by Joan Smith
“Evans told me, milady,” Mrs. Ballard said with an air of apology.
Corinne sat down. “Yes, he’s run away. He’s suspected of killing the — the victim found in his house.” She decided it was best not to give out any unnecessary details. She noticed that Mrs. Ballard had not been so discreet.
Not that it mattered, and no one had asked her to keep things private in any case.
Chloe shook her head sadly. “He shouldn’t have run off. If the man broke into his home, Vance was only trying to defend himself. It’s horrid that a man was killed, but it’s not a crime to defend yourself, is it?”
“I daresay it is not. If that’s what happened.”
“But what else could it be, milady?” she said in obvious distress. “Vance is a little proud to be sure, but he would never kill anyone.” She drew out a handkerchief and sniffled into it. “Oh it’s all some dreadful mistake. I wish he would come back and tell the police everything.”
“I expect the police will find him and clear the matter up,” Corinne said with more confidence than she was feeling.
Mrs. Ballard said timidly, “Won’t you have a cup of tea, milady? We can ask Evans for another cup.”
“No, thank you. I didn’t mean to intrude on your little tea party. I have some work to do.” She left, no wiser than when she had entered, but happy withal that Mrs. Ballard seemed to have found a friend.
Chloe had left when Townsend arrived an hour later and was shown into the rose salon. “Any news?” Luten asked at once.
“I’m working on it. Knowing you wouldn’t want to spare any expense, I’ve hired half a dozen sharp lads to make enquiries about any wagons seen early yesterday morning north of town. They’re to search any suspicious warehouse nearby if they get a lead. It’ll take a while, but it stands to reason the goods are not far away. Why haul them out of town, only to have to bring them back? During transit is the dangerous time. Like the Russian job, where the wheel fell off the carriage. That was a stroke of luck for us.”
“Did you discover anything interesting from Father Maccles?” Luten asked.
“He hadn’t a thing to tell me. Said he hadn’t heard from Mother — they’re none of them much for writing. It’s true he had no letter from her, though she knitted him two pairs of sox for his birthday. Of course there’s other ways of getting news — from newcomers, mostly. Some of the guards are bribable as well. As to the Leeds job using his modus operandi, he thinks ‘twas just some tuppenny gang using his method. Not the first time it’s happened, he says. No, there was nothing useful to be learned there.”
“Did you ask him about Diamond Dan?”
“I did, and he looked at me as if I was mad. Didn’t know a thing about him, never worked with him, never met him, never so much as shared a drink with him. After hearing that I didn’t bother hinting that Dan might be Mother’s new beau.”
Luten scowled and said, “Why on earth was Diamond Dan involved in this?”
Townsend shook his white head. “I can’t believe it was a direct involvement. He’d never involve hisself in such a thing. Ken smashing is beneath a jewel thief. There’d have to be a strong personal reason, and so far as we can determine, the men haven’t a thing in common, other than thieving.”
Luten listened, thought a moment, then said, “I believe you said Diamond Dan has a daughter who worked with him in the past.”
“You’re thinking the daughter might have taken up with one of the Maccles lads. I thought of that, of course, but she did her stunt years ago, when she was a child. When she was older, he sent her off to some fancy school, trying to make a lady of her. The story of his murder’s been in the journals and since she’s not come forward to claim the body, I don’t believe she’s in the country at all. Or not in London at least. It occurred to me that Corbett might be Dan’s by-blow, but then he’d hardly have planned to kill his own son, which is what we figure he was doing at Corbett’s place. Tell me, what does this Corbett fellow look like? What age is he? Where does he hail from?”
“He’s tall, dark, rather handsome but with a somewhat menacing face,” she told him. “He’s in his mid-twenties.”
“He’s from an orphanage in Devon,” Luten added.
“Now that’s interesting,” Townsend said, nodding. “Dan is also tall, dark and with a menacing phiz. The Dumbrilles come from Devon.”
