Fear on the Phantom Special Page 10

  As soon as light began to fade noticeably, Geoffrey Hedley signalled to his team that it was time to call off the search for the day. There was a long walk back to Kendal and they didn’t wish to clamber over uneven terrain in the dark. Hedley fell in beside Caroline Treadgold, who was clearly struggling to keep pace with the others. He offered his arm to her.

  ‘Would you like some support?’ he asked.

  ‘I can manage, thank you.’

  ‘We’ve got some tricky inclines ahead of us, Caroline. On the way here, I saw you stumble on one of them.’

  ‘You should have been looking for signs of Alex,’ she scolded, ‘not watching me.’

  ‘I’m worried about you. If it were left to me, you’d be waiting at home until we came back. It’s not just the effort you’ve had to put in,’ he said, ‘it’s the possibility that we might find Alex in …’

  ‘I know what you’re going to say. He might be dead and even mutilated. I’ve prepared myself for that shock,’ she told him. ‘I’ve got stronger nerves than you might think, Geoffrey. I just want to feel that I’ve done what I can to find Alex, no matter how taxing it may be on my body.’

  ‘I admire your bravery.’

  As they walked on for a few minutes, Hedley was conscious that he was gradually slowing his pace to match hers. It was obvious that Caroline needed help but she was too proud to ask for it. He was disappointed, wanting the sheer pleasure of touching a woman for whom he harboured such affection. In the circumstances, it would be inappropriate to let his feelings show. All that interested Caroline was finding the man she’d loved. Hedley would need to allow a long time to elapse before he could begin to approach her. For the moment, he had to content himself with walking beside her.

  ‘What about Inspector Colbeck?’ she asked, breaking the silence. ‘Why aren’t he and the sergeant out here with us?’

  ‘They have their own methods of searching, Caroline.’

  ‘Do you trust them?’

  ‘Lord Culverhouse certainly does.’

  ‘I’m asking you.’

  ‘I trust them to do their very best,’ he said, ‘but I must admit that I am wavering slightly. There’s no doubting the inspector’s intelligence and record of success. This case, however, is unique. It means that he’s just flailing around. Well, that’s how it appears, anyway.’ He tried to sound more confident. ‘Colbeck has brought qualities to the search that the rest of us lack. My judgement may well be unfair on him. It’s possible that he will, after all, be able to justify his reputation.’

  The return journey was made at a more sedate pace. Since he knew the road well, Ainsley was not worried about the way that shadows were lengthening as light was being chased out of the sky. The sergeant was silent and somnolent. Colbeck had the feeling that his companion was sulking at the implied criticism of the way that he’d organised the search of Hither Wood. The visit there had been instructive and Colbeck was glad that they’d gone. Ainsley, on the other hand, seemed to be regretting the decision to take him there.

  It was when they reached the place where the fire had been lit on the railway line that the sergeant found his voice.

  ‘Do you need to stop here again?’ he asked.

  ‘I don’t think so.’

  ‘What did you discover earlier on?’

  ‘I discovered that I’m not quite as young as I used to be,’ confessed Colbeck with a grin. ‘There was a time when I could run like the wind.’

  ‘You looked fast enough to me.’

  ‘Yes, but I took longer to recover from the effort. That’s why I stayed further down the track. As I looked around, I was giving myself time to get my breath back.’

  ‘You didn’t tell me what your experiment was.’

  ‘No, I didn’t.’

  ‘Why was that?’

  ‘I hadn’t evaluated the result at that point.’

  ‘Have you done so now?’

  ‘I think so,’ said Colbeck. ‘I believe that the person who started that fire did so to entice Mr Piper. Everyone else on that train was consumed with fear, including the driver and the fireman. Put yourself in their position. They’re on a locomotive in the pitch-dark and they suddenly see a huge blaze ahead of them. It’s no wonder they brought the train to a halt.’

  ‘Hedley told me that Piper was enraged because he thought someone was trying to wreck the excursion.’

  ‘I think that he was provoked on purpose. Piper did exactly what I did earlier. He ran at top speed towards the fire and, when he got there, he was travelling at such velocity that he could have gone through the flames unharmed.’

  ‘And then what?’

