The Excursion Train

'So you decided to go on the same excursion train?'

'No, Inspector – I give you my word. If I'm honest, I thought about it. I even planned what I'd do when I caught up with him. But I don't think I could have gone through with it.'

'Did you discuss this with anyone else?'

'Yes,' said Hawkshaw, 'and he talked me out of it. He told me that I couldn't bring back my father by killing the man who hanged him. He made me see how wrong it would have been and got me to promise that I'd forget all about it. He stopped me.'

'Who did?'

'Gregory – Gregory Newman.'

There were tears in his eyes as he stood beside the bed and looked down at his wife. Meg Newman had not woken all day. She lay in a sleep so deep that it was almost a coma. On the rare occasions when she did open her eyes for any length of time, she inhabited a twilight world of her own in which she could neither speak, move nor do anything for herself. Her husband gazed down at her with a mixture of love and resignation. Then he bent down to give her a farewell kiss that she never even felt.

'You once begged me to do this,' he said, 'and I didn't have the courage to put you out of your pain and misery. I have to do it now, Meg. Please forgive me.'

Gregory Newman put the pillow over her face and pressed down hard. It was not long before his wife stopped breathing.

Having released his prisoner, Colbeck went marching off to the railway works with Leeming and Butterkiss. As a precaution, he deployed them at the two exits from the boiler shop before he went in. When he found the foreman, he had to shout above the incessant din.

'I've come to see Gregory Newman again,' he yelled.

'You're too late, Inspector.'

'What do you mean?'

'He left half an hour ago,' replied the foreman. 'Someone brought word that his wife had taken a turn for the worse. I let him go home.'

'Who brought the message?'

'A young woman.'

Colbeck thanked him then hurried outside to collect the others. When he heard what had happened, Leeming was able to identify the bearer of the message.

'Kathleen Brennan,' he said. 'I think she came to warn him.'

'Let's go to his house,' ordered Colbeck.

They hurried to Turton Street and found the door of the house wide open. The blind had been drawn on the downstairs front window. Colbeck went quickly inside and looked into the front room. Weeping quietly, Mrs Sheen was pulling the sheet over the face of Meg Newman. She looked up in surprise at Colbeck.

'Forgive this intrusion,' he said, removing his hat. 'We're looking for Mr Newman. Is he here?'

'Not any more, sir. He told me Meg had passed on and he left.'

'Where did he go?'

'I don't know,' said Mrs Sheen, 'but he had a bag with him.'

'Thank you. Please excuse me.'

Colbeck came back out into the street again. Butterkiss was keen.

'What can I do, Inspector?' he volunteered.

'Nothing at all. He's made a run for it.'

'I just can't believe that Gregory is involved in all this. He's such a kind and considerate man. Look at the way he cared for his sick wife.'

'He won't care for her anymore.'

'I think I know where he may have gone,' said Leeming.

'Where's that, Victor?'

'To the place where his female accomplice lives.'

'Who is she?'

'Kathleen Brennan. We need to get to Wye straight away.'

'How do you know that this woman is his accomplice?'

'Because I saw her riding towards Ashford earlier on,' said Leeming, 'and now I realise why. I never expected to hear myself say this, Inspector, but I think that we should take a train.'

Kathleen Brennan bustled around the tiny bedroom and gathered up her belongings. She put them in a large wicker basket, threw her clothes over her arm then went down the bare wooden stairs. Gregory Newman was sitting in a chair, brooding on what he had done. Putting everything down on the table, Kathleen went over to comfort him.

'It had to be done,' she said, 'and it was what your wife wanted.'

'I know, Kathy, but it still hurt me.' He gave a mirthless laugh. 'Strange, isn't it? I killed three people I hated and all I felt was pleasure and satisfaction. It's only when I smother someone I loved that I feel like a murderer.'

'It was no life for her, Gregory. It was a blessed release.'

'For Meg, maybe – but not for me.'

'Why do you say that?'

'Because I feel so guilty.'

He put his head in his hands. Kneeling beside him, Kathleen coiled an arm around his shoulders and kissed him on the temple. After a while, he looked up and tried to shake off his feelings of remorse. He pulled her on to his lap and embraced her warmly.

'Thank you, Kathy,' he said.

'This is what we both wanted, isn't it?'

'Yes.'

'You always said that we'd be together one day and now we are.'

'I didn't expect it to happen like this,' he said. 'I thought that Meg would have died long ago but she clung on and on. It would have been so much easier if she could have passed away by now.'

'I had to warn you,' she insisted. 'Sergeant Leeming frightened me with his questions. How on earth did he know that I was involved?'

'He didn't but he found his way out here somehow. That was a danger signal, Kathy. You were right to come to me.

'He mentioned an Inspector Colbeck.'

'Damn the man!' said Newman. 'He's behind all this. He dug away until he unearthed things that I never thought he'd find. Because he was getting closer all the time, I shot him last night. I hoped I'd killed him.'

'It didn't sound like it.'

'Then we must get far away from here, Kathy. It's only a matter of time before they work out that I murdered Joe Dykes and the others.'

'Joe got his deserts for what he did to me,' she said, harshly. 'If you'd given me that cleaver, I'd have killed him myself.' She grinned. 'You should have seen the look in his eye when I brought him out of the Red Lion. By the time we got to the wood, he was panting for me.'

'Making him undress like that made such a difference,' he recalled. 'All that I had to do was to carve him up.' He kissed her full on the lips. 'I couldn't have done it without you, Kathy.'

'Or without Nathan.'

'He was just where we needed him.'

'When I saw what he was doing, I had no qualms about letting him take the blame. I looked on her as my own daughter and Nathan was-'

'Yes, yes,' she interrupted. 'You paid him back.'

'I paid them all back,' he said, proudly.

'And now we can be together at last.'

As they hugged each other again, Robert Colbeck opened the door. He doffed his hat and he stepped into the room. They sprang apart.

'You shouldn't leave the windows open,' warned Colbeck.

'It only encourages eavesdropping.'

'What are you doing here?' gasped Newman, getting to his feet.

'I've come to arrest the pair of you.'

'I thought that I shot you.'

'You tried to, Mr Newman, but your aim was poor. You'll pardon me if I don't turn my back and let you have a second attempt with a piece of wire. I know that's your preferred method.' He looked at Kathleen. 'My name is Inspector Colbeck. I believe that you met my Sergeant earlier.'

'Kathy is nothing to do with this,' insisted Newman.

'Then why did she ride to Ashford to warn you?' asked Colbeck. 'Sergeant Leeming saw her from the train. Your foreman told me that a young woman with red hair came for you in the boiler shop.' He saw Newman eyeing the open door. 'And before you decide to bolt again, I should warn you that the Sergeant is outside with Constable Butterkiss.'

Kathleen was dazed. 'How did you get here so quickly?'

'By train.'

'And you heard us through the window?'

'I'd worked out some of it beforehand,' said Colbeck. 'Once I knew that Nathan Hawkshaw could not possibly have committed that crime, it narrowed the search down. The one thing I would like clarified is what happened to Hawkshaw's coat.'