The Children of Silence (35 page)

‘Well,’ said Frances when the visitor had gone, ‘what can we make of that? On the 3rd of October the limping man did not have a bag. Mr Antrobus went to Bristol on the 8th with his bag and returned carrying it on the 13th. After that the limping man was seen with a new bag and a ring.’

‘If he was the man Mr Antrobus was with in Bristol, he must have killed him and taken his bag and ring,’ said Sarah.

‘Or he could have been Mr Antrobus all along,’ suggested Frances. ‘Supposing he wanted to disappear and rented the lodgings as a hiding place until he could get away? Then he went to Bristol as himself, met up with the limping man, killed him and then masqueraded as him to throw people off the scent?’

‘Hmm.’ Sarah looked dubious. ‘I can see why he would have kept the bag, as that didn’t have any initials on it, but what about the ring?’

‘Perhaps he couldn’t take it off. Mrs Antrobus said it had been getting very tight.’

‘If he couldn’t take it off himself then a thief wouldn’t have been able to take it off either, unless he cut it off.’ Sarah made a gesture like a pair of scissors. ‘Did the skeleton in Queens Road have all its finger bones?’

‘I’m not sure. There were small bones missing. It would be very unpleasant to steal a ring in that way, but I suppose a desperate man might have done it.’ Frances wondered what the world had come to when she and Sarah could sit and talk calmly about people’s fingers being cut off.

T
he vigilance of Tom Smith and the pawnbroker finally bore fruit several days later, and Tom arrived at Frances’ apartments in a state of breathless excitement. ‘We’ve got the woman who pawned the ring!’ he announced. ‘I was keeping my eye on things up Portobello Road an’ Dunnock was watching the pawnshop when Mr Taylorson come out and said somethin’ to a poor woman what was lookin’ in the window, and ’e must have offered her a good price for somethin’ because she went in very eager like, an’ then next moment, out come ’is assistant, runnin’ as ’ard as ’e could, like Old Scratch isself was arter ’im, to get a constable, only I c’n run quicker, an’ I arst ’im an ’e said it was the woman ’oo pawned the ring, so I tole Dunnock to watch the shop an’ foller the woman ’ome if she went out, and then I went and tole Mr Antrobus an’ I come straight ’ere.’

‘Well done!’ said Frances. ‘Is Dunnock a new man?’

‘’E is, an’ a good ’un. ‘Is father’s bin in prison lots so ’e really knows all the tricks.’

It was an unusual recommendation, but it clearly impressed Tom.

‘Where’s Sarah?’ Tom looked about him as she usually had some baked treat on hand.

‘She is teaching the ladies of Bayswater how to make their husbands more respectful.’ Sarah had thoughtfully arranged the ladies’ classes to take place during those hours when their menfolk were out and older children at school. Those with infants took it in turns to mind each other’s to allow busy mothers to benefit from classes too. Frances had not so far dared to attend the classes although she had several times taken Sarah’s advice and gone out for a brisk walk, which had been very beneficial.

‘There’ll be blood and guts before the day’s out then,’ said Tom with a grin. ‘You’ll be wantin’ to go up to the station? I got a cab waitin’ outside.’

Frances threw on a light wrap and a bonnet, and handed him a shilling.

She arrived at Paddington Green before the prisoner, and when she explained to the sergeant why she had come he sent a constable to go and fetch Inspector Sharrock. ‘I suppose there’s no point in my telling you to go home now you’ve carried the message?’

‘None at all.’

‘I’ve half a mind to put you in the cells,’ he grumbled.

‘On what pretext?’

‘I’ve a list of them if you want to see it. There’s women serving life done less than you get away with.’

Sharrock bustled in. ‘Oh, it’s you is it, setting the world to rights again, I see.’

‘Only Bayswater,’ said Frances with a smile. ‘Tell me, did you receive a visit from a Mrs Eves?’

‘I did indeed, about the limping man. I’m not so sure about her. We showed her the ring and she thinks it’s the same one, but who’s to know after all that time? There’s another old wife in Redan Place who swears there was a man with a limp and a bad case of toothache lodging with her, only there was no ring and no fancy bag, and he was dressed rough like a man down on his luck.’