“You mentioned Dumbrille wouldn’t kill his own son,” Luten said, “but there could be some animosity there if Corbett found out Dumbrille was his father and had abandoned him. An argument...”
Townsend shook his head in frustration. “Could —if.”He pounded his knees in frustration. “We can’t build a case on that. We need facts.”
“Are you actively looking for Corbett?” Luten asked.
“I’m looking for anything and everything that can give us a handle on this case. I spent some time searching his little cottage for clues, but found nothing of account. He didn’t take much with him. His clothes are still hanging in his closet, which tells me he left in a panic after he killed Dan. Now that I know what he looks like, I’ll check out the posting houses. He might have caught the Flyer to Devon, if he hails from that part of the country. He’ll be armed, as the pistol that killed Diamond Dan wasn’t in the house.” He turned to Corinne. “Did they let you in to see Miss Lipman, milady?”
“Yes, and she pretty well convinced me the icon was in the house long after Corbett was in the library. I half remember seeing it in that bowl myself, and I don’t think she would take it. She couldn’t afford to risk her reputation. I don’t think she knows a thing. When I spoke to her she still thought it was Corbett who was murdered. All she saw was the body slumped over. The corpse did have black hair, like Corbett. I think she was just there on a romantic tryst. Poor girl.”
Townsend nodded. “If she’s telling the truth, that means Dan brought the little picture with him, though why he would carry it around beats me.”
“I’m sure she was telling the truth. Her eyes were red from crying, and she didn’t know I was coming. I thought Dan might have taken the icon there for the purpose of leaving it behind to tie Corbett to the theft of the auction goods.”
Townsend shook his head in confusion. “And that means, or suggests at least, that young Corbett was never involved in the theft at all.” He stood up, frowned and said, “Anyhow I know recovering the goods is priority number one with you folks, and I’ll just dart back to Bow Street and see if there’s any word come in.”
“Where do the Maccles live?” Luten asked.
“Who knows? Their type shifts about, but as they seem to concentrate their work in London, we figure they live hereabouts.” He bowed and left.
Luten and Corinne exchanged a sorry look. To cheer her up, he said, “With luck Black might have ferreted out something.”
“If anyone finds out anything, it will be Black.”
“What arrangements have you made for the delivery of Lady Clare’s diamonds?”
“I’m not going to let them come anywhere near Berkeley Square. I’ve asked her to deliver them to Elgin Hall the night of the auction ball. Then I shan’t be responsible if anything happens to them.”
“Not likely it will, since Diamond Dan’s no longer with us.”
“Unless he’s been training up a successor.” She frowned and jumped up. “Luten, that could be why Dan was visiting Vance, to make plans to steal the diamonds! They’re both from Devon. If Vance is Dan’s illegitimate son, he might be hanging around London to go after the diamonds himself, now that his father’s dead!”
“He’s a hard man if he killed his father, then is cool enough to stay in town where he must know everyone’s looking for him and pull off a job like that.”
“Maybe not his son, but just someone he knew from living nearby in Devon. It’s possible.”
Luten was unconvinced. “Not impossible, I suppose,” he said.
“We must tell Townsend this. He won’t be looking for Corbett in London. He thin
ks he left town.”
“I’ll run down to Bow Street now while he’s still there, waiting to hear from his men.”
As was often the case, it was Black who came up with some new information.
* * *
Chapter 20
Prance and Coffen had each been at home awaiting a summons to Luten’s house. Unable to contain his curiosity any longer, Coffen decided to go uninvited. Prance spotted him from the window and joined him. Corinne was glad for their company at this nervous time. She had brought them up to date by the time Luten returned. He reported that Townsend had taken a dim view of Corinne’s theory that Corbett was planning to hijack the Clare diamonds.
“He has no inside information now that he’s on the run, no idea when or how the necklace is to be delivered,” he explained. “If Dan was connected somehow with the Maccles, as the icon suggests, they’ll be out looking to wreak their vengeance on Corbett as well. No, if he has a brain in his head he’s left town.”
