‘Why?’
‘To begin with,’ said Colbeck, ‘we solved what had all the hallmarks of an insoluble murder.’
‘I never thought that we would, sir.’
‘You probably feel the same with this case.’
‘I do.’
‘Then look at the similarity.’
‘There isn’t any,’ said Leeming.
‘I think there is. The stationmaster was burnt to a cinder and Alexander Piper disappeared into a wall of flame. In both cases, they were consumed by fire.’
‘I suppose that’s true.’
‘Let’s go back ten years, shall we?’ suggested Colbeck. ‘Gregor Hayes was a blacksmith. What was the most constant feature of his working life?’
‘I suppose it would be the fire he kept going.’
‘Precisely – that’s the common element here. All three victims are associated with fire. Let that be a warning to us, Victor.’
‘Warning?’ echoed the other.
‘We must ensure that we don’t get our fingers burnt.’
Lord Culverhouse had an early breakfast so that he would be ready to receive his visitor. Determined to keep well informed about the investigation, he’d been using Geoffrey Hedley as his go-between. As usual, the lawyer arrived at the house on time. He was shown into the study where Culverhouse awaited him.
‘What do you have to report?’
‘Very little, I’m afraid,’ said Hedley. ‘I went to their hotel and discovered that Inspector Colbeck and the sergeant had already left.’
‘Where have they gone?’
‘I’ve no idea, my lord.’
‘It could be a good sign, of course. Maybe they’ve picked up a scent and rushed off to follow it.’
‘Maybe …’
‘You seem doubtful.’
‘I’m sure that they know what they’re doing,’ said Hedley, ‘but I would like at least a hint of progress. It’s not there at the moment, I’m afraid. That’s not to disparage their efforts,’ he added. ‘Both of them have been very assiduous. They can’t be faulted on that score but … what have they actually found out?’
‘Have you spoken to Ainsley?’
‘Yes, I saw him yesterday evening.’
‘What’s his opinion?’
‘Well, he didn’t criticise them in so many words, but he’s clearly worried that they have nothing to show for their efforts so far. And while he was very grateful that you were offering such a large reward,’ said Hedley, ‘the posters you had printed have only brought in a succession of barefaced liars who have no real evidence to offer.’
‘That’s disappointing.’
‘There’s something else that disturbs Ainsley.’
‘What is it?’
‘Inspector Colbeck has become quite obsessed with what happened to Gregor Hayes, the blacksmith.’
‘That must have been a decade ago, at least.’
‘It was, my lord. The inspector seems to think that he may be able to find out what happened to the man.’
‘Why the devil is he wasting his time on the blacksmith? My nephew’s case must take priority. That’s what I brought him here to solve,’ said Culverhouse, angrily. ‘I can see that I need to speak to Colbeck myself. He has to do what he’s told. I’ll make that abundantly clear to him.’
Though he missed having it in the house, Caleb Andrews knew that his treasured medal was locked away securely in a safe. As he looked at the list of suspects, he saw that he’d whittled it down to nine names. Close friends had all been crossed off the list. Those remaining were mere acquaintances. One of them, he believed, had stolen and then returned his award.
Retirement had brought duties as well as leisure. When she lived with him, Madeleine had done all the shopping, but it now fell to him to keep the larder full. Putting on his coat and hat, he let himself out of the house and locked the door after him. Then he shivered in the cold and trudged off up the street. On his way to the market, he bumped into Nan Kingston, who was carrying a large basket filled with a variety of items. As usual, she looked weary and miserable. They exchanged greetings.
‘What are you feeding Alf on these days?’ Seeing that she was nonplussed, he explained. ‘Your husband had the cheek to trounce me at cribbage. He’s never done that before, Nan. You must have fed him with a magic potion.’
‘Alf gets what he likes to eat,’ she said, dully.
‘Well, you can tell him I want my revenge.’
She clicked her tongue. ‘It’s only a game of cards.’
