Wicks had been impressed that those in the capital had known all about his operation and in their opinion was the only man to take over from Malone. He didn’t know what had happened to turn them against their former associate and he didn’t ask, it was not wise to do that. Wicks had begrudging admiration for Malone though, especially for the fact that he had built up such a large network of spies and informers throughout the city, but either he had become greedy and been caught taking more than his share or else he had done something which had angered them. Whatever he had done, he had become a liability and Wicks had been approached to take care of it. Now that he controlled the city, he would not make a similar error.
The ‘friend’ from London, as the contact had referred to himself, was on his way down to meet Wicks again, the next morning. No doubt they would discuss his part in the criminal ‘triad’ that also included Bristol. All goods that arrived at the docks bound for London passed through Bath, by one means or another, and similarly the other way. And Wicks received a share from everything both ways. He had now moved into the big league, he was someone. The person that controlled the Bristol-London road, as everyone knew, held the power of the whole South West in his hands. And Wicks had big plans. Only the day before, a potentially lucrative scheme he had initiated and which involved all three points of this triangle, had been put into action.
And with Kirby in his pocket, he also had the law on his side! An addiction to gambling and child prostitutes had made it easy to get incriminating evidence on the magistrate and lure him away from Malone, although he had seemed only to willing to change sides and betray his former boss. Now that Wicks ‘owned’ him, Kirby would ensure that he oversaw any cases connected to Wicks and thereby secure the ‘right’ verdicts.
It all seemed too good to be true.
It was.
CHAPTER TEN
‘Edmund, this is my brother, Jack Swann,’ said Mary. ‘Jack, this is Edmund Lockhart.’ The two men bowed courteously to each other as if having never met before, although both had instantly recognised the other from the journey they shared the previous day from London.
‘Mary has told me a great deal about you,’ said Lockhart.
‘Then you have the advantage over me, sir,’ replied Swann.
‘Edmund was detained on business in London until this morning,’ said Mary.
‘Indeed,’ answered Swann.
‘But I knew he would be here,’ his sister smiled.
‘Nothing would have prevented my being at your side in this time of great sadness, Mary,’ said Lockhart. ‘I must now, however, ask for your utmost forgiveness once more. I have an urgent business engagement back in the city and the man I am to meet there insists on punctuality. I have kept a gig waiting for me outside to take me there.’
‘Then you must go, Edmund. I know how important your business is and I do not therefore wish to detain you any longer than is necessary. I will expect you at the house later today, as arranged, to collect me?’
Lockhart hesitated, aware of Swann’s surprised reaction.
‘Are you sure that is wise, Mary?’ replied Lockhart.
‘But Edmund, you were in perfect agreement before you left for London.’
‘And so I was, my dearest, but since that time I have considered the matter more thoroughly and on reflection, believe it prudent if you do not attend.’
‘Prudent or not, I know my own mind and therefore I will expect you at six o’clock. Please.’
Lockhart nodded reluctantly, made the customary farewells and left.
‘You have an engagement this evening?’ asked Swann.
‘Yes, Edmund is escorting me to the Charity Ball at the Upper Rooms.’
‘Mary, I am not a great advocate of many of the social mores prevalent today, as you know, but I am concerned about your reputation. Your presence at the funeral could be perceived as understandable,’ said Swann, ‘but to bestow your presence at a place of entertainment may be quite another matter entirely.’
‘I think it shows spirit,’ said a voice behind them.
They turned and saw Lady Harriet Montague-Smithson, a woman whose diminutive figure belied the indomitable influence she enjoyed throughout most of the capitals of Europe.
‘Aunt Harriet,’ said Mary. ‘I did not realise you were here.’
‘If I am honest, my dear, I only arrived slightly after the gentleman who has this very minute departed. My driver is new and became lost on our way here. I am present now though and I am very sorry for your loss, both of you. Your mother was a dear sister and although we did not agree on many topics, I will miss her kind-hearted demeanour and gentle ways. As for you attending the ball, my dear, I believe she would have approved most sincerely.’
‘With Mary’s best interest at heart, Lady Harriet, may I enquire as to why you believe it acceptable for her to deliberately flout established rules of etiquette and risk bringing her standing into disrepute?’
‘If you are referring to those confounded rules laid down by that wretched man Nash, who had as much decorum as a French peasant worker, then I hardly believe flouting them would bring as much disdain as you believe, especially as the man has been dead for the best part of forty years. Besides, when have you cared about society’s opinion? I assume you to be first to applaud her action.’
‘You would, of course, be correct Lady Harriet, if it was my standing at stake, but as the head of this family I believe I have an obligation to Mary and that is why I feel she should not attend this evening.’
‘As Mary’s closest remaining blood relative,’ retorted Harriet, ‘I believe I also have an obligation and I believe she should …’
‘Jack, Aunt Harriet, you converse as if I am not here,’ interrupted Mary, ‘or else I am still a minor in need of guardianship. I thank you both for your concern but I am quite aware of what I am doing. And please, let us not forget where we are and why we are here. Now, if you do not mind Jack, I would like a few moments to converse with Aunt Harriet on a certain matter.’