  ‘He was completely vulnerable.’

  ‘I don’t follow, Inspector.’

  ‘Then you should have tried sprinting that distance yourself. You build up such momentum that it’s difficult to stop. I found that out, yet I was completely sober. Piper, however, was inebriated. A headlong dash over sixty yards,’ said Colbeck, ‘would have left him shaky and exhausted. He’d be no match for the person or persons waiting for him.’

  ‘You’ve forgotten something – Mr Hedley and others went after him.’

  ‘Yes, but they were far too slow. By the time they got to the other side of that blaze, Piper had been hustled into those trees. That’s why the spot was chosen. It offered almost instant escape for whoever was waiting for him.’

  ‘It’s an interesting theory,’ conceded Ainsley, ‘but I’m not entirely persuaded, and you haven’t answered the big question.’

  ‘What’s that?’

  ‘Is Piper alive or dead?’

  ‘When I find out,’ said Colbeck, ‘I’ll let you know.’

  A cab took Madeleine back home and she let herself into the house. Lydia was alone in the drawing room. She rose to her feet at once.

  ‘You were gone a long time, Madeleine.’

  ‘There was a lot to search.’

  ‘I should have come with you. Two pairs of eyes are better than one.’

  ‘You wouldn’t have known where to look. What took the time was putting things back in their rightful places. Living on his own, Father has become very careless.’

  ‘I thought that a cleaner came in regularly?’

  ‘Yes, that’s Mrs Garrity. I spoke to her before I even went into the house. She confirmed what I feared. Father is becoming absent-minded. He’s losing things all the time because he can’t remember where he put them.’

  ‘Oh dear!’

  ‘We suggested that he move in with us, but he’s wedded to the idea of independence. Also, he’s afraid that he’d be a burden if he came here. That’s just not true.’

  ‘He could spend more time with Helen. He obviously dotes on her, and she, in turn, clearly loves her grandfather. I’ve heard her chortling ever since he went up to see her and he’s been laughing merrily.’

  ‘He won’t laugh when I tell him that I couldn’t find his medal,’ said Madeleine. ‘It’s nowhere in the house.’

  ‘That’s going to distress him.’

  Hearing footsteps in the hall, they turned to the door. It opened to reveal Andrews with a look of hope in his eyes.

  ‘I thought I heard the front door open,’ he said. ‘Why didn’t you come straight up to see me, Maddy? You know how desperate I was for news.’

  ‘The tidings are not good, I’m afraid.’

  His face fell. ‘It’s not there?’

  ‘Robert couldn’t have searched the house any more thoroughly. I even climbed up into the attic and that was an achievement in this dress.’

  ‘Someone stole it,’ he said, vengefully.

  ‘We don’t know that, Father.’

  ‘How else could it leave the house?’

  ‘Perhaps you inadvertently took it out yourself, Mr Andrews,’ said Lydia. ‘You may have wanted to show it to friends, perhaps, or even taken it to be valued.’

  ‘I’d have remembered.’

  ‘Would you?’ asked Madeleine. ‘Mrs Garrity said that you g
et very confused at times.’

  ‘She had no right to criticise me,’ he said, angrily.

  ‘She was simply being honest.’

  ‘So it’s my fault now, is it? I’m a stupid, forgetful, scatterbrained old man who can’t be trusted on his own. What else did Mrs Garrity tell you? Did she think I was in danger of walking out of the house one day without any trousers on?’ The two women laughed. ‘It’s no joke,’ he cried. ‘I’ve lost something that reminds me of my long service on the railway. It’s my badge of honour and I want it back.’

  ‘Of course,’ said Madeleine, guiding him to the sofa with an arm around his shoulders. ‘And we will ask Alan Hinton to look into it. In fact,’ she continued, turning to Lydia, ‘that might be something you could do. You know where Alan lives.’

  ‘I’ll send him a note this very evening.’

  ‘Thank you,’ said Andrews. ‘I’m glad that someone believes me at last. We’re dealing with a serious crime.’

