Timetable of Death (23 page)

‘Have you … had any word of him?’

‘I can only tell you the tittle-tattle,’ he said, apologetically, ‘and there’s no knowing how reliable that is.’

‘I’d like to hear it nevertheless.’

‘Well, the rumour is that Gerard has a position as head gardener at Melbourne Hall. When he left here, he managed to better himself.’

‘Good gracious!’ said Lydia with genuine pleasure. ‘That
is
a feather in his cap. It’s a just reward for all that studying he did about horticulture. Well, well,’ she went on, trying to absorb the news, ‘that’s very gratifying. We all know who lives at Melbourne Hall. Gerard … Mr Burns, that is, must be so proud to serve the prime minister. His life has changed so much since he was here.’

‘There’s another rumour I heard about him,’ he said.

‘What was that, Cleary?’

‘He got married.’

‘Oh.’ In a flash, all the joy had left her. ‘Oh, I see.’

‘Someone told me that Gerard was going to be a father.’

She mustered a brave smile. ‘How nice for him!’ she said.

But there was no conviction in her voice. Lydia felt suddenly hollow and bereft. After thanking him for the information, she walked back towards the house. Cleary was unable to see the anguish in her face.

When he got back to the hotel, Victor Leeming expected to deliver a report of his visit to Spondon and to receive congratulations on what he’d found out. Instead, he was confronted with the news that he had to take the superintendent back to London. After examining the injury, the doctor had told Tallis that he’d been fortunate. Though it was swollen and badly sprained, the ankle was not broken. Rest was prescribed. The superintendent decided to leave immediately and to press Leeming into service.

The sergeant was hopeful. ‘Does that mean I can spend the night in London?’

‘I’m afraid not,’ said Colbeck. ‘I need you here, so you must catch a train back to Derby at once. We’ve lots to
discuss and you’ll have a chance to meet Madeleine.’

‘I didn’t know that your wife was here, sir.’

‘I’m keeping her hidden in my room until the superintendent has gone.’

‘I wish that I had Estelle hidden away in
my
room,’ said Leeming, longingly. ‘I might even start to enjoy Derby then.’

‘I’m sorry that it can’t be arranged. Estelle is not directly involved in the investigation, you see, whereas my wife is. Miss Quayle prevailed upon Madeleine to go to Nottingham with her because she needed a friend for company. I met Madeleine at the railway station there and brought her back here.’

‘If he knew about it, Superintendent Tallis would be outraged.’

‘That’s why I’m so glad that we’re getting rid of him. That accident he had was a godsend and so was the visit to the Works. Watching that turntable in action opened up a whole new line of inquiry.’

‘Did it, sir?’

‘We’ve been approaching this case from the wrong angle, Victor. I only realised that when I saw a locomotive being spun around so that I could view it from the other end, so to speak. That’s what we must do with this case.’

‘I don’t understand.’

‘All will be explained when you return,’ said Colbeck. ‘I daren’t even mention my theory to the superintendent. After what happened to him in there, he won’t listen to a single syllable about the Works. The place is anathema to him.’

They were standing in the foyer of the hotel. A porter
had brought down the luggage from Tallis’s room and stood ready to load it into the waiting cab. When the door of the manager’s office opened, Tallis hobbled out with the aid of a borrowed walking stick.

‘Ah, there you are, Leeming,’ he said. ‘Come and help me, man.’

The sergeant went across to him and let Tallis lean on him.

‘I’m sorry to hear about your ankle, sir,’ he said. ‘Does it hurt?’

‘It hurts like blazes!’

‘You’ll be much better off in London.’

‘Pain takes no account of geography. It will hurt just as much there as here.’

‘We hope you have a swift recovery,’ said Colbeck, nodding to the porter to take out the luggage. ‘We’ll miss the benefit of your guidance here.’

Tallis was curt. ‘Don’t lie any more than you have to, Colbeck.’

‘I hope that you have
some
pleasant memories of Derby, sir.’

‘The only thing that will give me pleasure – and soothe my ankle at the same time – is the news that you have finally solved this crime.’

‘That news will not be long in reaching you.’

‘I’ll hold you to that. Leeming?’

‘Yes, sir?’ said the sergeant.

‘Get me out of this accursed place.’

‘Lean on me, sir.’

