by John Creasey
“I’m going to see him,” Roger said, “as soon as the doctors give the go-ahead.”
Peel himself was checking Hann-Gorlay, going back over his movements, finding out just where he had been with Ruth.
Then reports came in to say that Ruth had often been seen, in the past, in Surbiton, Wimbledon and other nearby districts. The search was concentrated there.
The morning after Ruth’s escape, Roger walked up the stairs leading to Brammer’s flat. Brammer and Pauline had been released, after Lamb’s statement; they were both here.
Pauline opened the door.
Brammer was just behind them, shaved, looking much fitter and brighter.
“Hallo,” said Pauline, and her eyes were gay with welcome. “Any news?”
“Not yet.”
“If you ask me,” Brammer said. “Ruth is going to get away from you, Handsome. She’ll have a comfortable spot ready in France or somewhere abroad.”
“You sound almost as if you like the idea.”
Brammer grinned twistedly.
“You know what I think about Ruth. But she is clever—you must have to admit that.”
“She’ll find that she can be too clever,” Roger said. “You were right about Lamb and his wife, Pauline,” he added. Then he turned back to Brammer. “Bram, you said you told Pauline that you suspected Lamb.”
“Yes.”
“Why? You weren’t sure of Pauline, then—”
“That’s why. I hadn’t anything on Lamb, really—and I thought that if I told Pauline and then she warned Lamb, that would clinch the game as far as she was concerned. When I was shanghaied, I was pretty sure Pauline had passed on the news.”
“Now you know she didn’t.”
“Of course she didn’t!”
“Then why did they kidnap you?”
“They must have known I’d got on to Lamb some other way,” said Brammer.
“That’s the point—some other way. Yet if you only told Pauline—” Roger suddenly spun round. “Where did you tell her?”
“Where?” Brammer looked blank. “In my office. Why?”
“Could anyone have overheard you?”
“I don’t think so—”
“Matthewson might have done,” said Pauline. “He was going in and out at the time. But he couldn’t—”
“Couldn’t he?” Roger breathed.
“Of course he couldn’t!” Brammer exploded. “Damn it, he started the League. He wanted to form the Vigilantes, to arm the police—”
“That’s just it,” said Roger tautly. “So did Ruth. Matthewson’s shrewd—he’d see it my way. He’d know that violence begets violence. Arm the police, and the tough boys arm themselves. The more Vigilantes, the tougher the crooks. And Ruth has been seen in the Surbiton area—”
He broke off.
Suddenly Brammer grinned.
“You shouldn’t have told us about this brainstorm, Handsome. We could warn him, couldn’t we? Put us in the jug until you’ve been to see him.”
“I’ll trust you,” Roger said thinly.
But he wondered whether he should, as he rushed back to the Yard to plan a visit to Matthewson.
Man-by-man interrogation at the Surbiton Police HQ followed by talks with milk roundsmen and other early risers, told that Matthewson’s car had come home in the early hours of the morning when Ruth had escaped.
Shopkeepers told of larger orders for food than usual, but no one had seen a visitor.
Sloan, Peel and a cordon were round Matthewson’s house when Roger made his call.
Roger approached the front door briskly. It was late evening, and dark. A good night for coshmen and desperadoes.
He knew that Matthewson was home, but there was no way of being sure that Ruth was at the house, even if she had ever been there.
A maid answered, quite normally.
Roger waited in the hall while she went to tell Matthewson that he had called.
Matthewson came out of one room, closed the door firmly behind him, greeted Roger warmly, and led him into another room. He looked mild and benevolent, and his handshake was very firm.
“Very glad to see you, Chief Inspector. I’ve heard that Hann-Gorlay is much better—I’m delighted about that, delighted. And also really pleased—gratified—at the great successes achieved by the police. I even dare hope that my own modest efforts stimulated you all a little.”
He beamed.
“Nice of you,” Roger said dryly. “I think you’re going to stimulate us even more. Where’s Ruth Linder?”