  The more he got to know Kendal, the more Leeming came to like the town. It compared favourably with London. The air was cleaner, the people were friendlier and there was none of the foul stink of the capital. The town had its share of factories and workshops, but the industrial clamour was almost negligible when set against London’s continuous uproar. In his opinion, Kendal was a far healthier place to bring up his children, though they might struggle to understand some of the richer local accents. On balance, his sons might be better off where they were. With all its faults, London was, in Leeming’s opinion, still the greatest city in the world.

  As soon as he’d seen it, he’d liked the look of the King’s Arms and was disappointed they were not staying there. Having an excuse to visit it, he quickly took advantage of it. A barmaid was cleaning the tables when he entered. Leeming asked for the landlord and she scuttled off to find him. Hugh Penrose soon appeared though it was difficult to see him at first. The landlord was of such diminutive stature that he stood less than a foot above the bar counter. Stepping onto a wooden box, he was suddenly closer to Leeming’s height. Penrose had an unusually deep and melodious voice.

  ‘I’m Hugh Penrose,’ he said, hand on his chest. ‘You wish to speak to me, sir?’

  ‘Yes,’ replied the other. ‘I’m Victor Leeming, a detective from Scotland Yard sent to investigate the strange event at Hallowe’en.’

  ‘I know who you are, Sergeant. You and the inspector are staying at the Riverside Hotel. You’d be far better off here. We offer the best food in Kendal.’

  ‘I’ll take your word for it, sir. I’m really here to ask you about a group of poets who meet occasionally in a private room.’

  ‘They’re an odd collection, I must say, but business is business and they’re always well behaved. The group is run by a man named Norman Tiller.’

  ‘It’s because of him that I’m here.’

  ‘Oh, I see.’

  ‘He told me that there was a spot of trouble here at their last meeting. Somebody forced his way in.’

  ‘That would be Mr Piper, the gentleman who’s missing.’

  ‘Were you on duty that evening?’

  ‘There’s rarely a time when I’m not on duty, Sergeant. It’s the curse of the hotel trade. There’s never any time to rest.’

  ‘It’s the same in the police force. Holidays are something that other people have. Let’s go back to Mr Tiller. He seems such a nice, quiet sort of man.’

  ‘He’s the salt of the earth.’

  ‘What about Mr Piper?’

  ‘He’s different,’ said Penrose, glancing round to make sure that he wasn’t overheard. ‘He was a born troublemaker, the kind of man who can’t hold his drink and who has this urge to cause trouble for the sheer sake of it.’

  ‘That’s what he did when the poets were last here.’

  ‘He did. It was very upsetting. The problem is that you can’t just throw someone like Alex Piper out on his ear. He has connections. You have to handle him delicately.’

  ‘What exactly happened that night, Mr Penrose?’

  The landlord stepped off his box and all but disappeared.

  ‘You’d better come into the back room, Sergeant.’

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  Colbeck arrived back at the police station with Sergeant Ainsley to find Geoffrey Hedley there. He’d come to deliver his report on the day’s search. Both men listened to it with interest, though neither was surprised that no clues had been found as to the whereabouts of the missing man. Ainsley took notes throughout and thanked Hedley for his diligence. When it was Colbeck’s turn to question him, he suggested that the pair of them adjourned to the Riverside Hotel. Wearied from hours of trudging the hills, Hedley was only too glad to agree.

  They sat either side of a table in the lounge. After giving him time to relax, Colbeck started to gather information from the lawyer.

  ‘You told us that Miss Treadgold joined you today.’

  ‘That’s true, Inspector.’

  ‘Were you expecting her to do so?’

  ‘Not at all,’ replied Hedley. ‘Caroline … Miss Treadgold, that is, has no love of traipsing around the countryside. She’s a lady who values the comforts of life.’

  ‘What made her sacrifice them today?’

  ‘She was anxious to help.’

  ‘That was testimony to the affection she felt for Mr Piper, I believe,’ said Colbeck.

  ‘It was, indeed.’

  ‘I’m hoping to see the lady myself very shortly but, before I do that, there’s something that troubles me. Why did you tell Sergeant Leeming that Miss Treadgold might be considered as a possible suspect in whatever scheme was devised to capture – or even kill – Mr Piper? Was it a serious suggestion?’

  ‘No – I don’t believe she was involved in any way.’