‘Oh, no, it isn’t. It’s a lot more.’
‘I’ll pass on the message. Anyway, thank you for coming over, Caleb. It took Alf’s mind off the pain in his leg. He hates having to use crutches.’
‘That’s why I lost all those games last night,’ he said, seizing on the excuse. ‘I realise it now. I took pity on him and let him win. Well, it won’t happen again. Next time, I’ll beat him hollow.’
The cab driver took them to Hither Wood then waited outside it so that he could take them back to Birthwaite in due course. The detectives plunged into the trees. Light was diminished under the canopy, so they picked their way carefully through the thickets. Colbeck paused beside a tree with some long, low, thin branches sprouting out of it. He took a knife from his pocket and took hold of a branch.
‘What are you doing?’ asked Leeming.
‘We each need a stick to poke around.’
‘I’ll use mine to fight off any ghosts.’
‘There aren’t any, Victor. Take my word.’
When they had a stick apiece, they were able to brush their way through the undergrowth, soon emerging into the clearing at the centre of the wood. Handing his stick to the sergeant, Colbeck took out the diagram of the area and consulted it. He pointed to the path that had just brought them there.
‘That was the route taken by Ainsley when he came in search of the blacksmith. Each of the other ways into this clearing is marked on this drawing. Somebody was guarding every possible exit.’
‘They were obviously keen to make sure that Hayes played to the rules. He had to earn that money.’ Leeming looked around. ‘I wouldn’t stay alone in this creepy place in the daytime. As for being here late at night, you’d need wild horses to drag me here at Hallowe’en.’
‘What if you stood to win a sizeable wager?’
‘Even that wouldn’t tempt me.’
‘It’s not like you to be afraid of anything, Victor.’
‘We’re dealing with the supernatural, sir.’
‘Are we? Let’s find out, shall we?’
Colbeck showed him the diagram and pointed to areas that hadn’t been thoroughly investigated at the time because the trees and thickets were so densely packed together. Most of the wood had been subjected to a search and Ainsley had marked the places where his men had been. What was left was about ten per cent of the total area.
When he saw Colbeck taking off his hat and coat before placing them carefully on a tree stump, Leeming was astonished.
‘You’ll freeze to death, sir.’
‘It will be in a good cause.’
‘I’m not taking off anything.’
‘Then your coat may get caught on something and your hat will certainly be knocked off. We need to prod and poke our way in dark corners. The effort will keep us warm.’
‘What are you expecting to find?’
‘Evidence.’
‘Evidence of what?’ asked Leeming.
‘I’ll tell you when we find it.’
‘Don’t forget Norm Tiller’s poem. He thinks that the phantom guards this place and that Gregor Hayes had the misfortune to upset him. I don’t want to do that. It might have been better if we’d brought Norm with us,’ he suggested. ‘He knows how to deal with such … strange creatures.’
‘Mr Tiller is a suspect. We don’t want him or any of the others here. I won’t even tell Sergeant Ainsley about this visit. It’s our secret. Now use that stick of yours and hack a way through
the thickets at the far end.’
‘It could be a terrible waste of time, sir.’
‘Most detective work is like that.’
‘It’s ten years since Hayes disappeared in here. Everything will have been overgrown in that time.’
‘That’s why we need a stick to prod as deep as we can.’
‘We may end up finding nothing at all.’
‘I’m afraid that you’re wrong,’ said Colbeck. ‘We’ve already found something that’s of interest to us.’
‘What is it?’
‘Don’t you feel it, Victor?’
‘All that I can feel is this cold wind.’
‘Remain quite still and don’t react to what I’m about to tell you. If you do that, you’ll only frighten him off.’
Leeming blinked. ‘What do you mean?’
‘We’re being watched again.’
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Lydia Quayle was at once amazed and amused. When she heard what had happened to the missing medal, she burst into laughter.
‘Don’t do that in front of my father,’ warned Madeleine.