They discussed other possibilities while impatiently awaiting Black’s return. They knew from his worried expression when he was shown in that he wasn’t bringing good news.
“Black, sit down and have some coffee while you tell us what you’ve been doing,” Corinne said.
His heart glowed, to see her as attentive to his comfort as ever, despite his awful failure. “No news here, then?” he said.
“Not really,” she said. “Townsend is busy. He has men out looking into whether anyone saw the wagon, and searching warehouses and things. I take it you had no luck either?”
“Not a single real copper-bottomed fact, I’m sorry to say, just a few strange rumours that may mean something or nothing. For what it’s worth, it seems Mother Maccles has got herself a new partner, which don’t surprise me, seeing as Father’s been in lock-up for a year, and has fourteen more to go. That’s a long time to wait for her man to get out. I was wondering if the new lad and her together rumbled the auction goods from your library here.”
“Any indication who the new inamorata may be?” Prance asked.
“ ‘Twould be a professional man of some sort, one in some crooked line of business, like Father and herself.”
Luten told Black what Townsend had discussed with them that morning. “The icon found in Corbett’s house tells us there’s some connection between Diamond Dan and the robbery here. Is it possible Mother Maccles’s new inamorata is Diamond Dan? It would explain his involvement in this business that Townsend thinks he wouldn’t stoop to without a very good reason.”
“And what better reason than love!” Prance cried. “Amor omnia vincit.”
“Possible,” Black said fingering his chin. “Dan would be the right age for her and is a widow. Corbett might have been feeding them details about how to get into the house and get the goods out. He complained to them that he was being quizzed, Dan went along to kill him before he could squeal. ‘Twouldn’t be the first time Dan’s broken the fifth.”
When his listeners frowned, he explained, “Thou shalt not kill. Fifth commandment. Corbett managed to overpower him and shot him, then took off in a panic. Yes, it could’ve happened like that I daresay. What it don’t explain is what the deuce the little Russian picture was doing there.”
“A bribe?” Prance suggested. “We know Corbett had a taste for fine things. He was looking up Luten’s artworks in his art book. He may have mentioned the icon when he was telling Dan what he’d seen in the library, and said that he particularly admired it. Somehow Dan got in and nabbed it.”
“You’re suggesting Dan took it along as a little pourboire to keep him happy — or just as an excuse to call?” Luten said. “Something small he could carry in a pocket, and Corbett could hide until such time as he felt it safe to reveal it.”
Corinne said, “I thought he might have taken it there to leave after he killed Corbett, to make us think Corbett was in on the robbery.”
“You have the mind of a first rate criminal, milady,” Black said, smiling to show it was meant for a compliment. “I believe you’ve hit it on the head.” No one argued with her idea once Black had spoken.
Coffen looked all around. “Does this mean Corbett ain’t Dan’s illegitimate son or some colleague from Devon, like you mentioned earlier?”
They all thought a moment, then Luten said, “Not necessarily. There must be some reason Corbett was chosen to ferret out information about the auction goods for them. Some previous acquaintance of a fairly close kind, I mean. Townsend never heard of Corbett before, which means he had no criminal past, yet they felt it was safe to approach him, and he agreed.”
“Like all orphans, he thought his papa was some fine lord,” Prance said. “He mentioned he was looking into it. He may have found out he was Dan’s son.”
“I wonder now, if he found out his da was no fine lord but a thief, would he be mad enough to kill him?” Black said, looking around for support or disagreement.
“And would it be madness, or cruel, selfish sanity?” Prance said. “Corbett was proud, he was on the brink of fame and fortune at Drury Lane. If it should come out that his father was an infamous criminal — well, I honestly think it might drive him over the edge into temporary madness.” The others just looked, not immediately accepting this theory. “It would suggest that Corbett just found out Dan was his father last night, when Dan called on him,” he added.
