Foxe and the Path into Darkness

by William Savage

  Afterwards, returning to Foxe in his library, she told him she thought Mrs Crombie was finding it hard to cope with all the extra business produced by Foxe’s fresh notoriety.

  ‘She misses Charlie’s assistance with fetching and carrying,’ Lucy said. ‘Now that he is so heavily engaged with setting up his bookbinding workshop, he has little time for anything else. Could you not find another boy to do what he used to do?’

  ‘I’m sure I can,’ Foxe told her, ‘and I know just the boy. You’ll recall him too, I imagine. His name is Sidney, and he was the one you saw that time standing on your uncle’s doorstep. Like Charlie did in the past, Sidney lives on the streets and survives on his wits. He’s a sharp lad and would be most useful, I’m sure. The only problem will be finding him somewhere to live. We have no more room here.’

  ‘Why not speak with Mrs Crombie about that?’ Lucy replied. ‘I’m sure she could come up with a solution.’

  ‘I’m delighted to see you taking such an interest in my business,’ Foxe said. ‘Most women would not do so.’

  ‘You will find I am not at all like most women, Ash dear. I could not bear to waste my time changing my clothes three or four times a day and making visits to other ladies as vapid as myself. If I am to be your wife, I intend to assist you in every part of your life. That includes your business—or businesses as I understand from Mrs Crombie—as well as all future mysteries, of course.’

  ‘Your uncle asked me if I was aware what I was taking on,’ Foxe said, laughing. ‘Now I’m starting to understand what he meant. Never fear, dearest Lucy. I would not have you other than the way you are to even the slightest extent. If I had wanted a wife of the other kind you mentioned, the lovely but empty-headed type, I could have found a hundred long before now. You are what I want and no one else. I am so glad I waited until I found you.’

  The final part of the investigation into the disappearance of Mayor Belton began a few days later. Foxe had resumed his normal daily walk around the marketplace and visit to the coffeehouse, though he was careful to make sure he rested a little after he got home. He therefore decided to discuss with Lucy what he termed “doing up the final loose ends” of the investigation.

  ‘I had more than enough time while I was recovering to think over what Belton had done,’ he told her. ‘In particular, I tried to work out where he must have hidden all the money he stole. He couldn’t open a new account with a bank in Norwich without being recognised nor did I hear any suggestion that he had travelled to another town in the area, such as Great Yarmouth or King’s Lynn. That told me the money must still be here somewhere.’

  ‘And you think you know where?’ Lucy said.

  ‘I do. It has to be in a place or places where Belton spent a considerable amount of time on his own. His warehouse and Mrs Matthews’s home are the only two places which fit the bill. Once he had arrived in Pottergate and convinced Mrs Matthews to take him in, I believe he stayed there almost the whole time. If that’s correct, he could only have taken a small proportion of his stolen money with him: just what could be carried easily, without drawing attention to its presence. He must have concealed it somewhere in her house.’

  ‘So, all the rest has to be in Belton’s warehouse somewhere,’ Lucy added. ‘That makes perfect sense. But where? Isn’t it a large building?’

  ‘Yes,’ Foxe conceded, ‘but I don’t think he strayed very far from his office on most visits unless he went there at night, either misleading or bribing the night watchman. It would have been far too risky to wander around the building carrying a bag of money during the day. There were too many other people to see him.’

  ‘That means it must be in his office. Do you know where?’

  ‘No, but I can make a sensible guess. When I said his office, I should also have included the director’s boardroom next door. The man had very little time to arrange a suitable hiding place, since we think he only started to steal significant amounts sometime in late June or early July and then left for good in the middle of September. He certainly didn’t have enough time to make substantial alterations or start installing extra furniture. My guess is that it’s in a space under some floorboards. It might be in his office or, more likely, in the boardroom, probably near the big window there. That window juts out from the rest of the floor, so the builders probably added extra shorter floorboards to cover the gap. The boardroom is also right next to the office Belton used. It would be quiet and little-used as well. No one should have had any reason to go in there most of the time, save to pass through.’

