The Railway Viaduct Read online

  ‘Excuse me, Inspector,’ he said. ‘May I have a word, please?’

  ‘Of course,’ replied Colbeck.

  ‘There’s someone at the police station who refuses to speak to anyone but you. He saw your name in the newspaper this morning and says that he has important information for the person in charge of the investigation.’ Praine rolled his eyes. ‘Inspector Heyford was most upset that the fellow would not talk to him.’

  ‘Did this man say nothing at all?’

  ‘Only that you’d got it wrong, sir.’

  ‘Wrong?’

  ‘Your description of the murder victim.’

  ‘Then I look forward to being corrected,’ said Colbeck, eagerly. ‘Any new facts that can be gleaned are most welcome.’

  Praine led the way to a waiting cab and the two of them were soon carried along bumpy streets that were positively swarming with horse-drawn traffic and handcarts. When they reached the police station, the first person they met was an aggrieved Sidney Heyford.

  ‘This is my police station in my town,’ he complained, ‘and the wretched man spurns me.’

  ‘Did he give you his name?’ asked Colbeck.

  ‘Ambrose Hooper. He’s an artist.’

  Heyford pronounced the word with utter contempt as if it were a heinous crime that had not yet come within the purview of the statute book. In his codex, artists were shameless outcasts, parasites who lived off others and who should, at the very least, be transported to a penal colony to reflect on their sinful existence. Heyford jerked his thumb towards his office.

  ‘He’s in there, Inspector.’

  ‘Thank you,’ said Colbeck.

  Removing his hat, he opened the door and went into the office. A dishevelled Ambrose Hooper rose from his chair to greet him.

  ‘Are you the detective from London?’

  ‘Yes, Mr Hooper. I am Inspector Colbeck.’

  ‘I thought you didn’t come from around here,’ said Hooper, looking him up and down. ‘Liverpool is a philistine place. It has no real appreciation of art and architecture. It idolises conformity. Those of us who cut a dash with our clothing or our way of life could never fit easily into Liverpool. I hate towns of any kind myself. I choose to live in the country and breathe in free air.’

  Ambrose Hooper was wearing his crumpled white jacket over a flowery waistcoat and a pair of baggy blue trousers. A fading blue cravat was at his neck. His straw hat lay on the table beside a dog-eared portfolio. Some paint had lodged in his beard. Wisps of grey hair stood up mutinously all over his head. Colbeck could see that he was a man of independent mind.

  ‘I’m told that you believe I am wrong,’ said Colbeck.

  ‘I don’t believe it, sir – I know it.’

  ‘How?’

  ‘I was there, Inspector.’

  ‘At the Sankey Viaduct?’

  ‘Yes, I saw exactly what happened.’

  ‘Then why didn’t you give a statement to the police?’

  ‘Because that would have meant waiting an age until they arrived on the scene,’ explained Hooper. ‘Besides, there was nothing that I could do. The body was hauled aboard that barge. I felt that it was important to record the event while it was still fresh in my mind.’

  Colbeck was delighted. ‘You mean that you went home and wrote down an account of all that you’d seen?’

  ‘I’m no wordsmith, sir. Language has such severe limitations. Art, on the other hand, does not. It has an immediacy that no author could match.’ He picked up the portfolio. ‘Do you want to know what I saw at the Sankey Viaduct yesterday?’

  ‘Very much so, Mr Hooper.’

  ‘Then behold, my friend.’

  Untying the ribbon, the artist opened the cover of the portfolio with a flourish to reveal his work. Colbeck was flabbergasted. An unexpected bounty had just fallen into his lap. What he was looking at was nothing less than a detailed photograph of what had actually happened. Having read the statements from the three witnesses on the barge, Colbeck had built up a clear picture of the situation in his mind’s eye. Hooper’s work enlarged and enlivened that mental image.

  ‘A perfect marriage of artistic merit and factual accuracy,’ said Hooper, proudly. ‘This is merely a rough version, of course, hastily finished so that I could offer it as evidence. I’ll use this as the basis for a much larger and more dramatic painting.’

  ‘It could hardly be more dramatic,’ opined Colbeck, scrutinising the work. ‘You are a man of talent, sir. I congratulate you.’