‘But it’s so comical, really.’
‘He won’t see it that way.’
‘I’m sorry,’ said Lydia, controlling her mirth. ‘It must be such a relief to have that medal back again. And it was very sensible of Mr Andrews to lock it away in your safe.’
‘That was Alan Hinton’s idea.’
‘Is he going to join the search for the thief?’
‘Unfortunately, he isn’t – but you are.’
Lydia was startled. ‘Me? What can I do?’
‘You can do what I’ll do and lend moral support to my father. If he goes charging off on his own, he might well offend someone by accusing him of a crime he didn’t commit. Part of our job is to stop him doing that.’
‘He can be rather fiery at times, Madeleine.’
‘That’s why he needs some cooler heads around him.’
‘Alan Hinton would have provided coolness, but I can see why he’s handed the case over to us. He’s very busy at Scotland Yard.’
‘Oh,’ said Madeleine with a smile, ‘I fancy that he’ll find time to drop in to see how we’re getting on.’
‘When do we start?’
‘We’ll have our first discussion with Father this afternoon.’
‘Thank you for including me.’
‘If I hadn’t, you’d never have forgiven me.’
‘That’s true.’
‘Besides, we’ve both played detective before and had some success.’
‘Does Mr Andrews have any idea who the man might be?’
‘We’ve thinned out the list of possibilities. He’s convinced that the thief is among the handful whose names are still left.’
‘But he may not be a thief, Madeleine. What if it turns out be a practical joke?’
‘Father will still demand a stiff sentence in a court of law.’
‘I can see how upsetting it is to know that someone has broken into your house. On the other hand, that may not be what actually happened.’
‘There’s no other explanation.’
‘Yes, there is, Madeleine. Suppose that your father invited someone into the house and left the room for a few minutes. If the friend was in a mischievous mood, he could have taken the key out of the vase, used it to open the cupboard then pocketed the medal.’
‘I suppose that it’s possible, but there’s a flaw in your theory, Lydia.’
‘Is there?’
‘How did the friend get back into the house to replace it? He could hardly rely on my father to ask him back and disappear obligingly from the room so that he had time to put the medal back. No,’ decided Madeleine, ‘I think somebody did break into the house at some point and – prank or not – that’s a criminal act.’
Now that he’d been alerted to the fact that they were under surveillance, Leeming’s immediate reaction was to find the person as soon as he could. Colbeck advised against any precipitate move, arguing that they ought to carry on with their search as if they were unaware that they had company. Accordingly, the pair of them poked away in the undergrowth with their sticks and tried to work out exactly where the person was. Once they thought they’d established the position, they moved slowly in that direction.
Colbeck remained patient but Leeming was increasingly annoyed at the fact that someone was watching them from a hiding place. When he’d edged several yards closer to where he felt the person was, he suddenly turned round and sprinted towards the trees with his stick held high. There was a rustling sound in the thickets as someone took to his heels. Leeming went after him, sacrificing his hat in the process and getting his sleeve snagged on a bush.
Whoever was ahead of him, however, was faster and fitter than he was. He also had the advantage of seeing his attacker coming. Leeming went blundering wildly through the wood. When he finally emerged out of the gloom of the trees, he realised that he was too late. There was no sign whatsoever of anyone. What he did hear was the sound of a horse galloping away. Running across to the cab, he saw that the driver had disappeared as well, leaving the horse tethered to a bush. After a moment, the driver came out of the trees, self-consciously adjusting his trousers.
‘Did you see him?’ demanded Leeming.
‘Who?’
‘Someone was spying on us.’
‘I didn’t see anyone,’ said the driver. ‘I went off to—’
‘You must have heard the horse galloping away?’
‘I did, but I’ve no idea who was riding it.’
‘Keep your eyes peeled next time.’
‘Yes, sir, I will.’