‘Very well, I shall go over and resume talking with your Mr Fitzpatrick,’ said Swann, who then walked off to where the magistrate diplomatically waited.
‘That is the trouble with men,’ said Harriet, a little exasperated. ‘They believe themselves right even when they are so blatantly wrong.’
‘Jack was only trying to protect me, Aunt Harriet.’
‘I know you think fondly of your adoptive brother, my child, but he does not understand what you need. And as much as my sister, your mother, was dear to me, God rest her soul, we differed in our views regarding the raising of a female child. I am sorry to be this forthright at her funeral, but this age upon us is not one for hesitation. Now that your mother is gone, I feel it my moral obligation to assume responsibility for your wellbeing and to educate you appropriately.’
‘I do not wish to cause any offence Aunt Harriet, but I am twenty-four, not fourteen and my education was extensive and well-rounded. I was sent to …’
‘My child, I know exactly where you were sent and I know exactly what you were taught there: facts, figures and all the other subjects that fascinate men. No, my child, the truth is that you have been educated like a man, but it is time to educate you as a woman. Your resolve to attend the ball this evening and your presence at the funeral show you have the right attitude. We just need to ensure it is developed properly and so, with that in mind, I wish to extend an invitation to my house tomorrow evening from eight o’clock. I am having a gathering of like-minded women and there will be a guest speaker. I believe you will find it most illuminating.’
Mary hesitated. ‘I’m not sure whether Jack will …,’ she saw her aunt’s reaction and smiled, ‘… yes; I would love to attend, Aunt Harriet.’
‘Very good, my child, I will send my carriage for you at six. And you can tell Jack, if you wish, that you will be home by half past eleven.’
On the journey back to Great Pulteney Street, Swann and Mary quickly became lost in their
own thoughts. For Mary, her emotions were in conflict. She felt sad but her mind was effervescent from meeting her aunt. In many ways, her relation had been abrupt and rude but Mary had found the forthrightness in her manner refreshing. There were no hidden meanings within what she said, no nuances one had to decipher. Her aunt said what she felt and you quickly knew exactly where you stood with her. Mary was already looking forward to Thursday and the gathering of ‘like-minded’ women.
From childhood onwards, Mary knew her aunt more by reputation than from actual personal experience. She had apparently moved to her present residence near the market town of Frome around two years earlier, but neither Mary nor her mother had received any invitation and her aunt had never visited them in Bath. The sisters had fallen out several years before, so Mary’s father had told her once, and Harriet’s name was thereafter rarely mentioned in the house.
And now there seemed to be animosity between Jack and Harriet, although she consoled herself with the notion that they were both only being protective of her; each in their own way. Hopefully she could go to her aunt’s house the following evening without the need to justify her actions to her brother.
Meanwhile, Swann’s mind was in turmoil from his encounter with his adoptive relative. He had only encountered Harriet on a handful of occasions but each time, including this most recent one, came away from their interaction feeling judged. In many ways Swann respected Harriet’s outspoken manner and felt a kinship with her somewhat iconoclastic nature. Despite her title and standing she was known to hold extreme views and on more than one occasion, Swann had been told, had been the house guest of the radical William Godwin and his wife.
Harriet had married young but her husband had died not long afterwards and the inheritance she had received allowed her to indulge an independent lifestyle. She had written several pamphlets on a range of subjects and was an outspoken advocate on women’s education. She had travelled extensively throughout the Continent until Napoleon had effectively cut England off from the rest of Europe.
Throughout her life, she had made as many powerful enemies as she had allies, but somehow the latter allowed her this blithe attitude toward her reputation. But whereas he respected her, Swann thought any association with Mary might be detrimental to his sister. He consoled himself, however, with the fact that this would hopefully be the last time they saw Harriet for a long time.
Swann now turned his attention to a more immediate dilemma to be dealt with – that of Edmund Lockhart.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
At the age of eighteen, fourteen years previously, Swann had embarked on the quest to bring his father’s killer to justice by whatever means necessary. Even before then, however, he had begun to develop what he termed the ‘System’. The System was a method of deductive reasoning that combined Socratic dialecticism and Hobbesian logic, but circumscribed by common sense. At its heart was the detailed examination of the various answers arising from any given question, in order to bring about a satisfactory conclusion. This exploration would continue to be applied until the truth, or as close an approximation of it as possible, was achieved. It had served Swann well on a number of previous occasions and so he decided to apply it to the matter of Edmund Lockhart and the coach journey they had shared from London the day before.