In that moment he knew that he was right. Matthewson was taken so completely by surprise that he couldn’t speak, couldn’t hide his consternation. He even glanced towards the door and the wall – as if trying desperately to warn Ruth. Roger said gently: “So she’s here. I—”
“West—no—you startled me! I don’t understand—West—”
Roger drew his gun. In that moment he wanted to shoot. Matthewson simply swerved to one side and snatched at his pocket. Roger shot him in the arm, then leapt to the door and outside, slammed it, and turned the key in the lock. He went swiftly to the other, gun in hand.
It was locked.
He fired at the lock; the door sagged. He heard a window being thrust up as he pushed again. A police whistle blew; and a moment later he heard a shot; another and another.
He put all his strength against the door, and it opened into the dining room. He staggered in. The light was on. The window leading to the back garden was open, and the wind blew in, stirring the curtains.
Ruth lay on the floor by the window, a gun close to her. There was a spreading crimson patch on her white blouse, near the left breast. Men were running from the garden, but she wasn’t looking at them. She was looking at Roger.
He could tell that she was dying.
She moved her hand towards the gun, but the effort was too much for her. She touched but couldn’t pick it up. She turned her lovely eyes towards him. The hatred that she bore for him and for the police shone in them – an evil light. Even as she was dying, the evil remained.
Sloan appeared at the window.
“Get a doctor,” Roger said. “Hurry.”
Ruth moistened her lips.
“He won’t get here in time,” she said. “You won’t be able to save my life so that you can hang me. I’ve fooled you, West, to the very end I’ve fooled you.”
Ten minutes later, when a doctor arrived, she was dead.
An hour later, after the police had finished searching Matthewson’s house, they found that as far back as the days of Uncle Benny’s greatest prosperity, Matthewson had been buying and selling selected stolen jewels. Uncle Benny had always given him first choice among “hot” gems. Ruth had got to know Matthewson then.
Matthewson cracked as easily as Lamb had when he had learnt his wife was dead. And for the same reason.
Matthewson was in love with Ruth. He loved her even more than wealth, which was saying plenty. His ambition was to win her love for him, and for this he was prepared to do anything.
He did not know that Ruth could not love, could only hate …
Matthewson fed her hatred for the police, and helped her in her vendetta, not knowing that hate cannot be consummated. For all his shrewdness, he was a simple man; almost naive. It had been Matthewson’s idea to start the Citizens’ League. He had reasoned in exactly the same way as Roger – violence would beget violence; harsher punishments, arms for the police. Vigilantes would put venom into the youths who were fighting the police. When he first told Ruth the idea, she was doubtful, but he converted her.
The League had to have a leader – a man of good name, an able speaker, an influential public figure. Matthewson approached Hann-Gorlay, and won him over – and introduced him to Ruth. And Ruth came nearer to loving a man than she had ever been in her life …
Too late Matthewson realised what had happened. Hann-Gorlay had become not only the acknowledged leader of the League, but had won Ruth’s affectio
ns. He could not be displaced by ordinary means.
At the Albert Hall meeting Matthewson saw how Hann-Gorlay might yet be displaced. The shooting was not arranged by him. He did not know the boy who had tried to kill Hann-Gorlay on the platform.
“A fanatic,” he murmured to Roger, unconscious of the irony of the word. “But he gave me the idea. Hann-Gorlay was an obvious target for men of that sort. If another attack took place, not even Scotland Yard would look far for a motive. So I spoke to Mortimer and Gedd …”
Matthewson knew that Mortimer had a grudge against Ruth, because of Pauline, and with the help of a generous payment it was easy to persuade the young man that the way to hurt Ruth was to kill her lover. That was all Matthewson wanted; but it was not enough for Mortimer. Ruth had tried to frame Pauline – so he resolved to frame Ruth; he had been waiting for the opportunity. While he and Gedd laid their ambush for Hann-Gorlay, they had wrecked Ruth’s flat and planted the stolen jewels.
