by Emily Organ
“On the Haringay Park Estate in North London.”
“I know it now. We’re just north of Finsbury Park, aren’t we? Many new homes are being built here.”
“And this is one of the most recently built properties. The Metropolitan Police has a few houses like this to keep people safe when necessary.”
“Were you also kidnapped from the street?” I asked.
“No!” James gave me a look of incredulity.
“So you weren’t brought here under duress with a hood tied over your head?”
“Fortunately, no.” His face grew increasingly alarmed. “Is that what they did to you?”
“Yes.” I glared at the two men in the room with us. “What sort of police officer orders people to do such a thing?”
“It was utterly despicable to treat you in that manner, Penny. I had no idea.”
“Do you believe everything Chief Inspector Cullen tells you?” I asked James in a low whisper.
“I have done until now. Most of it, anyway. I don’t see why he should have any cause to be untruthful to me, but I don’t understand why he would treat you in this manner either. No one deserves to be frightened like that.”
“He told me that sometimes a sudden shock is needed.”
“For what purpose?”
“To invoke fear and compliance, would be my guess.”
One of the men glanced over at us, as if he didn’t like the fact that I was whispering.
“We’re much easier to control when we’re frightened, aren’t we?” I continued. “I think Chief Inspector Cullen exaggerated the danger so that he could get you out of the way.”
“To purposefully stop me investigating?” whispered James. “But why should he want to do that?”
The suspicious man got up from his chair and walked over to us. “No whispering,” he said, “I need to hear every word you’re saying. Either speak up or I will insist on silence.”
James and I glared at him.
“So you came here after you met with the gang at Marylebone Lane station?” I asked James.
“Yes. Cullen arrived there just as I was finishing my meeting with them and Inspector Bowles. He explained that the Yard had received a threat directed at my family and that, for my safety and theirs, he had decided I should come and stay here for a few days. I didn’t want to come, of course, but he assured me that it would only be for a short while.”
“It’s been three days now. Has he told you what he’s doing about the murders?”
“He says the Yard has to tread carefully because of the danger we are all in.”
“It sounds as though he’s not doing a great deal.”
“Of course he’s investigating. He simply said that we need to tread carefully.”
“Whatever that means. Now he’s supposedly managing the next stage of the investigation, yet we’ve no idea what that means either. We’re powerless, James. The pair of us can do nothing at all. Have you tried leaving this place?”
“Not yet. I’ve been trying to remain on good terms with Cullen, but I’m beginning to lose my patience. I asked if I would be able to leave today and he replied that a complication had arisen. I suspect now that he was referring to you.”
I laughed. “I’m the complication?”
“It seems that way.” James smiled. “Aren’t you always?”
I lowered my voice to a whisper, though I knew I wasn’t supposed to. “I feel sure that Chief Inspector Cullen has no intention of letting us go any time soon. We have to escape.”
“Have you forgotten what I told you?” said the man, getting to his feet again. “We’ll have silence now.”
James and I exchanged an exasperated glance.
I waited patiently for the man to return to his seat before looking up at James again.
“We need to escape,” I mouthed silently. “Tonight.”
Chapter 63
A stout lady named Mrs Walker arrived at the house a short while later with a meal of bread and cold tongue. I tried to engage her in conversation while she made coffee.
“Inspector Cullen’s paid me to come ’ere and ’elp as ’e needs it,” she said, refusing to give anything more away.
After our meal James retired upstairs to his room and I was shown to a room at the back of the house. It contained a table and a settee, which was to serve as my bed for the night. Mrs Walker gave me a blanket and told me she would return to the house early the following morning and bring me a basin and a jug of water so I could wash.
I lay down on the settee, covered myself with the blanket and listened to the sounds of the house. James was in a room upstairs but I didn’t know where the two men were. I presumed they also had rooms upstairs. Was this place a safe haven offered for my protection? Or was I being held prisoner? I wasn’t entirely sure.
It was apparent that James still trusted and respected Chief Inspector Cullen. He demonstrated a level of respect for the man that I had never shared.
Perhaps the chief inspector was managing the situation as best he could, but I felt suspicious of his motives. Maybe I was wrong to doubt him, and perhaps I didn’t fully understand the loyalty and duty felt among police officers, but something about my current situation felt wrong. Chief Inspector Cullen was trying to control me, and I felt sure that he was also trying to control James. He had assumed we would be happy to stay in this house together, apparently safe from the dangers outside, but I knew that I had to leave, either with or without James.
There was a large sash window in the room. A little while after darkness had fallen I got up and tried to open it. To begin with the frame wouldn’t budge, but it eventually gave way with a judder that shattered the silence. I quickly returned to the settee, my heart pounding in my throat, and pulled the blanket back over me.
I heard footsteps on the floorboards upstairs and held my breath, wondering if I would hear one of the men coming down the stairs. After a short while the steps subsided and silence returned to the house.