‘Was this before Mrs Eves’ lodger arrived or after?’

‘Before.’

Frances thought of the transformation a change of costume could bring. ‘It could have been the same man.’

A carriage drew up outside and discharged Lionel Antrobus, a police constable, Mr Taylorson the pawnbroker and a sullen-looking woman.

‘Now this might prove interesting,’ said Sharrock, rubbing his hands together. ‘And before you even try it, Miss Doughty, this time I want to speak to our visitors myself without you poking your nose in.’

The woman was hurried protesting into the cells to consider her position while Sharrock beckoned Mr Taylorson into his room and shut the door.

There was a wooden bench and Frances sat on it. After a moment’s hesitation, Lionel Antrobus availed himself of it too.

There was a long silence. ‘I believe,’ he said at last, ‘that due to the present troubled circumstances I failed to adequately thank you for your assistance to my daughter-in-law.’

‘Really, no thanks are necessary,’ replied Frances. ‘I hope she is well?’

‘She is, and she adheres to your sound advice.’

‘I am happy to hear it.’

There was another long silence.

‘Are you intending to remain here to learn how the ring came to be in the pawnshop?’ he asked.

‘I shall not leave until I do. What is the name of the woman you brought here? Did she say anything?’

‘Mrs Unwin, and she said only that she had done nothing wrong. I assume that is usual under such circumstances.’

‘Almost invariably.’

‘She is a charwoman and goes to many houses to do her work. I imagine that she stole the ring.’ There was another brief silence. ‘Have you learned any more about the man seen at Bristol railway station with my brother? Are you quite sure he was not Mr Luckhurst?’

‘Yes, he has an alibi. There are two landladies who provided lodgings in Bayswater to a limping man at the time of your brother’s disappearance. The police are looking into it.’

‘So I have been informed. I was told he gave the name John Roberts. Probably false.’

Frances stole a glance at him and thought that behind the stony expression there was sadness and strain. He was not after all unfeeling, but his emotions were so securely locked away as to be unreachable. ‘One question I have been asking everyone concerns your brother’s state of mind and health at the time he disappeared. Mr Luckhurst told me the circumstances of Mr Charles Henderson’s death and I have read the report of the inquest. He said that your brother was greatly affected by it, and though it was many years ago that sorrow remained.’

‘I believe that to be true. Edwin never said it in so many words, but he felt a certain guilt about his uncle’s death. Perhaps he thought that with the right words at the right time he might have prevented it.’

‘Do you believe it was an accident?’

‘Yes. Carelessness with a gun. Surprising how many men suffering from headaches are careless with guns.’

The door of Inspector Sharrock’s office opened and he emerged, shaking hands with Mr Taylorson. Once the pawnbroker had departed Sharrock ordered a constable to fetch the charwoman from the cells. ‘You’ll be pleased to know that Mr Taylorson is in no doubt that the woman we have in custody is the one who pawned the ring.’

Lionel Antrobus rose. ‘The ring is part of my brother’s estate of which I have guardianship. If it has been stolen then it was stolen from me. I am prepared not to press charges against the prisoner if she will reveal where she obtained it.’

‘I shall bear that in mind,’ replied Sharrock. He paused. ‘You have nothing to say, Miss Doughty?’

‘Not at present.’

‘Then there really is a first time for everything.’ The woman was brought from the cells, a constable gripping her firmly by the arm. Sharrock waved them to the dingy side room where he preferred to interview some of the more malodorous prisoners, and hurried in after them.

It took him fifteen minutes to get the information he wanted. The woman was snivelling as she was taken back to the cells.

‘Well?’ demanded Antrobus. Sharrock beckoned them both into his office.

‘Here’s a pretty thing. Woman says she found it at one of the places where she cleans and carries coal. Strangely enough it’s a place Miss Doughty might have come across recently. The Bayswater School for the Deaf.’

Both Frances and Lionel Antrobus were suitably astonished.