  ‘Then why did you mislead my colleague?’

  ‘I didn’t do that,’ said Hedley. ‘I simply felt that I should put her name forward before anyone else did. Miss Treadgold is very beautiful, and she arouses intense envy in some quarters. It’s only a matter of time before someone points an accusing finger at her.’

  ‘On what grounds would they do that?’

  ‘Her relationship with Alex was not the private matter it should have been. He couldn’t resist waving her like a flag he’d captured from the enemy. Many people – I was one of them – felt that it might well end in marriage one day.’

  ‘Why didn’t it?’

  ‘He met Melissa Haslam and fell in love.’

  ‘Did he think her more acceptable to his parents?’

  ‘That never entered his head. He simply believed that she was the right person for him. Lord Culverhouse agreed. Miss Treadgold was rather cruelly dismissed. Everyone knew that she wouldn’t surrender him without going into battle.’

  ‘These military metaphors are very colourful,’ said Colbeck, ‘but they hardly represent reality. I’ve met Miss Haslam and a less combative creature would be hard to find. She wouldn’t take up arms against anyone.’

  ‘Caroline Treadgold would,’ said Hedley. ‘I admire her forthrightness, but others would probably interpret it as a form of aggression. They see her as a jilted lover with an axe to grind. There’ll be loud whispers about her determination to get even with Alex.’

  ‘Thanks to your advice, I’ll ignore them.’

  ‘You must make your own estimation of her.’

  ‘Oh, I intend to, Mr Hedley. But I was curious to know why she crept into your list of suspects. Dr Dymock, Mr Tiller and Mr Vine sound as if they’re more likely culprits.’

  ‘Each of them fell out with Alex.’

  ‘With respect to your friend,’ said Colbeck, raising an eyebrow, ‘he seems to have fallen out with half the town. I can see why he never considered a career as a diplomat.’

  ‘His father wanted him to take holy orders,’ said Hedley with a wry smile. ‘The last thing the church needed was a renegade priest.’

  ‘Thank you for your honesty, sir. It’s refreshing. As for
the three men you named, I await Sergeant Leeming’s report on them. I, as you will imagine, have not been idle. I spent much of the afternoon in the company of Sergeant Ainsley.’

  He went on to give Hedley an edited version of what had happened at the two places where he and the sergeant had stopped. Colbeck said that he felt much more able to tackle the case now that he had a clearer idea of its geography. He ended with a question for his listener.

  ‘When we reached that clearing in Hither Wood,’ he said, ‘there were the remains of a recent fire in the middle of it. That surprised me. In the wake of the events at Hallowe’en, I thought everyone would be too fearful to go anywhere near the place, let alone light a fire there.’

  ‘It was something that we’d planned to do ourselves,’ explained Hedley. ‘I laid that fire on the eve of the excursion on the Phantom Special. I thought it would be something to crouch around on a cold night and that we’d have a degree of light from it. But I’m amazed that someone actually lit the fire,’ he added. ‘Nobody had any reason to go into Hither Wood.’

  ‘One thought occurred to me.’

  ‘What was that?’

  ‘Guy Fawkes Night is almost upon us. Bonfires will be lit everywhere to mark the death of an attempt at regicide. Could something similar have happened in the wood?’ asked Colbeck, keen to see his reaction. ‘Was that fire also in honour of an execution?’

  Having dismissed her father’s fears as a product of increasing forgetfulness on his part, Madeleine had come to share them. The medal must have been stolen. She immediately absolved Mrs Garrity of any blame. The cleaner was honest, hard-working and very reliable. An intruder must somehow have got into the house and she could therefore understand her father’s disquiet.

  ‘I’m sorry, Maddy,’ he said. ‘When I was a younger man, I’d have taken on any burglars. I was as hard as iron in those days. But I have to be more careful now.’

  ‘Yes, of course.’

  ‘I just hate the feeling that the house has been watched.’

  ‘It’s being watched now,’ she said. ‘While I was there, I took the trouble to speak to Mr and Mrs Kingston because they live directly opposite. Now that Mr Kingston is on crutches, he rarely goes out. His wife told me that he spends most of the day sitting by the window. I asked him to keep a special eye on your house.’