Although that was not part of Matthewson’s plan, he guessed the truth when he heard that Ruth had been arrested. He couldn’t help her – he was fearful that Mortimer would give him away. Still wanting his revenge on Ruth, Mortimer had waited.
“Not being able to help her then was a great grief to me,” said Matthewson. He still looked dapper and self-possessed; almost simple. “Nothing, of course, to my grief now—”
“Quite,” said Roger, controlling himself with an effort. “What about the attacks on you yourself and the other League leaders?”
“They were to be expected,” said Matthewson calmly. “Although we spread the word to those we could trust that the League should be left alone, we could hardly tell the whole of London’s underworld that the League was really on their side, could we? There were bound to be some thugs” – he used the word contemptuously – “who would see us as enemies, and try to kill us. It was a risk that had to be taken. There was no need for Ruth herself to take that risk,” he added. “I never wanted her to appear on the League platform. I kept her off at first, but Hann-Gorlay …”
“You would risk your life for her, and she would risk her life for him, eh?” Roger said.
The rest of Matthewson’s story confirmed what Roger had already learnt from Lamb. Matthewson added a few details that would help in the round up of the gang, but little fresh general information.
“We nearly succeeded,” he said at length. “At least, we nearly succeeded in getting an issue of arms for your people, didn’t we?”
Roger said stonily: “That’s your guess. Why did you release Brammer and me?”
“You, because it made you look foolish,” Matthewson said. “Brammer, because he was really doing a most useful job for us through the Courier and the League. He had not got very far – he wasn’t really dangerous until he got on to Lamb, and then he had to be removed. I arranged that with regret, for he believed in the League and all it stood for, and was an ardent advocate.”
“A Devil’s advocate,” Roger said, under his breath.
With Sloan and Peel, he interviewed youth after youth during the next few days. Over fifty had been arrested, with five more leaders and suppliers of arms. Almost without exception they admitted to planning to carry weapons all the time if the Vigilantes had been organised. Some, of the insolent type like Gedd, bragged that they had been longing for the day to dawn.
“Okay, Roger,” Sloan said, when the interviewing was over. “I give you best. It still doesn’t make sense to me, but I should say you’re right.”
Brammer, with his arm round Pauline, gave his familiar crooked grin. He looked better – less tired, and had a clearer complexion. His eyes were still bright but seemed less heavily lidded.
They were in his flat.
“All right, Handsome,” he said. “You’ve made out your case, and I lost mine. That doesn’t mean I have to agree with you. In fact I don’t – in spite of what Matthewson and the kids say. I say the only way to smack ’em down is by strong-arm methods. But I won’t say so in the Courier for a while. I will try to get you new recruits.”
“Just remember we don’t want Vigilantes,” Roger said dryly.
“He’ll remember,” Pauline promised. “I’ll see to that.”
“Think it’s really over?” Brammer asked.
“Oh, this show is,” Roger said. “My next job is to turn my gun over to Chatworth.” He took it out of his pocket. “I never liked the thing! There’ll be another surge of violence, one of these days; more young fools will turn desperadoes, and there won’t be enough police to cope. But there’ll be a breathing space. I’ll be able to see my wife and family occasionally. I might even get time off to attend a wedding, if I get plenty of notice.”
“Next week,” Brammer said. “It’s fixed.” His arm tightened round Pauline. “Otherwise she might start playing detective again, and we’d hate that.”
Series Information
Published or to be published by
House of Stratus
Dates given are those of first publication
Alternative titles in brackets
‘The Baron’ (47 titles) (writing as Anthony Morton)
‘Department ‘Z’’ (28 titles)
‘Dr. Palfrey Novels’ (34 titles)
‘Gideon of Scotland Yard’ (22 titles)
‘Inspector West’ (43 titles)
‘Sexton Blake’ (5 titles)
‘The Toff’ (59 titles)
along with:
The Masters of Bow Street
This epic novel embraces the story of the Bow Street Runners and the Marine Police, forerunners of the modern police force, who were founded by novelist Henry Fielding in 1748. They were the earliest detective force operating from the courts to enforce the decisions of magistrates. John Creasey’s account also gives a fascinating insight into family life of the time and the struggle between crime and justice, and ends with the establishment of the Metropolitan Police after the passing of Peel’s Act in 1829.