  ‘You are definitely not to go crawling around on the floor, prising up floorboards, to see if there’s anything hidden underneath them,’ Lucy said firmly. ‘Mistress Tabby would most certainly forbid it and so do I.’

  ‘I don’t intend to,’ Foxe said meekly. ‘In fact, I’m not planning to go to the warehouse at all. I’ll send Henry with detailed instructions on what to do. Comiston can help him. Mrs Belton too, if she’s there. If the money is not where I hope it may be found, it could be anywhere and will probably not be found for decades—or even longer.’

  ‘What about Mrs Matthews’s house?’ Lucy asked.

  ‘I do want to go there, but I promise to do nothing more than stand and direct others where to look. Again, they’ll either find Belton’s hoard or they won’t. Maybe there’s nothing to be found. My main reason for wanting to go in person is to ask Mrs Matthews to do me a favour. I promised Betty Furniss, the young prostitute who’s the leader of the street children, that I would try to find her employment that would let her give up her present dangerous and degrading way of living. The day Betty came to tell me the children had found Mrs Matthews, she became quite lyrical on the pleasure she would have in working in a shop like the one Mrs Matthews runs. I’m therefore hoping Mrs Matthews will agree to train her as her assistant.

  ‘I’ve also been told that Ann Weston has returned as Mrs Matthews’s maid and cook. I know she doesn’t like being in the shop—though she does it on occasions to allow Mrs Matthews some time to do other things. She’ll be delighted to be able to stick to her domestic duties and let someone else share the shop work. Betty is bright and sharp and will look far less disreputable in some better, more sober clothes than she has at present. She also knows how to deal with people and how to look after herself if men try to take advantage of her.’

  Lucy was reluctant to agree to Foxe going in person to Mrs Matthews’s shop, mostly because she had come to feel extraordinarily protective of him since coming so close to losing him for good. Still, in the end, she agreed.

  ‘Henry shall take you in the carriage,’ she said, ‘and I will give him strict instructions, on pain of my most severe displeasure, to stop you from doing anything silly. I may seem relaxed in my dealings with servants on the surface, but I assure you I can bite and scratch if provoked.’

  That made Foxe laugh, though he didn’t doubt her words for a moment. He was certain that Henry would be very well advised to do exactly as he was told.

  WHEN HENRY CAME to see Foxe on his return from Belton’s warehouse, there was a smile on his face.

  ‘We found it,’ he said happily. ‘Right where you said it would be, master. There were several short floorboards which had been used to stretch into the space in front of that huge window. He’d prized up two of them, removed the nails and put them back in place. They fitted pretty tightly so there was little or no chance that anyone stepping on them would make them move. In the space underneath we found six bags full of guineas and half-guineas. Mrs Belton couldn’t wait to pour them onto the table and start to count. Mr Comiston helped her, of course. By the way, he’s been promoted to chief clerk and a new bookkeeper will be joining them soon.’

  ‘How much did all these coins amount to?’ Foxe asked.

  ‘Four hundred and fifteen pounds and eighteen shillings, according to Mr Comiston. I thought Mrs Belton was going to have an apoplexy, she was so excited.’

  ‘Well done,’ Foxe said. ‘I
think that must be around two thirds of the total which Belton stole. He must have been able to change the remainder into something more portable, like banker’s drafts. When Belton fled that night, he crept up to wherever he had those hidden—probably in his office—and took them with him. He knew there would be little chance of returning for the rest. That amount in coins must have been very heavy.’

  ‘It was,’ Henry agreed. ‘I pulled the six bags out from under the floorboards, and it was quite hard to lift them, even one at a time.’