Swann thought back and recalled the information he always instinctively absorbed, even when it was not relevant to an investigation. On arriving at the Royal Mail coach’s departure point in Lad Lane, Swann had been assured of three pieces of information. The coach would depart at thirty minutes after seven precisely, it would reach Bath thirty minutes after nine the following morning and, aside from the driver and guard employed to protect the mail box, he would be travelling alone. The initial piece of information had proved accurate, as had the next, despite a delay at their first stop – the General Post Office in Lombard Street – where congestion from a multitude of Royal Mail coaches bound for different parts of the country had held up the loading of their own mail box. It was the final piece of information, however, which had proved incorrect.
Five minutes before the coach had been due to start out from The Swan with Two Necks coaching inn, the trio of additional travellers entered the carriage. This had swelled its occupants in a single instance to the full compliment a Royal Mail coach was permitted to carry inside. Although Swann had been unperturbed by this intrusion at the time, a piece of information was a piece of information and the fact it was inaccurate told him one of two things; either the ticket officer who informed Swann of his sole occupancy not thirty minutes before was unaware of these extra passengers when relaying the information, or else the arrangements were made in the time that had elapsed since. If the former, this merely implied a lack of communication within the organisation and therefore this particular avenue of enquiry could be brought to a conclusion, as it could add no further dimension to the main question: what Lockhart was doing on the coach and why he kept silent about it at the funeral? However, if the latter, that the arrangements were made in the time that had elapsed since, then purchasing their tickets so close to departure suggested the decision to travel was almost certainly a recent one, as leaving it that late on an already predetermined journey did not seem likely. It also meant that the passengers were in some haste to arrive at their destination and possessed the money to pay for the privilege – the cost of a ticket on the Royal Mail coach being substantially higher than that of an ordinary stagecoach, one of which left later that evening.
Swann could have easily clarified any or all of these details through initiating a casual and seemingly innocuous conversation with the gentleman of the company – who he now knew to have been Lockhart – during the journey, but he had not done so as these details were not important at the time and he wished to converse as little as possible. In fact, the opportunity had presented itself not long after the trio boarded. After courtesy nods of acknowledgement, Lockhart had enquired as to whether Swann was travelling to Bath for the season. ‘No,’ Swann replied, adding, so as not to appear too rude, that it was ‘for a personal matter.’ Lockhart seemed keen to engage further, but Swann had averted his gaze outside the carriage to indicate the conversation ended.
There was also later, when he had studied his fellow passengers surreptitiously while they dozed. Nothing in their basic character profiles, assembled in his mind at the beginning of the journey, required any alteration – experience and disciplined observation had given him the ability to accurately gauge a person’s temperament having just met them – except perhaps their ages. Lockhart’s age, which Swann originally estimated to be close to his own, needed rising slightly, while the two women required their ages to be increased by a decade between them. Swann had placed their ages in the early-twenties and although they still held their looks, the life-lines earlier suffused by the darkness and deftly-applied powder on their faces could no longer be concealed within the elucidating dawn light.
Even then, however, there had been something about Lockhart that did not feel right to Swann. It was as if the man had stepped onto the stage in Drury Lane and assumed a role. One he was well-accustomed to playing, certainly, but a role nonetheless.
The three passengers were travelling together, he had concluded, but did not know each other especially well. There was certainly no romantic attachment between either of the women and Lockhart and he sensed the three of them had only met not long before the coach had departed; so in this way, it felt as if Lockhart was escorting the women to their destination, which he later discovered to be Bristol.
At the core of the System was what Swann termed ‘givens’ and ‘assumptions’ – one would be a predetermined fact, while the other the conclusion which might be drawn from it. Using the information he had recalled, he applied it to this particular situation. Given that Mary believed Lockhart had been due to return from London today, along with the lateness of the ticket purchases, it could therefore be assumed that Lockhart had not expected to travel to Bristol. But
given the fact he had not mentioned this change of plan to Mary, it was further to be assumed, perhaps obviously in this case, that he did not want her to know about it. This assumption resulted in two possible outcomes; the undertaking of something underhanded within his personal life, or alternatively the matter was related to his business. Either way, Swann surmised, the women were connected with it, as given they had all entered the coach at the same time, it could be assumed they were travelling together. For it to be pure coincidence, all three of them would have had the same urgent need to travel to Bristol that evening and then arrived at the station to purchase their tickets at exactly the same time. Although this was a possibility, common sense dictated this was more than mere chance. And given there seemed to be no personal involvement, it could be assumed to be business related. If that was such, it could therefore be assumed that Lockhart was simply adhering to the existing convention that men did not concern women with matters of that nature.
By the time the carriage transporting Swann and Mary home had turned into Great Pulteney Street, Swann had reached his ‘satisfactory conclusion’, although he was not satisfied. He decided, therefore, as the driver pulled up outside the house, to investigate it further by contacting Fitzpatrick – who, although not able to offer much information on Malone through their conversation at the funeral, might be able to convey more on Lockhart – discreetly confronting Mary’s suitor personally and, if Swann felt the right opportunity presented itself, to inform Mary herself.
The Regency Detective Page 5