I would have liked nothing more than for James to escape with me, but it seemed too risky to go upstairs. What if I disturbed the men who were supposedly guarding us? My escape route was just yards away. I didn’t want to leave James behind, but at least I knew that he was unharmed and I could share this good news with Charlotte. I would also have a chance to find out exactly what Chief Inspector Cullen was up to.
I estimated that half an hour had passed before I attempted to open the window again. I wondered if the men took turns to watch over us, working in shifts. I could not simply assume that everyone in the house was asleep.
I approached the window once again, slowly pushing it open to avoid making such a dreadful noise. It juddered slightly a couple of times, so that I had to stop and hold my breath for what seemed like minutes at a time as I listened out for footsteps. The frame was eventually raised high enough to allow me enough space to climb through. I peered outside and saw what appeared to be a small garden. Beyond it I could see the outline of rooftops against the night sky.
Now was my chance.
I went back into the room to fetch my bag and listened for a few more minutes. I had hoped James would come to find me, but I could only suppose that he was already fast asleep. I felt consumed with guilt about leaving him behind, but once I had made my escape I could send help. I felt quite certain that Commissioner Dickson would not agree with Chief Inspector Cullen’s methods once he discovered what was happening.
I groped around in the dark for my carpet bag, then walked back over to the window.
Was I making a mistake escaping like this? Were there greater dangers beyond my temporary prison?
I carefully climbed out of the window and stepped into the dark garden. I felt grass underfoot as I crept toward the boundary walls. I had no idea how tall they were, but I knew that I wouldn’t feel at ease until I was safely away from this place.
It was then that I heard the frame of the window I had just climbed out of move, as if someone had pushed it
open just a fraction wider. I remained as still as a statue, desperately holding my breath.
There was no further sound. Whoever it was had determined to move as stealthily as I had.
Could it be James?
A sharp shove to my shoulder knocked me to the ground. I tried my best to stifle a cry as my assailant emitted a grunt of pain.
“Penny?” came a whisper from nearby.
“James! I’m here!” I whispered back. I tried to suppress the laughter rising into my throat, partly from relief and partly from fear.
“I think they’re on to us; we have to move!” came the reply.
“I don’t know how we can get out of here!” I whispered in return.
I turned and saw a lantern shining in the room I had just escaped from.
“Oh James, they’re coming!”
“Follow me!” he hissed.
“I can’t see you!”
I groped around for his hand and eventually found it, gripping my fingers tightly around his. He pulled me up from the ground and I followed blindly in his footsteps, tripping over tussocks of grass along the way.
“Oi!” came a voice from behind us.
I felt my stomach jump up into my chest and willed my legs to move more quickly than ever before as I followed James into the darkness.
“There must be a wall or a fence somewhere!” I whispered.
“Here it is,” said James. In one swift movement he gripped my legs just above the knees and propelled me upwards. It was all I could do not to cry out in surprise.
“Can you get over it?” asked James, staggering forward a step.
I reached out and felt bricks beneath my fingers. Stretching upward I could feel the top of the wall. “Yes! Yes, I can!”
I tossed my bag forward into the darkness and heard it land reassuringly on the hard ground over on the other side of the wall. I grabbed the top with both hands while James pushed my legs up.
“What about you?” I whispered back to him.
“I’ll manage it,” he replied. “I think it’s about six feet. Just get over and I’ll be right behind you.”
I clambered awkwardly over the wall, my skirts getting in the way. I landed uncomfortably on the other side, falling heavily onto my elbows and back. Above me I could see the outline of the wall and a silhouette of James as he gripped the top of it with his arms.
“Blakely!” came a shout.
James’ silhouette came into sharp relief as a torch was shone onto him from behind.
“James!” I reached up and seized one of his arms to help pull him over. It was imperative that the men on the other side of the wall were given no chance to pull him back down.
James reached out a hand and I grabbed it. He had managed to get most of his body onto the top of the wall, but appeared to be flailing.
“Pull on my arm, Penny!” he called down. “They’ve got my leg!”
He began to thrash about wildly, and I could only guess that his foot had made contact with one of the men because there was a cry of pain and then James came tumbling down onto my side of the wall.
“Are you all right?” I asked him, tripping over my bag.
“I think so. Let’s move!” He jumped onto his feet and grabbed my hand again.
“This seems to be a passageway,” he said. “I’ve no idea which direction we should take.”
One of the men had reached the top of the wall and was shining the lantern down on us. I gripped my bag in one hand and James’ hand in the other.
“Let’s go!” he said, taking the lead.
The light from the lantern showed that the passageway ran between the gardens of a row of houses. With the two men still clambering over the wall behind, we ran as fast as we could until we reached the street.
I could only see the dark outlines of houses on one side of the street, but the sky had opened up over the other half.
“This is where they’re building the new homes,” said James.
I heard footsteps behind us. “They’re catching us up!” I whispered.