  ‘Thank you, Inspector.’ He pointed to the three small figures in the foreground. ‘I moved the ladies slightly but this is more or less the position they were in. Not that they stayed there for long, mark you. When that poor man suddenly dived over the parapet, Aunt Petronella jumped back as if she’d seen a ghost.’

  Colbeck was surprised. ‘She was your aunt?’

  ‘Not mine – the boy’s. At least, that’s what I assumed. They were complete strangers to me but I always like to give people names if I include them in a painting. It lends a sense of familiarity.’ He indicated each one in turn. ‘This is Hester Lewthwaite – this is her son, Anthony – and here is his maiden aunt, Petronella Snark.’ He gave a sly chuckle. ‘I suppose that if you’ve preserved your virginity as long as she had, the sight of a man descending on you from a great height would be quite terrifying.’

  Colbeck could not believe his good fortune. Ambrose Hooper had provided the best and most comprehensive piece of evidence he had ever received from a member of the public. It answered so many important questions and saved him so much time. He was pleased to note that Micah Triggs had been so observant. The victim did appear to have been thrown from the last carriage. He remembered his own description of the victim.

  ‘Ah,’ said Colbeck, jabbing a finger at the man in the centre of the painting. ‘This is where I got it wrong. He’s wearing a jacket.’

  ‘And a pair of shoes,’ added Hooper.

  ‘Are you absolutely sure that was the case?’

  ‘That’s the kind of detail an artist doesn’t miss. The shoes were gleaming. They caught the sun as he plummeted down. They’re only minute in the painting, of course, but, if you look closely, you’ll see that the shoes are definitely there.’

  ‘They are indeed.’

  ‘I’m a stickler for precision.’

  ‘This is remarkable, Mr Hooper,’ said Colbeck, shaking him warmly by the hand. ‘I can’t thank you enough.’

  ‘We also serve who only stand and paint.’

  ‘You’ve made our job so much easier. What a blessing that you happened to be in the right place at the right time!’

  ‘I have a habit of doing that, Inspector. At first, I used to put it down to coincidence but I’ve come round to the view that I’m an agent of divine purpose. God wanted me to bear witness. I daresay it was also true of Aunt Petronella but she was unequal to the challenge.’ He looked at the tiny figure of the murder victim. ‘What I’d like to know is how he brought off that wonderful conjuring trick.’

  ‘Conjuring trick?’

  ‘Yes,’ said Hooper. ‘When he left the train, he was wearing a jacket and a pair of shoes. How did he get rid of them by the time that the police arrived on the scene?’

  ‘There’s no mystery there,’ said Colbeck with a wry smile.

  ‘No?’

  ‘He clearly had some assistance.’

  Victor Leeming talked to every member of staff he could find at the station. By the time he finished, he felt that he had spoken to half the population of Manchester and all to no avail. Ticket clerks, porters, the stationmaster, his assistants, the engine driver, the fireman, even those who sold newspapers at Victoria Station were asked if they had seen anyone suspicious around the same time on the previous day. In effect, they had all given him the same answer – that it was difficult to pick out any one person from the sea of faces that passed in front of them. Least helpful of all had been the guard in charge of the train on which the murder had occur
red. His name was Cyril Dear, a short, skinny, animated individual in his fifties who was highly offended even to be approached by the detective. As he talked to him, his hands were gesticulating madly as if he were trying without success to juggle seven invisible balls in the air.

  ‘I saw nobody getting into the last carriage, Sergeant,’ he said. ‘I’ve got better things to do than to take note of where every passenger sits. Do you know what being a guard means?’

  ‘Yes,’ said Leeming. ‘It means that you have responsibilities.’

  ‘Many responsibilities.’

  ‘One of which is to ensure the safety of your passengers.’

  ‘And that’s what I do, Sergeant.’

  ‘It must entail being especially vigilant.’

  ‘I am especially vigilant,’ retorted Dear, hands now juggling five additional balls. ‘I defy any man to say that I’m not. I see things that most people would never notice in a hundred years.’

  ‘Yet you are still quite unable to tell me who occupied the last carriage yesterday morning. Think back, sir,’ encouraged Leeming, stifling a monstrous yawn. ‘When the train was filling up, what did you observe?’