‘Slow down, you imbecile!’ said Tallis as Leeming moved off. ‘Every step is a separate agony. Let me set the pace.’

Colbeck watched them move gingerly towards the door. He was sorry to lose Leeming for several hours but consoled by the fact that the superintendent was going as well. Freedom of action had been restored. It was a vital factor because Colbeck could do what he wanted now. He escorted the two men out to the cab and helped to ease Tallis into it. Leeming was palpably unhappy about having to spend so much time in the company of the irascible superintendent but someone had to shoulder the burden. Inevitably, it fell on the sergeant. When the cab rolled away, Colbeck gave it a farewell wave then hurried back into the hotel and raced up the staircase.

In trying to pass on information to the acting chairman, Maurice Cope only succeeded in annoying him. Donald Haygarth flapped a hand in the air.

‘You don’t need to take me stage by stage through the Works,’ he protested.

‘But that’s what the inspector wanted to do, sir.’

‘Colbeck
likes
trains. I only like them when they take me on a journey.’

‘Superintendent Tallis is of the same opinion,’ said Cope. ‘He did nothing but grumble and his accident will not endear him to locomotives. He’s gone back to London with the sergeant.’

‘Are you sure of that?’

‘I’m absolutely certain.’

They were standing outside the headquarters of the Midland Railway. Wanting to know the bare facts of what had happened during the tour of the Works, Haygarth was irked when Cope brought in so much technical detail about
the production process. He had sent him there to watch the two detectives and not to enjoy what he saw around him. They were about to part when Superintendent Wigg hailed them. Trotting up to them, he reined in his mount.

‘I didn’t know you were a horseman, sir,’ said Cope.

‘It’s the best way to travel sometimes,’ argued Wigg. ‘Trains run to timetables so there’s always waiting involved. A horse is there when and where you want him.’

‘You’ve no need to tell that to Cope,’ said Haygarth. ‘He rides everywhere.’

‘Yes, I’ve seen him on horseback.’

‘Do you have anything new to tell us, Superintendent?’

‘I will simply observe that your much-vaunted detectives have been as much use as a silk kettle. You have three of them on the case now and they’re still no nearer solving it.’

‘We have to correct you,’ said Haygarth.

‘Yes,’ added Cope, receiving a signal from the acting chairman, ‘the three detectives have now been reduced to one. Inspector Colbeck is the only survivor.’

He described how the accident had occurred when Tallis was startled by the steam whistle. Wigg couldn’t believe what they had done.

‘What could they possibly learn there?’

‘It teaches you everything you need to know about the way that locomotives and rolling stock are made.’

‘That has no relevance at all to the murder inquiry.’

‘Inspector Colbeck believed that it did. Mr Quayle loved to go on a tour of inspection at the Works. The inspector was keen to follow in his footsteps.’

‘It’s a pity he doesn’t clear off back to London with his colleagues.’

‘What have
you
learnt, Superintendent?’ asked Haygarth. ‘We know that you have a high opinion of yourself as a policeman.’

‘Confidence is an essential part of leadership.’

‘And what have your men discovered under your leadership?’

‘The noose is slowly tightening around the killer’s neck.’

‘You don’t even know who he is yet.’

‘Yes, I do,’ said Wigg, looking down at them. ‘The murder was the result of a conspiracy. Someone was hired to do the deed because of his past association with Quayle. In my opinion, that “someone” is Gerard Burns. The people who suborned him are more difficult to unmask,’ he said, looking shrewdly at each of them in turn. ‘But I’ll soon have enough evidence to do so.’

‘Inspector Colbeck has been to Melbourne Hall twice,’ said Cope, ‘and the superintendent has also paid a visit to Burns.’

‘Then why is he not in custody?’

‘You’ll have to ask them, sir.’

‘And before you criticise Inspector Colbeck again,’ said Haygarth, ‘you might like to know that he provided us with a detail that passed by you and your men. In view of what you say about Burns, it might be significant.’

Wigg was piqued. ‘What detail is this?’

‘Miss Lydia Quayle has returned home.’ He was rewarded by a look of surprise on the other’s face. ‘Events in Nottingham are important. You should have had the Quayle residence under surveillance.’

‘I don’t have the resources for that, Mr Haygarth.’