“This way!” he said, pulling me toward the undeveloped side of the street. “They’ve built the road and the pavement, but not the houses as yet.”
The road began to climb steeply.
“Couldn’t you have chosen the downhill way?” I commented between gasps.
“I think our men have gone that way,” he said, pausing and looking back down the street. We could still see the lantern light, but the men did not appear to be heading in our direction.
“It always pays to take the trickier route, Penny,” he said, laughing breathlessly. “They’ve assumed we were heading down to the houses.”
I also began to laugh as relief took hold of me.
“Where are we now?” I asked.
A brisk wind whipped around us and I noticed we were still holding hands even though there was no longer any real need.
“I think we’re close to Green Lanes.”
“What does that mean?”
“If we follow the road south we should hopefully reach civilisation, otherwise known as Finsbury Park.”
“And south is which way?”
“Luckily, it’s a clear night tonight, though it would help if the moon was out.” I could just make out James’ face looking up at the stars in the gloom.
“I think if we continue along this road it should join up with Green Lanes,” he said. “Turning to the right will take us south.”
“You can tell which direction we need to take just by looking at the stars?”
“Sometimes. It depends on the time of year. It’s something my father taught me during my boyhood.”
“Well it’s certainly coming in useful now,” I said. I glanced behind us and saw that the lantern light was even smaller than before. “Hopefully we’ve lost them now.”
“Hopefully.”
“I’m glad you came with me, James. I felt it was too dangerous to try to find you before I left.”
“It was! Those men were very close behind us. I stayed awake knowing you would try to make a dash for it.”
“I’m worried, though. You’ll most likely lose your job for defying Chief Inspector Cullen.”
“Probably, though I’m more concerned for my family than my job.”
“Oh dear, yes. I hope we can keep them safe.”
“The only way to do that is to find out who is behind all this. We need to put a stop to them before someone else gets hurt.”
We continued to make our way up the hill, still hand in hand.
Chapter 64
After a short walk down to Finsbury Park we managed to hail a lone cab on Seven Sisters Road. James checked his watch by the light of a gas lamp. It was almost two o’clock.
“We should be able to find something to eat at one of the cafes that open early near the markets,” said James. “How about Billingsgate?”
“That sounds good,” I replied, “and it’s near the offices of Chakravarty and Sheridan in the City.”
The streets were deserted as we travelled toward Billingsgate with the horse progressing at a brisk trot.
“I need to speak to both Chakravarty and Sheridan,” said James. “One of them believed Forster had not been caught up in any trouble and the other believed he had, is that right?”
“Yes that’s right. I’m sure one of them must know something. Coincidentally, my brother-in-law is doing some legal work for Sheridan on a government contract, so it might also be worth speaking to him.”
“We need to speak to as many people as possible, Penny, and we need to find out what Cullen is up to. When he first asked me to stop working on the case I believed what he had told me about the threats to my family. I felt certain at the time that he had my best interests at heart, but now I’m not so sure. It’s difficult because I have always held the man in such high regard, but the manner in which he has treated you is unforgivable. I fail to understand how he can justify it.”
“So maybe he didn’t have your best int
erests at heart at all. Perhaps he was merely trying to keep you away from the investigation for his own convenience.”
“I’m inclined to think that’s the case. It sounds like he’s caught up in something, doesn’t it?”
“I believe so. I’ve never trusted him, as you well know.”
Fish porters were already moving busily around the arched brick edifice of Billingsgate Market as they unloaded carriages piled precariously high with crates and baskets of fish.
After we had paid the cabman he pointed us in the direction of a pub, which happened to be open despite the ungodly hour.
James and I weren’t the usual clientele at this time of day and a few heads turned as we walked into the Blue Boar. We sat down and were soon served with kippers, toast and coffee.
“Did you notice the telegraph office opposite the market?” I asked James. “You must send a telegram to Charlotte as soon as it opens.”
“I will.”
“She’ll be so relieved that you’re safe. She has had such a dreadful time.”
“Four nights is a long time to be away.”
“And no news; nothing at all! Chief Inspector Cullen could at least have reassured her or even explained what had happened. That’s what I don’t understand about him. He was so tight-lipped about the whole matter.”
“Before I carry out my investigations today I need to understand what the motive behind each of the murders was,” said James. “Firstly, there’s poor Mrs Forster.”
“Presumably targeted because of her husband.”
“You haven’t come across any information that suggests she might have got herself in any trouble?”
“None at all.”
“So we think Mrs Forster was sadly murdered because she happened to be Mr Forster’s wife. The gang came for both of them but Mr Forster wasn’t there that evening. Forster himself was chased down outside the East India Club in St James’s Square. Mr Chakravarty suggested he may have been caught up in the trade of stolen opium, did he not?”
“That’s right, although Mr Sheridan refuses to believe it.”
“So Mr Forster worked for Mr Sheridan for a number of years without any bother.”