  ‘What I observe every day – paying passengers.’

  ‘Did none of them stand out?’

  ‘Not that I recall.’

  ‘This is very serious,’ said Leeming, as people surged past him to walk down the platform. ‘A man who travelled on this same train only twenty-four hours ago was murdered in cold blood then flung over the Sankey Viaduct.’

  ‘I know that.’

  ‘We simply must catch his killer.’

  ‘Well, don’t look at me, Sergeant,’ said Dear, as if he had just been accused of the crime. ‘I have an unblemished record of service on this line. I worked on it when it was the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, all of twenty-two years ago. Cyril Dear’s name is a byword for loyalty. Speak to anyone. They’ll tell you.’

  Leeming groaned inwardly ‘I have no wish to talk to another human being in Manchester,’ he said, ruefully. ‘My throat is sore enough already. Very well, Mr Dear. You are obviously unable to help me at the moment. But if you should happen to remember anything of interest about yesterday’s journey – anything at all – please let me know when we reach Liverpool.’

  ‘Climb aboard, sir. We leave in two minutes.’

  ‘Good.’

  Leeming had turned to get into the last carriage, only to find, to his dismay, that it was already full. Men and women had taken every available seat. With a sinking feeling, he realised why. Manchester newspapers had carried full details of the murder as well. Ghoulish curiosity had dictated where some of the passengers sat. They wanted to be in the very carriage where it was believed the crime had been committed. As it passed over the Sankey Viaduct, they would no doubt all rush to the appropriate window in a body to look out over the parapet. He found it a depressing insight into human nature.

  Colbeck had instructed him to travel in the last carriage. Since he could not obey the order, he decided to solve another problem that had vexed them. He swung round to face Cyril Dear again and asserted his authority.

  ‘I’ll travel in the guard’s van with you,’ he declared.

  Dear was outraged. ‘It’s against the rules.’

  ‘Is it?’

  ‘I could never allow it, sir.’

  ‘But you’re not allowing it, Mr Dear. I’m forcing myself upon you.’ He summoned up his most disarming smile. ‘When we reach Liverpool, you’ll have the pleasure of reporting me, won’t you?’

  When he was angry, the freckles on Inspector Heyford’s face stood out more than ever. As he stared at the painting, they seemed to glow with a rich intensity. He turned to confront Ambrose Hooper.

  ‘Concealing evidence is a crime,’ he warned.

  ‘But I haven’t concealed it,’ argued the artist. ‘I’ve brought it to you. There it lies, for all to see.’

  ‘A day late.’

  ‘I can see that you are no painter, Inspector Heyford.’

  ‘I prefer to do an honest job sir.’

  ‘Art cannot be rushed. I had to finish the watercolour before I presented it to the public. I have my reputation to consider.’

  ‘It remains intact,’ Colbeck assured him.

  ‘There is still the question of delay,’ insisted Heyford. ‘You were a witness, Mr Hooper. Yet you sneaked away from the scene of the crime. Action should be taken against you.’

  ‘Then it should also be taken against Mrs Lewthwaite, her son and her unmarried sister, Miss Petronella Snark. They had just as good a view of the whole thing as me.’

  Heyford gaped. ‘Who on earth are these people?’

  ‘I’ll explain later, Inspector,’ said Colbeck. ‘The fact of the matter is that Mr Hooper has shown us crucial evidence that may help us to identify the dead man.’

  ‘How?’

  ‘He had an expensive tailor. I could see that from his trousers. In all likelihood, the name of that tailor will be sewn inside his jacket.’

  ‘But we do not have his jacket, Inspector Colbeck.’

  ‘We will do in due course. As for Mr Hooper, the only action that should be taken is to commend his skill as an artist and to thank him for his assistance.’ He closed the portfolio. ‘It’s been invaluable, sir.’

  ‘It’s the least I could do for the victim,’ said Hooper, tying up the ribbon. ‘His loss was, after all, my gain. Like any true artist, I paint out of a compulsion but there is, alas, a commercial aspect to my work as well. As a result of the publicity surrounding this crime, my painting will fetch a much higher price.’

  Heyford was scandalised. ‘It should not be allowed.’