‘You have large numbers of men at your beck and call.
Inspector Colbeck is acting entirely by himself at the moment yet he is gathering more telling evidence than you. That’s why I sent for him,’ said Haygarth, complacently. ‘When I wanted the best available man for this assignment, your name did not even cross my mind.’

Wigg was furious. Tugging on the reins, he turned his horse in a semicircle then dug his heels in to send it cantering away. Haygarth grinned.

‘That should be enough to keep him away for a while.’

Alone in their room, Colbeck was able to luxuriate in the company of his wife and to hear a fuller report of what she’d been doing in his absence. He could understand why Lydia Quayle had turned to her for help.

‘You obviously impressed her, Madeleine.’

‘My charm didn’t work on her friend, Miss Myler.’

‘Yes, Victor told me how unwelcoming she was.’

‘She was guarding Lydia like a mother hen.’

‘Then she wouldn’t have been in favour of her returning to Nottingham.’

‘No,’ said Madeleine, ‘I fancy that she’d have opposed the decision. Lydia has said very little about Miss Myler to me but there’s clearly been an upset between them. I’ll probably get the blame for that.’

‘Murder always causes upsets. It alters sensitive balances.’

Madeleine explained how nervous Lydia had been and how uncertain she was about spending the night at the house. In the event of her leaving Nottingham, she planned to come to the Royal Hotel to meet up with her new friend again. Colbeck was pleased at the prospect.

‘It would be good to meet her,’ he said. ‘She can tell me
things about the family that neither of her brothers have deigned to do so.’

‘What sort of things?’

‘I want to hear more about her father.’

‘She despises him.’

‘I know that, Madeleine, but you’ve been telling me what an intelligent woman she is. I like intelligent women,’ he said, caressing her hair. ‘That’s why I married one. Like you, Miss Quayle will have keen intuition. She’ll have picked up signals that went unnoticed by her brothers.’

‘Something’s happened, hasn’t it?’ she said, taking his hand between hers. ‘I can sense your excitement.’

‘That’s because I’m with you,’ he said.

‘It’s something to do with the visit to the Works, isn’t it?’

‘Yes, Madeleine.’

‘It’s the accident,’ she decided. ‘You’re overjoyed to get rid of Superintendent Tallis, aren’t you?’

‘Not at all – I’m heartbroken.’

‘I know you better than that, Robert.’

He laughed. ‘Then it would be folly to try to deceive you,’ he said. ‘Though I’m sorry that the superintendent was injured, I regard the accident as providential. With his departure, a great cloud has lifted. But the real bonus of the visit was the chance I had to operate the turntable. It was a revelation.’

‘Father always says that you should have worked on the railways. That’s your real passion in life, isn’t it?’

‘No, Madeleine – it will always be secondary to you.’

‘Thank you for the compliment – now tell me about the turntable.’

‘It taught me how little effort is required to move an
immense weight and it changed the direction of our investigation dramatically. We’ve been looking so intently at the murder victim that we completely ignored someone else.’

‘And who is that?’

‘Let’s go back to the start,’ he advised. ‘What do you remember?’

‘The body of Mr Quayle was found in an open grave in a village churchyard. Nobody could understand how it got there because he has no connection whatsoever with the place.’

‘That’s what we were told.’

‘It’s what Lydia confirmed. She couldn’t remember her father ever mentioning Spondon, let alone going there. His social life revolved around Nottingham.’

‘She was wrong, Madeleine. We all were.’

‘You’ve
found
a connection?’

‘Not exactly,’ he admitted, ‘but I know it’s there. The choice of that churchyard was not a coincidence. It was a deliberate statement by the killer. Mr Quayle was put in a grave reserved for a Mrs Cicely Peet.
She
is the person on whom we should be concentrating.’

‘Then you must believe there’s a link between her and Lydia’s father.’

‘Heaven knows what it is, Madeleine, but it’s there somewhere.’

‘What makes you think that?’

‘It’s something that Cleary said to me. He’s the coachman at the Quayle residence. On his last day alive, Mr Quayle was driven to Nottingham station by Cleary. As they parted, the coachman noticed that his employer had been crying.’

‘That sounds very unlikely. Lydia told me how stoic and hard-hearted her father had always been. He never showed any real tenderness to her and to her sister.’

‘That doesn’t mean he was incapable of it.’

‘No,’ she conceded, ‘that’s true.’