The Railway Viaduct

'Not any more,' said Colbeck. 'I had the pleasure of exchanging a few blows with Mr Kilfoyle. I let him know what I felt about people who assaulted my sergeant.'

'Thank you, sir.'

Colbeck told him about the capture of the villains and how they had been handed over to the French police the next day. Thomas Brassey and Aubrey Filton had been overwhelmed with gratitude. The second visit to France had been eventful. Colbeck felt satisfied.

'So that part of the investigation is now concluded,' he said.

'What comes next?'

'The small matter of tracking down the killer.'

'Do you have any clues, Inspector?'

'Yes, Victor. One of them came from the most unexpected source, but that's often the way with police work. And I'm a great believer in serendipity.'

Leeming was honest. 'So would I be, if I knew what it meant.'

'Picking up a good thing where you find it.'

'Ah, I see. A bit like beachcombing.'

'Not really,' said Colbeck. 'Beachcombing implies that you deliberately go in search of something. Serendipity depends entirely on chance. You might not even be looking for a particular clue until you stumble upon it in the most unlikely place.'

'Serendipity. I'll remember that word. It will impress Estelle.'

'How is your wife?'

'She's been a tower of strength, sir.'

'Happy to have you at home so much, I should imagine.'

'Yes and no,' said Leeming, sucking in air through his teeth. 'Estelle is happy to have me here but not when I'm convalescing. She'd like more of a husband and a bit less of a patient.'

'You seem to be recovering well.'

Leeming's facial scars had almost disappeared now and the heavy bruising on his body had also faded. What remained were the cracked ribs that occasionally reminded him that they were there by causing a spasm of pain. He refused to give in to his injuries.

'I'm as fit as a fiddle, sir,' he said, cheerily. 'But for the doctor, I'd be back at work right now.'

'Doctors usually know best.'

'It's so boring and wasteful, sitting at home here.'

'Do you get out at all?'

'Every day, Inspector. I have a long walk and I sometimes take the children to the park. I can get about quite easily.'

'That's good news. We look forward to having you back.'

'I can't wait,' said Leeming. 'Much as I love Estelle and the children, I do hate being unemployed. It feels wrong somehow. I'm not a man who can rest, sir. I like action.'

'You had rather too much of it in France.'

'I like to think that I helped.'

'You did, Victor,' said Colbeck. 'You did indeed.'

'Mind you, I couldn't make a living as a navvy. A week of that kind of work would have finished me off. They earn their money.'

'Unfortunately, some of them tried to earn it by other means.'

'Yes,' said the other with feeling. 'Shannon and his friends were too greedy. They wanted more than Mr Brassey could ever pay them. Pierce Shannon always had an ambitious streak. It's a pity you got so little out of him when you questioned him.'

'That's not true.'

'He couldn't even tell you the name of the man who paid him.'

'Oh, I think that he gave us a lot more information than he realised,' said Colbeck. 'To begin with, we now know how he and his paymaster first met.'

'In a police cell.'

'What does that tell you?'

'Nothing that I couldn't have guessed about Shannon, sir. He got involved in a brawl and was arrested for disturbing the peace. Men like that always get into trouble when they've had a few drinks.' He cleared his throat. 'I'm bound to point out that the same thing happened to Brendan Mulryne after he'd left the police force.'

'He might not be the only policeman that we lost.'

'I don't think that Shannon was ever in uniform, sir.'

'What about the man who employed him?'

'We know nothing whatsoever about the fellow.'

'Yes, we do,' said Colbeck. 'We know that he's able to talk to someone in a police cell, which means that he's either a lawyer, a policeman or someone who used to be involved in law enforcement. I'd hazard a guess that he has friends in the police force, or he'd not have been given such easy access to a prisoner. Also, of course, we do have his Christian name.'

'Luke.'

'You can find out the rest when you get there.'

'Where?'

'To the station where Pierce Shannon was detained.'

Leeming was taken aback. 'You want me to do that, sir?'

'You enjoy a long walk, don't you?'

'Yes.'

'And you're chafing at the bit while you're sitting here.'

'I am, Inspector – that's the plain truth.'

'Then you can return to light duties immediately.' His grin was conspiratorial. 'Provided that you don't mention the fact to Mr Tallis, that is. He might not understand. He has a preference for making all operational decisions himself.'

'I won't breathe a single word to him.'

'Not even serendipity?'

'I'm saving that one for my wife.'

'Does that mean you're willing to help us, Victor?'

Leeming struggled to his feet. 'I'm on my way, sir.'

They noticed the difference at once. It was as if a threatening black cloud that had been hanging over the site had suddenly dispersed to let bright sunshine through. In fact, it was raining that morning but nothing could dampen their spirits or that of the navvies. Hectic activity was continuing apace. They were now certain to complete the stipulated amount of work on the railway by the end of the month. The sudden and dramatic improvement made Aubrey Filton blossom into an unaccustomed smile.

'This is how it should be, Mr Brassey,' he said. 'Now that we've got rid of the rotten apples from the barrel, we can surge ahead.'

'Word spread quickly. When they heard about the arrests, the men were as relieved as we were. And you can't blame them,' said Brassey, reasonably. 'If work had ground to a halt here, I'd have been in danger of losing the contract. Thousands of them would have been thrown out of work. Their livelihoods have been saved.'

'And your reputation has been vindicated.'

'I care more about them than about me, Aubrey.'

'You treat them like members of a huge family.'

'That's exactly what they are.'

They were at the window, gazing out at sodden navvies who laboured away as if impervious to rain. There was a new spirit about the way everyone was working. It was almost as if the many wanted to atone for the dire shortcomings of the few by demonstrating their commitment to the project. Eamonn Slattery had noticed it. The priest was standing between the two men.

'Look at them,' he said with pride. 'There's not a navvy alive who can match an Irishman when it comes to hard physical work. The Potato Famine nearly crippled our beloved country but it was a blessing to someone like you, Mr Brassey.'

'I agree, Father Slattery,' conceded the other. 'A lot of the men here emigrated from Ireland. I was glad to take them on. What's the feeling among them now?'

'Oh, they reacted with a mixture of thanks and outrage.'

'Inspector Colbeck deserves most of the thanks.'

'So I hear,' said Slattery with a cackle. 'And there was me, thinking that dandy was working for the Minister of Public Works. He took me in completely but, then, so did Brendan Mulryne.'

'He's the real hero here,' opined Filton.

'The others will miss him. He made himself very popular. Well, there's one good thing to come out of all this.'

'And what's that, Father?'

'I can count on a decent congregation on Sunday,' explained the priest with a grin. 'It's strange how adversity turns a man's mind to religion. They know how close they came to losing their jobs. A lot of them will get down on their knees to send up a prayer of thanks. I'll make the most of it and preach a sermon that will sing in their ears for a week. By next Sunday,' he added, philosophically, 'most of them won't come anywhere near the service.'

'Were you surprised to find out who was trying to disrupt the railway?' asked Brassey.

'I'd always suspected that Shannon might have something to do with it. He was the type. Kilfoyle disappointed me. I thought that Liam would have more sense.'