  ‘It should,’ said Colbeck. ‘You deserve every penny, sir.’

  Since they were in Heyford’s office, Colbeck felt an obligation to let him see the painting even though the inspector did not appreciate either its quality or its significance. When the artist had left, Colbeck tried to mollify Heyford by praising the way that he had deployed his men at the railway station. The freckles slowly lost their glint though they did flare up again when Colbeck told him how Petronella Snark and her companions had come by their names.

  ‘And what’s all this about the jacket?’ asked Heyford.

  ‘I’ll reclaim it from the person who stole it.’

  ‘And who might that be?’

  ‘A member of the Triggs family, of course,’ said Colbeck. ‘Before you got there, he also relieved the corpse of its shoes. Now that really is a case of withholding evidence.’

  There was a tap on the door. In response to Heyford’s invitation, it opened to admit Victor Leeming, drooping with fatigue. He removed his hat to wipe perspiration from his brow with the back of his hand.

  ‘What did you find out, Victor?’ asked Colbeck.

  ‘That I never wish to travel by train ever again, sir,’ replied Leeming, rubbing his back. ‘The journey back to Liverpool rattled every bone in my body.’

  ‘Did you discover any witnesses in Manchester?’

  ‘Nobody saw a thing.’

  ‘Not even the guard?’

  ‘No, Inspector. When the train is in motion, he always sits on the other side of the van so he saw the wrong side of the viaduct as the train passed over it yesterday. I made the fatal mistake of sharing the guard’s van with him,’ he went on, massaging a sore elbow. ‘It’s no better than a cattle truck.’

  ‘Did he remember anything about yesterday’s journey?’ said Heyford. ‘What about the occupants of that last carriage?’

  ‘They could have been a tribe of man-eating pygmies, for all that he cared. The guard’s only concern was that the train was on time.’ Undoing his coat, he flopped into a chair. ‘Do you mind if I sit down for a while? I’m aching all over.’

  ‘I’m sorry, Victor,’ said Colbeck. ‘I need you to come with me.’

  ‘Where?’

  ‘To retrieve some stolen property. While you were away, we had an interesting development i
n the case.’ He eased the sergeant to his feet. ‘Come on – I’ll tell you about it on the way.’

  Leeming blenched. ‘Not another train journey?’

  ‘Two of them, I’m afraid.’

  The Red Rose was moored in the canal basin. Micah Triggs sat on the bulwark of his barge and puffed contentedly on his pipe. Well into his seventies, he had a weather-beaten face and a shrunken body but he remained unduly spry for his age. Curled up in his lap, basking in the afternoon sunshine, was a mangy black cat. When he saw three figures walking towards him along the towpath, Micah stood up suddenly and catapulted the animal on to the deck. With a squeal of protest, the cat took refuge beneath the sail.

  ‘Mr Triggs?’ asked Colbeck as they got near. ‘Mr Micah Triggs?’

  ‘The same,’ grunted the old man.

  Colbeck introduced himself and his companions, Victor Leeming and Walter Praine. He explained that he was leading the investigation into the murder and thanked Micah for the witness statement that he had given.

  ‘If you work on a barge,’ said Micah, shifting his pipe to the other side of his mouth, ‘you fish all sorts of odd things out of the canal but this is the first time we found the dead body of a man.’

  ‘Your son and grandson were with you, I believe.’

  ‘Yes, Inspector – Enoch and Sam.’

  ‘How tall would your son be?’

  ‘That’s a strange question. Why do you ask it?’

  ‘Curiosity, Mr Triggs. Would he be around your height?’

  ‘No,’ replied Micah. ‘Enoch is a good foot taller than me and twice as broad. Sam is shorter and has more of my build.’

  ‘Then it’s your grandson we need to speak to, sir,’ said Colbeck, glancing around. ‘Where might we find him?’

  ‘What business do you have with Sam?’

  ‘We just want to clarify something in his statement.’

  Micah was suspicious. ‘It takes three of you to do that?’

  ‘I think I know where he might be, Inspector,’ said Constable Praine, sensing that they would get little help from the old man. ‘Most of the bargees spend their spare time in the Traveller’s Rest.’ He pointed to the inn further along the towpath. ‘My guess is that he and his father will be in there.’