Cursing himself for his impatience, Leeming examined the slight tear in his coat and wondered where his hat was. He picked his way gingerly back through the trees, using his stick as he did so. When he recovered the hat, he saw that it had acquired a nasty scratch. All in all, his rashness had paid no dividends at all.
Colbeck was waiting for him in the clearing. He noticed the torn sleeve at once and shook his head.
‘You should have taken your coat off, Victor.’
‘I know that now.’
‘What happened?’
‘I was too slow. He escaped on his horse.’
‘The cab driver must have seen him.’
‘He didn’t, sir. He had to answer a call of nature.’
‘That was inconvenient.’
‘It was maddening,’ said Leeming. ‘I’m sorry, Inspector. It was stupid of me to go off like that, but I just hate being under observation.’
‘Console yourself with the fact that you gave him a fright.’
‘I gave myself a fright as well.’
He broke off to take a close look at the torn sleeve and the scratch on his hat. The chase through the wood had had one benefit. It had warmed him up. He followed Colbeck’s example and hung both the hat and coat on a branch.
‘Do you think it could be the same man?’ he asked.
‘To whom do you refer?’
‘I mean the one who stole our horse and dog cart.’
‘I daresay that it’s more than likely.’
‘Who set him on to us?’
‘I don’t know,’ admitted Colbeck, ‘but I expect he’ll get a report on us very soon. Last time, we only had a warning. We must be ready for something a little more dramatic this time.’
‘How did that man come to follow us here?’
‘I hope that we get the chance to put that question to him.’
‘He must have been on the same train.’
‘That’s more than likely,’ said Colbeck. ‘If he’d got close enough, he’d have heard me giving directions to the cab driver. All he had to do was to hire a horse from that livery stable near the station. I’ll make a point of speaking to the man who owns it.’
‘What do we do in the meantime, sir?’
‘We carry on searching. There’s nobody watching us now. We have a free hand. Let’s get on with what we came
here to do, shall we?’
Bernard Ainsley was not pleased to see Lord Culverhouse at the best of times. When the latter was patently in a foul mood, the sergeant knew that he was about to bear the brunt of it. Without bothering to knock, Culverhouse flung open the door of the office and barged in. Ainsley stood up behind his desk.
‘Good day to you, Lord Culverhouse.’
‘Where is Colbeck?’
‘I don’t know.’
‘Well, you damn well ought to. I need someone to keep track of him. And while we’re on the subject,’ he went on, ‘I’ve been talking to Hedley. He got the impression that you had reservations about the inspector.’
‘His methods are very different from mine. That’s all I meant.’
‘And have they yielded any results?’
‘He’s still feeling his way into the investigation.’
‘I’m told that he’s actually ignoring it.’
‘I can’t believe that.’
‘According to Hedley, the inspector has got interested in the case involving the blacksmith. That’s closed, as far as I’m concerned.’
‘It will never be closed until it’s solved,’ said Ainsley, stoutly. ‘I knew Gregor Hayes as well as if he was my brother. I owe it to him and to his family to find out what happened.’
‘He got his just deserts, I’d say. Good riddance to him!’
‘That’s very harsh.’
‘I have good reason to say it.’
‘With respect, Lord Culverhouse, you were mistaken.’
Culverhouse bridled. ‘Do you dare to contradict me?’
‘It wasn’t Gregor who was responsible. I’d swear that and so did he, by the way. It was somebody else who led your servant astray.’
‘Then why did she mention the blacksmith’s name? He had a reputation for it, Ainsley. You know that. Hayes just couldn’t keep his hands to himself. As a result, I lost a good servant and her life was ruined.’
‘There was no paternity summons.’
‘That’s irrelevant.’
‘It means that he was innocent.’
‘Don’t argue with me, man,’ said Culverhouse, testily. ‘Tell me what I came here to find out. Why is Colbeck paying any attention to a lecherous blacksmith when we’re all desperate to know what happened to my dear nephew?’
Fear on the Phantom Special Page 21