‘The Baron’ Series
These Titles can be read as a series, or randomly as standalone novels
Meet the Baron (The Man in the Blue Mask) (1937)
The Baron Returns (The Return of the Blue Mask) (1937)
The Baron Again (Salute Blue Mask) (1938)
The Baron at Bay (Blue Mask at Bay) (1938)
Alias the Baron (Alias Blue Mask) (1939)
The Baron at Large (Challenge Blue Mask!) (1939)
Versus the Baron (Blue Mask Strikes Again) (1940)
Call for the Baron (Blue Mask Victorious) (1940)
The Baron Comes Back (1943)
A Case for the Baron (1945)
Reward for the Baron (1945)
Career for the Baron (1946)
Blood Diamond (The Baron and the Beggar) (1947)
Blame the Baron (1948)
A Rope for the Baron (1948)
Books for the Baron (1949)
Cry for the Baron (1950)
Trap the Baron (1950)
Attack the Baron (1951)
Shadow the Baron (1951)
Warn the Baron (1952)
The Baron Goes East (1953)
The Baron in France (1953)
Danger for the Baron (1953)
The Baron Goes Fast (1954)
Nest-Egg for the Baron (Deaf, Dumb and Blonde) (1954)
Help from the Baron (1955)
Hide the Baron (1956)
The Double Frame (Frame the Baron) (1957)
Blood Red (Red Eye for the Baron) (1958)
If Anything Happens to Hester (Black for the Baron) (1959)
Salute for the Baron (1960)
The Baron Branches Out (A Branch for the Baron) (1961)
The Baron and the Stolen Legacy (Bad for the Baron) (1962)
A Sword for the Baron (The Baron and the Mogul Swords) (1963)
The Baron on Board (The Mask of Sumi) (1964)
The Baron and the Chinese Puzzle (1964)
Sport for the Baron (1966)
Affair
for the Baron (1967)
The Baron and the Missing Old Masters (1968)
The Baron and the Unfinished Portrait (1969)
Last Laugh for the Baron (1970)
The Baron Goes A-Buying (1971)
The Baron and the Arrogant Artist (1972)
Burgle the Baron (1973)
The Baron - King Maker (1975)
Love for the Baron (1979)
Doctor Palfrey Novels
These Titles can be read as a series, or randomly as standalone novels
Traitor’s Doom (1942)
The Legion of the Lost (1943)
The Valley of Fear (The Perilous Country) (1943)
Dangerous Quest (1944)
Death in the Rising Sun (1945)
The Hounds of Vengeance (1945)
Shadow of Doom (1946)
The House of the Bears (1946)
Dark Harvest (1947)
The Wings of Peace (1948)
The Sons of Satan (1948)
The Dawn of Darkness (1949)
The League of Light (1949)
The Man Who Shook the World (1950)
The Prophet of Fire (1951)
The Children of Hate (The Killers of Innocence; The Children of Despair) (1952)
The Touch of Death (1954)
The Mists of Fear (1955)
The Flood (1956)
The Plague of Silence (1958)
Dry Spell (The Drought) (1959)
The Terror (1962)
The Depths (1963)
The Sleep (1964)
The Inferno (1965)
The Famine (1967)
The Blight (1968)
The Oasis (1970)
The Smog (1970)
The Unbegotten (1971)
The Insulators (1972)
The Voiceless Ones (1973)
The Thunder-Maker (1976)
The Whirlwind (1979)
Gideon Series
(Writing as JJ Marric)
These Titles can be read as a series, or randomly as standalone novels
Gideon’s Day (Gideon of Scotland Yard) (1955)
Seven Days to Death (Gideon’s Week) (1956)
Gideon’s Night (1957)