meeting the man, he was acting on his own initiative and had seen no need to forewarn Tallis of his plan for fear that it might be overruled. As an enemy, Ridgeon would be a continuing nuisance. As an ally, Colbeck reasoned, he might prove extremely useful.

‘Well, Inspector,’ invited Ridgeon with a gesture, ‘why don’t you present your case?’

It was something in which Colbeck was well-versed. Before joining the Metropolitan Police, he had been a barrister and had presented a case in court on numerous occasions. He knew how to marshal his facts to the best advantage. Eschewing the histrionics he used before a jury, he spoke directly and persuasively as he reviewed the evidence that had so far been gathered. Ridgeon was an attentive listener who blinked in surprise more than once. He was not, however, entirely won over by the argument.

‘It’s an ingenious theory,’ he admitted, ‘but it owes more to the liveliness of your imagination than to the known facts. Whenever an accident occurs on the railway, one of the first things I look for is human intervention. There were, I grant you, signs of it in this case but not enough of them to be convincing. As for the notion that the object of the crash was to kill a single individual on the express, I find that too ludicrous to accept.’

‘Look at how carefully chosen the scene of the crash was,’ said Colbeck. ‘A great deal of thought went into it.’

‘I disagree, Inspector. Far more damage could have been caused had the collision taken place on the Ouse Bridge or in the Mertsham Tunnel – and, I would suggest, more people might have been killed as a result. As it was,’ he continued, ‘the death toll was mercifully low. In similar crashes, dozens of passengers have perished.’

‘The intention was to have one man among the victims.’

‘Yet there was no guarantee that he would be killed.’

‘There was every chance that he might be,’ said Colbeck. ‘Horace Bardwell was in the carriage immediately behind the locomotive, the one that would suffer the full force of the impact.’

‘What about your other potential target?’ asked Ridgeon.

‘Giles Thornhill was in the next carriage, again near the front of the train. Like Mr Bardwell, he always travelled first class.’

‘So do lots of other people, Inspector.’

‘Most of them don’t have dangerous enemies.’

‘I see no criminal intent behind this accident.’

‘Then we’ll have to convince you otherwise, Captain.’

‘I defy you to do so.’

Colbeck took up the challenge. ‘It’s only a matter of time before we banish all your doubts,’ he said. ‘If we do, how will you respond?’

‘By being honest enough to concede that I was mistaken,’ said Ridgeon. ‘I’ll also shake your hand in apology. Somehow,’ he added with a thin smile, ‘I don’t think an apology will be necessary. You talk of two men watching trains go by – a harmless event in itself – as if it’s proof of conspiracy to derail a train. Yet you have absolutely no idea who those men were.’

‘That’s not true, sir,’ said Colbeck. ‘As a matter of fact, Sergeant Leeming could well be talking to one of them at this moment.’

Matthew Shanklin was not at work that morning. Hearing that the man had sent a note to say that he was ill, Victor Leeming asked for his address and went to visit him. The house was an Italianate villa in St John’s Wood, indicative of the high salary Shanklin had once commanded as a manager with the LB&SCR. Admitted by a maid, Leeming was surprised to find Shanklin fully dressed and seated in his drawing room with a newspaper.

‘I was told that you were unwell, sir,’ said Leeming.

‘I suffer from migraines, Inspector,’ explained Shanklin, putting a hand to his head. ‘First thing this morning, I was in agony.’

‘I’m glad to see that you’ve made something of a recovery.’

Invited to sit down, Leeming lowered himself on to a settee but he refused the offer of refreshment. After his encounter with Josie Murlow on a doorstep, he found it reassuring to be able to conduct an interview with a civilised man in such pleasant surroundings. He had to remind himself that Shanklin was a suspect.

‘This won’t take long, sir,’ he began, taking out his notebook. ‘I just wanted to hear a little more about your relationship with Mr Bardwell.’

‘It came to an abrupt end,’ said Shanklin, sullenly.

‘Since you were part of the management, you must have seen a lot of each other at one time. What sort of man was he?’

‘He was self-important and dictatorial.’

‘Yes,’ said Leeming as the face of Edward Tallis was conjured up before his eyes, ‘it can be difficult working for someone like that.’

‘Our job was to run the company efficiently. Mr Bardwell’s job was to ensure that we had sufficient funds to do so and that we showed a healthy profit. There was no call for him to interfere in what we were doing.’