  ‘Exactly,’ Foxe said. ‘Belton was probably taking the coins, maybe half a bag at a time, to most of the banks in Norwich and exchanging them for banker’s drafts. Heaven knows what story he had for why he wanted them. Perhaps to pay distant suppliers who were eager for their money. The receiving bank would accept the banker’s draft as if it were cash, you see. He would tell the banks here that, if he had used the papers known as drawn notes or checks, it would cause delays. Those who received the notes would be made to wait until the receiving bank heard that Belton’s own bank agreed to honour the payment. That could take a week or more. He wanted the money immediately when he presented the drafts at some bank in whatever town he decided to flee to. I expect he had the banker’s drafts made out to “Bearer”, so they didn’t have to be paid into the account of someone known either.’

  ‘Do you know where those drafts are, master?’ Henry asked.

  ‘I think I do but I’m less sure of the details than I was of the money you’ve just found. Tomorrow, you’ll take me to Pottergate, Henry, to Mrs Matthews’s shop. It probably closes in the middle of the day to allow her to have a short rest and something to eat and drink. That would be a good time to go.’

  They arrived at the shop soon after midday and Henry knocked on the door at the side. While they waited for someone to answer the door, Foxe looked at the goods on display in the window. He was especially taken with some wineglasses with twists of pale grey glass embedded in the stems and made a mental note to send Mrs Dobbins to buy him a set.

  Ann Weston answered the door and squealed with delight when she saw who had come visiting. Indeed, it took many minutes to deal with the eager welcomes and profuse thanks from both Mrs Matthews and Ann Weston. Mrs Matthews was all for taking them upstairs right away to the sitting room at the front of the shop, but Foxe insisted they stay in what he assumed had once been the servants’ hall, so that Mrs Matthews and her maid could finish their meal. Henry and he accepted glasses of ale and the coachman also welcomed a large piece of bread and cheese. Foxe ate more modestly, contenting himself with two slices of cold beef.

  Once the polite preliminaries were over and everyone had satisfied their hunger, Foxe asked if they could go upstairs to the room where Belton had spent most of his time, explaining the reason for his request. Foxe climbed the stairs slowly, helped by Henry, then sat himself on a chair in the middle of what had now clearly been restored as Mrs Matthews’s bedchamber. The glass had been replaced in the window, but the plaster was still damp on the part of the wall where the pistol ball had lodged. Seeing it gave Foxe a distinctly uncomfortable feeling as he recalled what few details of that day were still clear in his mind.

  At first the others searched the cupboards, the clothes-press and the dressing table. They even searched the chest at the foot of the bed which held the spare sheets but found nothing. All the time, Foxe sat and directed what they were doing. Lucy had forbidden him to do more than that and he didn’t want to get Henry into trouble, if he let it slip his master had disobeyed her instructions.

  ‘I know Belton hid his pistols in the dressing table,’ Foxe said when they had drawn a blank. ‘I saw him take the second one out. He didn’t care if you, Mrs Matthews, happened upon them as their presence would tally with the fantastical tale he’d told you of being sought by dangerous criminals. We’ll not give up quite yet, I think. We need to think of hiding places that would be easy to access but where no one would come across his treasure by chance.’

  They all sat and thought for several minutes until Mrs Matthews broke the silence.

  ‘Up the chimney?’ she said suddenly. ‘It’s too early in the autumn to need fires in the bedrooms yet. I think I recall that there’s a kind of ledge at the back of this particular chimney, just out of sight. I’ve never known what it was for, except perhaps for the chimney-sweeper’s boy to stand for a moment before climbing up higher with his brush.’

  Before she had finished speaking, Henry was kneeling before the grate with one hand thrust up the chimney.

  ‘I can feel something!’ he called out in triumph. ‘It’s a bag. No, two bags. They’re stained with soot, so I’ll lift them down and leave them in the grate or on the hearth. I don’t want to stain your floorboards or carpet.’

  Ann hurried downstairs and returned with a bowl of water for Henry to wash his hands and a cloth to lay on the floor for the bags he had found. They opened the smaller bag first, only to find it contained another bag. In that one were Mrs Belton’s jewels. The women gasped at the sight of the gold necklace and bracelet, both studded with small diamonds, along with two sizeable brooches set with more jewels. There were also several pairs of gold earrings.

