‘Will they never let us go?’ wailed Imogen.
‘Not as long as they can use us,’ said Rhoda, sadly. ‘We’ve already earned them a lot of money by the sound of it, and they want more.’
‘Father will surely have contacted the police.’
‘Then where are they?’
‘Detectives must be looking for us by now.’
‘That’s why Captain Whiteside and the sergeant have taken such trouble to cover our tracks. We’ve been rushed here, there and everywhere. Nobody will find us in Crewe.’
‘It’s a beastly place, Rhoda, full of noise and stench.’
‘We were spoilt, living in the solitude of the countryside.’
‘I realise that now. Why did I ever run away?’
Rhoda said nothing. Both of them had been asking themselves exactly the same question many times a day. Neither of them relished the replies they had. They had lost everything and were now in limbo. While their immediate future was black, even the prospect of escape could not cheer them. The joyous welcome that Imogen would receive from her family would turn to hostility when the truth was revealed. Then there would be a searing confrontation with Clive Tunnadine. Wherever she looked, there was more pain and anguish.
The sound of a key in the lock made both of them jump to their feet. When the door opened, Whiteside and Cullen marched into the room.
‘Put on your hats, ladies,’ said Whiteside, briskly. ‘We’re leaving.’
‘Where are we going?’ asked Imogen.
‘I need to put you on display.’
‘Why did you take our luggage away from us?’
‘It’s waiting at the station.’
‘Are we going on another journey?’
‘Stop badgering me and do as you’re told,’ said Whiteside. ‘Remember the rules or there’ll be trouble.’
‘Both the captain and I are armed,’ Cullen reminded them, ‘and we’ll not hesitate to shoot if we have to. Don’t give us the excuse.’
Rhoda attempted defiance. ‘What if we refuse to go with you?’
‘Then you’ll regret it for the rest of your life.’
‘She won’t have any life, Manus,’ said Whiteside, taking a pistol from beneath his coat and holding the barrel against Rhoda’s temple. ‘Do you still want to refuse?’
With the cold metal pressed against her head, Rhoda’s courage failed her.
‘No, no — I’ll do as you tell me,’ she promised.
‘That’s what I like to hear.’
Imogen was horrified. ‘Would you really shoot a woman?’
‘I’ll shoot anyone who gets in my way,’ he said, replacing the weapon. ‘That’s what the sergeant and I did when we decided that the army no longer had anything to offer us. We had to shoot our way out.’
‘Are you saying that you’re deserters?’
‘We are soldiers of fortune, Imogen, riding on the horseback of Fate.’
‘All your stories about the Crimea were barefaced lies, then?’
‘Not at all,’ he said with a grin. ‘They were all true. It just happens that I wasn’t the person who experienced those adventures. They were recounted to us by someone who really had served in a cavalry regiment in the Crimean War. We borrowed his tales because they served our purpose.’
‘So you’re a deserter, a liar and a coward.’
‘Cowardice is the one thing you can’t accuse us of, Imogen. It takes courage to kill people, especially when they’re trained soldiers. Do you know what they do to deserters? They execute them,’ said Whiteside with a graphic gesture. ‘Cowards would be too scared to flee. We had the courage to do so.’
‘Yes,’ added Cullen. ‘We were brave enough to desert and clever enough to stay out of sight afterwards. Then we spotted you in Oxford one day.’
Whiteside laughed. ‘And the long courtship began.’
‘I’ll never forgive you for what you did,’ warned Imogen.
‘With the rewards you’ve helped us to acquire, I can live quite happily without your forgiveness.’ His voice deepened menacingly. ‘All I demand is your obedience. That goes for you as well, Rhoda.’
‘What did you mean when you said we’d be on display?’ asked Rhoda.
‘Imogen is going to meet the man she agreed to marry,’ explained Whiteside.
‘Why are we going to see Mr Tunnadine?’
He sniggered. ‘The generous fellow is about to give us a great deal of money.’
Within minutes of meeting her, Colbeck and Leeming knew that Lucinda Graham was telling the truth. Her injuries were grotesquely obvious and her memories too detailed and poignantly recounted to be pure invention. Encouraged by Dolly, she poured out her heart. The detectives were saddened to hear that she had been kept as a mistress by Tunnadine for the whole period during which he’d wooed and won Imogen Burnhope. Leeming was outraged when told that the politician had intended her to remain in the house provided by him so that he could pay clandestine visits after he was married. Whatever charms Lucinda had were now hidden beneath the bruises and the swellings. The loss of her front teeth had robbed her of her alluring smile.
‘Mr Tunnadine should be arrested, Inspector,’ said Dolly.
‘He already has been,’ replied Colbeck, ‘but this assault merits another arrest. He treated Miss Graham appallingly.’
‘He thinks he’s too important to be prosecuted.’
‘We will have to disabuse him of that notion.’
‘She was afraid to complain,’ said George Vaughan, ‘in case Tunnadine sought revenge against her. It’s exactly the sort of thing he’d do.’
‘I fancy that it is.’
‘It will be a pleasure to put him under arrest,’ said Leeming.
‘Thank you, Sergeant!’ gushed Dolly, touching his shoulder and making him pull back as if her fingers were red-hot. ‘Lucinda needs someone on her side.’
‘The law is on her side.’
‘Every decent human being would support her case,’ said Colbeck.
He had won Lucinda’s confidence and given her a modicum of hope that her suffering would not go unacknowledged in a court of law. She found the fact that he’d once been a barrister very comforting and she was relieved to see that there was no hint of disapproval in him. Victor Leeming had been troubled by her immorality at first but came to see her as an unfortunate victim rather than as a young woman who’d willingly prostituted herself. His fears about Dolly Wrenson had been groundless. She was extremely pleasant to him and, like Leeming, clearly preferred to forget what had occurred at their last meeting. Now that she and the artist had settled back in together, she had no interest in other men.
‘What will happen now, Inspector?’ asked George Vaughan.
‘We’ll accost Mr Tunnadine and confront him with the allegations,’ replied Colbeck. ‘I’m certain that he’ll deny any assault and claim that it’s a case of his word against that of Miss Graham.’
‘I’d choose Lucinda’s version over his any day.’
‘So would I,’ said Dolly.
‘Go and arrest the villain right now.’
‘It’s not as simple as that,’ said Colbeck. ‘We are, as you doubtless know, engaged in a much more serious investigation. Not that that eclipses what happened to Miss Graham,’ he pointed out, ‘but it means we may not be able to get immediate access to Mr Tunnadine. Our main concern is the kidnap and this latest incident is closely related to it, of course, but it can’t be given priority. What I can promise you is that Mr Tunnadine will not evade punishment.’
‘Men who attack women like that should be locked up in perpetuity,’ argued the artist, bunching his fists. ‘If you won’t go after him, then I will.’
‘Steer well clear of him, Mr Vaughan. I appreciate your feelings but I’d hate to see you being sued for assault, as you surely would. We have reasons of our own for wanting Mr Tunnadine behind bars. It’s only a matter of time before we finally put him there.’
They had studied the map closely. Having been there before, Alban Kee had recognised the area to which they were being sent. He remembered the open field to which Clive Tunnadine had been directed by the letter from the kidnappers. It had a deep ditch running down one side of it and the other side was screened by a thick hedge. When they approached the field in the trap, only Tunnadine was visible. Kee was on his hands and knees under a rug at the driver’s feet. He stayed there until they came to a stand of sycamore trees. Taking advantage of the brief cover, he hopped out of the trap and crept towards the hedge so that he could work his way along the field out of sight. Tunnadine, meanwhile, drove on until he reached the middle of the field. As instructed, he pulled the horse to a halt and waited.