“That would mean he found it out from Dan himself. We thought Dan went there for the purpose of murdering Corbett, his own son,” Luten said. “I, for one, find that impossible to believe. It goes against human nature. I suppose he needn’t have had murder in mind, though he did carry a pistol.”
Coffen sat listening and conjuring the scene in his head. When he had come to a conclusion, he announced, “Coincidence.” His abhorrence of coincidence was well known within the group. “It’s getting to sound like something you’d see at Covent Garden, that Corbett just happened to be working here in Luten’s place, and just happened to be Dan’s long-lost son and just happened to learn it last night. And even in a bad play, he wouldn’t kill his father.”
“You’re forgetting Oedipus,” Prance said.
“No I ain’t, for I don’t know the fellow. Sounds like a foreigner. No telling what a Frenchie would do. Killed their own king and queen.”
“It was a bad example. Oedipus was unaware Laius was his father.”
“What I’m saying is that if Corbett knew Dan was his dad and Dan was abetting Mother Maccles, he might’ve given him a hand to spy out how the goods were being guarded. But in that case, he didn’t just learn it last night, and go into a fit and kill him. And if Dan knew Corbett was his son, he didn’t go there to shoot him. And don’t bother reminding me of Abraham from the Bible, Prance. I never did believe that story, any more than I did the one about a few fish and rolls feeding a whole picnic. Who’d take a basket of fish to a picnic? It’d get tasting too fishy in the heat. Chicken is what you take. I’m not saying they didn’t know each other before in Devon, but I don’t believe they were father and son.”
“Coffen’s right.,” Luten said. “They were known to each other, but not father and son. Very likely Dan learned that Corbett had access to the house, bribed him to find out what he could about how and where the auction items were being kept. Corbett complained when we questioned him, and they decided they had to kill him before he revealed their names. Dan went to do the job himself, planning to leave the icon behind to incriminate Corbett. Black mentioned he’d killed before. Corbett overpowered Dan and shot him, then ran.”
“And Diamond Dan was involved because he’s taken up with Mother Maccles,” Prance added. He turned to Black. “Any chance of getting a line on all this, Black?”
“I could have another go at it. If Diamond Dan and Mother were working together and he was helping her, I wager she was helping him get a line on the Clare diamonds. He’d not pass up a chance like that. Like as not she knows his plan to get the diamonds. And it would be a pretty good plan too.
I wonder now if Mother and her crew might not carry on with it, seeing as he’s dead.”
“We don’t know he was planning to steal the diamonds,” Corinne said. “He might just have been helping Mother Maccles.”
“It’s exactly his sort of caper though,” Black said. “I doubt he could resist it. Them diamonds are going to be delivered to Elgin Hall, very likely in a private carriage. Easy pickings compared to all the work of heisting the auction goods from here. Dan usually did his rumbling while the goods were on the road. Mother is the harum-scarum type who’d tackle a rogue elephant if she thought there was enough money in it.”
“Well, at least he won’t steal them while I’m responsible for them,” she said. “They’re not coming here. They’re going directly to Elgin Hall. I shall warn Lady Clare to take every precaution. And Diamond Dan had no way of knowing that, for I just decided after our robbery and haven’t told a soul but Luten and Townsend.”
“Pity,” Black said. “With Corbett gone missing, there’s no way to pass word along to Mother and the gang. Unless —”
Prance stared. “Are you actually suggesting that you want someone to steal the diamonds?”
“No,” Coffen said. “He don’t mean to steal them. To try to steal them, so that we have a chance to catch them red-handed.”
“Rather risky, isn’t it?” Prance said.
“Not if it’s done right. Black, what were you saying? Unless what?”
“Unless I could manage to get word of the delivery to Mother.”
Luten considered this, then said, “Townsend might give us a hand there. He could visit Father Maccles. It seems the gaol is not hermetically sealed. The prisoners have ways of getting word in and out. But would Father bother to tell his wife, I wonder, as they’re not in that line of business? Surely not if he knows she was carrying on with Dan.”