‘Whereabouts in the school?’ asked Frances.

‘In the coal cellar. Now then Mr Antrobus, might I ask if your brother ever had occasion to visit the school?’

‘None at all, so far as I am aware.’

‘Perhaps Mr Antrobus went to the school for a meeting with Dr Goodwin?’

‘It is possible, I suppose. But even if he did, that doesn’t explain how his ring, the ring he was unable to remove from his finger, was in the cellar. Was there anything else suspicious found there?’

‘I’ve sent two constables to look into that. But the woman swears blind she saw nothing unusual during the four months she has been working there. No dead bodies, no skeletons, nothing.’

‘Skeletons!’ exclaimed Frances, suddenly.

The two men looked at her. ‘I have had an idea, but – oh dear! It must mean – of course! The Milan conference! It all started with that.’

‘Now I don’t pretend to understand what goes on in your head, Miss Doughty,’ sighed Sharrock, ‘all I know is it causes a lot of upset and work, and usually someone ends up in prison. They hanged one only last week, all down to you.’

‘Then we must mind our manners,’ said Antrobus. He rose. ‘I will leave you to your enquiries Inspector. Miss Doughty, if you are not too preoccupied in arranging another hanging I will see you safely home.’

‘I will go part of the way – I need to call at Pembridge Villas.’

‘There’s another poor criminal for it, I can tell,’ cried Sharrock. ‘Send him along here when you’re done.’

Antrobus frowned. ‘This is too dangerous a trade for a woman.’

The Inspector gave a short bark of a laugh. ‘Don’t argue with her, I’ve tried, it’s a fool’s game.’

‘Where is your servant? Can she not go with you?’ Antrobus suggested. ‘I’ll warrant she is the equal of any male.’

Frances smiled. ‘Sarah is my assistant and she is teaching classes in ladies’ calisthenics at Professor Pounder’s academy.’

Sharrock rolled his eyes. ‘Well that’s very peculiar, I must say. I wouldn’t let my wife do anything like that. She does normal, respectable things at this time of day, like taking the children to see her sister.’

Frances decided it was time to make a very quick departure. She was just out of the door when she heard Sharrock utter a loud roar.

‘Who are you going to see?’ demanded Antrobus, as if it was some business of his. He hailed a cab and they boarded it.

‘I mean to speak to Dr Goodwin on the subject of sign language for the deaf.’ She stared down at her hands, spreading the fingers out wide, then brought them together and curved her fingers in so the tips touched. She had seen Dr Collin make a gesture with the fingers of both hands over the picture of the canal remains. Looking down at her hands now she could see how they resembled a ribcage in miniature.

Her companion looked slightly alarmed, as if it was not Frances but Dr Goodwin who should be concerned about personal safety. ‘I will accompany you,’ he announced.

‘You will not,’ retorted Frances.

There was a brief argument until he saw that protest was useless, and she descended from the carriage alone.

Dr Goodwin was at home, and after a short wait Frances was conducted into his study. He looked weary, as if sleep had been eluding him for some time, but he made an effort to be both courteous and helpful. ‘How may I assist you, Miss Doughty?’ he asked.

‘It is a question of sign language. During our last conversation I described the sign which you said denoted a monkey or some sort of rascal, but I now think I did not perform it correctly and it was something quite different. Not only that but you knew it at the time; I could see it in your expression, you recognised it, and yet you said nothing.’

He heaved a deep breath. ‘This is all surmise. I have nothing to say.’

She pressed on relentlessly. ‘I have a reliable witness to a conversation that took place between your son and some pupils of the school. He was in a very agitated state and he made this sign to them.’ Frances placed her clawed fingers to her chest, the tips resting together on the breastbone, and drew her hands apart. ‘It means skeleton, doesn’t it? That conversation took place very soon after the skeleton was discovered in Queens Road. It is not too much of a surmise to conclude that that was the subject of the conversation. He swore them to silence – that much I am sure of, because you yourself told me what the sign meant – and they responded and agreed. And he did this,’ Frances made the signs for doctor and the letter G. ‘So you were somehow involved.’