  When he had allowed them to marvel for a few more moments, Foxe returned the jewels to the bag, saying that he was certain Mrs Belton would be delighted to get them back.

  The other bag also contained a smaller bag, along with a metal cash-box with the key in the lock. Foxe rummaged in the bag.

  ‘Cash,’ he said. ‘Mostly shillings and sixpences by the look of it. Tell me, Mrs Matthews. Did “Smith” ever help you in your shop?’

  ‘Not while it was open,’ she replied. ‘He did offer to count up the day’s takings for me several times. He said it was so that I could get his dinner ready earlier.’

  ‘It looks as if he helped himself at the same time,’ Foxe told her. ‘This money is yours. You can count it at your leisure.’

  He opened the cash-box and took out a few of the papers inside.

  ‘Just as I thought, Henry. Banker’s drafts, all made out to “Bearer”. Who this money was stolen from, we can only guess. Some of it must have come from his own business so I’ll have them returned to Mrs Belton tomorrow, along with her jewels. As for the rest, the identity of the people he stole the money from is anybody’s guess. You saw he stole from you, Mrs Matthews, despite your kindness in letting him stay here. He would have had no compunction in doing the same to many others.’

  He handed the coachman roughly half the papers and then shut the box again and locked it.

  ‘These are now yours, Mrs Matthews,’ he said, handing her the box, ‘to compensate you for your time, trouble and expense in keeping the wretched fellow here. Use the money however you wish. It may, for example, allow you to expand your business in some way or take on an extra helper.’

  ‘But, Mr Foxe,’ Mrs Matthews said, ‘won’t that be stealing?’

  ‘By no means,’ Foxe replied. ‘Since we don’t know who the money belonged to, it is now nobody’s, except perhaps mine for finding it. If that’s the case legally, as it probably is, I have now given it to you. There is no theft in receiving a gift.’

  Mrs Matthews still looked slightly troubled, so Foxe hurried on. He was sure she would finally come to accept what he had told her.

  ‘While we’re on that subject, Mrs Matthews,’ he continued, ‘it seems to me you need more help to serve in the shop. Doing it more or less all by yourself must be a terrible burden at times. I know Miss Weston here has helped you on occasions, but she has plenty of other work to do, I’m sure.’

  He paused, as if an idea had come to him only at that moment.

  ‘I wonder if you would do me a favour?’

  ‘Anything, if I can,’ Susannah Matthews said at once. ‘I owe you more than I can ever repay, Mr Foxe. You rid me of the burden of the supposed Smith and probably saved me from more robberies by him, or even being injured in some way. Best of all, you brought Ann back
to me. We get on so well. Having her here to do the housework and cooking lets me rest after a long day in the shop.’

  ‘There’s a young woman I know,’ Foxe said carefully. ‘She’s currently the leader of the street children who lurk around the marketplace. They’ve done me many services in the past, and I do all I can in return to help them.’

  ‘I know about that,’ Mrs Matthews said. ‘Everyone in Norwich knows of your kindnesses towards those poor, unfortunate children and the way you’ve managed to find some of them employment, so they can stop stealing and the like.’

  ‘I’ll be plain with you, Mrs Matthews. Presently, this girl, Betty Furniss, earns her bread in the same way as the vast majority of the girls—by prostitution. She’s been especially helpful to me in this investigation into the missing mayor. I’d therefore like to offer her the chance to leave such a dangerous and degrading style of life. She’s bright, good-hearted and quick to grasp what you tell her. She’s also well-versed in dealing with people of all types—especially in warding off men who can’t keep their hands to themselves. I know she’d like to find proper employment but virtually no one will accept someone with her background. Someone who sleeps where she can find a sheltered corner and sells her body for a few pence. Will you let me send her to see you? If you like her, you might be willing to take her on and train her to assist you in the shop. Oh, perhaps I should also warn you that she’s a pretty girl and well-built into the bargain. If it becomes known she’s serving in your shop, you may find you have a sudden increase in gentlemen customers.’