The Color of Death (7 page)

“What will you then, Jeremy?”

“I’ve two matters to discuss, sir. First of all, I would think it wise if you were to dictate a letter to Mr. Saunders Welch, asking him to take all your cases until such time as you are able to resume your duties. He has no doubt heard of last night’s event.”

“No doubt,” said Sir John in a manner somewhat abstracted.

“If we are to persuade him to take over today, we should probably get the letter to him immediately. I could take it in dictation right here, sir.”

Oddly, he said nothing, simply sat.

“Uh … I don’t see how he could refuse, sir.”

Again, nothing for a moment. Then: “That is not the question, lad. It seems to me that whoever it was shot me is not absolutely certain if I am alive or dead. I think it of the utmost importance that I present myself in the Bow Street Court as usual today to prove that I am alive.”

“But might he not try again?”

“To shoot me? Oh, there is a chance, I suppose. But I think that highly unlikely. There is but the one street exit, and there will be armed men about.”

“Mr. Fuller?”

“Mr. Marsden, too. I’ll see to it he wears a brace of pistols — perhaps you, too, eh? Above all, Jeremy, it is important to demonstrate that wounding a magistrate will in no wise stop or even interrupt the dispensation of justice at Bow Street.”

“As you will then, Sir John.”

“And I will that there be no letter to Mr. Saunders Welch. Now what was the other matter you wished to talk about?”

“About last night’s investigation,” said I.

“Well, what about it?”

“You wished to talk to him who reported the robbery and murder to Mr. Baker.”

“Yes, and I was more than a little disappointed that our Constable Patley could not present him to us for interrogation. In fact, he could not even supply the fellow’s name.”

“He must have gotten it from the butler there at the Lilley residence then, for he provided it in the written report he left with Mr. Marsden.”

“Indeed? And what was the name?”

“Waters — or possibly Walters, something like that. It was a little difficult making it out.”

“This fellow, Patley, writes a poor hand I assume?”

“You might say so, yes sir, but would you like me to interrogate Waters, or Walters, or whatever his name be?”

Sir John gave that some thought. “I would,” said he. “Indeed I would. To be truthful, Jeremy, if I am to sit the court each day, as I intend to do, I’m quite sure it will take all the energy that I can muster. If we are to continue the investigation — as we must — then I fear the conduct of it falls upon you. I leave it in your hands. You may come to me for advice — consultation, if you will. In fact, I rather hope you will, but you will have to do the actual labor of interrogation, fact-gathering, and such.”

I knew not quite what to say, so overcome was I by the evidence of trust shown in this generous act — yet I felt that I must say something. “I shall try my utmost to …” I fumbled, “to justify the faith you put in me.”

“Well, that much is understood.”

“Thank you, Sir John.”

“See if you can still thank me when you’ve done with it. But off with you, Jeremy. Go down to the Lilley residence and put the fear of God into them. Talk to whomever you must need talk to. Don’t be shy. Be rude, if you must, but don’t be shy.”

To my surprise, my knock at the door of the Lilley residence was answered not by the butler, Mr. Collier, but rather by the porter, Mr. Burley, who had told us a good deal about the murdered man. Far more surprising was the attitude he showed toward me. I was greeted by a frown. When I attempted to speak, he shook his head severely and made to shut the door in my face. That, I would not allow.

“Take your foot out of the door,” said he.

“You remember me, don’t you?”

“I do. You was here last night with the blind magistrate from Bow Street who was asking all the questions.”

“Right you are,” said I. “And as you may or may not know, that blind magistrate from Bow Street was shot, just down the street from here. He has appointed me to continue the investigation in his stead. I’ve been granted full powers.”

“You’re talking pretty powerful for one so young. How old are you?”

“That matters not one jot,” I declared quite snappishly. “Whatever he had the power to do, I now can do.” (Perhaps I was a bit carried away by my new authority.) “I can bring a swarm of constables here this very night to force answers for my questions. How would you like that?”

“A sight more than I would having a swarm of soldiers underfoot.”

That I did not understand. “What do you mean?”

He sighed and grudgingly opened the door just wide enough for me to slip through. “Come into the hall here,” said he. “I’ll explain the situation to you.”

As I stepped inside, he closed the door carefully and noiselessly behind me. Then did he speak in a tone hardly louder than a whisper.

“When Lord Lilley come home last night, he went room to room counting his losses. You can tell when he gets angriest ‘cause that’s when he gets quietest. And when he’d finished his tour of the house, he and the Lady went right upstairs. He’s a very cold man, he is.

“Today, early this morning, he gathers us all together and announces who all gets sacked and who stays.”

“But Sir John left a request that none of the staff be discharged until he — ”

“I know. I heard about that. But there’s Lord Lilley’s answer to your chief. As for the rest of us — the ones he’s not throwing out in the cold — he told us under no circumstances was we to talk to Sir John or his constables, or help in the investigation. So you can see I’m taking a great chance here just talking to you.”

“But that’s nonsense. How are we to — ”

“True, true, I know. The master’s gone off to the Tower to demand soldiers to patrol St. James Street. He says Bow Street can’t deal with the crime no more.”

“But … but that’s not true. I mean, Sir John — that is … Is there any chance that Lord Lilley will have his way?”

“I don’t know, p’rhaps. He’s a duke, ain’t he?”

“But I have special need to talk to one of the household staff who was evidently absent during our visit last evening — a William Waters.”

The porter looked at me blankly. “There’s no one of such a name here,” said he.

“Well, then, perhaps it would be William Walters.”

“No, sorry.”

“William Walker?”

He shook his head in the negative rather solemnly.

“Is there no one by a name even remotely like it?”

“No, lad, there’s no William at all. And as for family names with a ‘W,’ we’ve got only a Wiggins, but first name’s Elizabeth. She’s the cook.”

I stood there quite dumbfounded, rendered mute by my frustration. It seemed to me that I should have this confirmed by the butler. He was, after all, the chief of the household staff. “Could I speak with Mr. Collier?”

“No, ‘fraid not. He’s been sacked. That’s why I’m tending the door. I s’pose I will be till they hire a proper butler.”

“AndPinkham?”

“Sacked.”

“Anyone else?”

“Piper and Albertson — kitchen slaveys.”

“What was their offense? I mean, the last two.”

“They complained about the sacking of the first two — and Lord Lilley overheard. But now you must go, young man, for I’ve no wish to follow them out into the street.”

“I understand. And I have but one more question; it is this: Who was it carried the news of the robbery to Bow Street?”

Burley thought a moment upon it. “I’m not rightly sure anyone did,” said he. “But you’d have to ask Mr. Collier about that to be sure of it.”

I stood, arms folded, a scowl upon my face and a pistol at either side. I was placed prominently before the public entry to the Bow Street Court, inside the courtroom itself. The usual crowd of spectators paid little heed to me and to the similarly well-armed Mr. Fuller at the other door; Sir John and Mr. Marsden paid none at all. The business of the court was carried on as usual.

I had been armed and assigned my place by Mr. Marsden upon my return to Bow Street from the Lilley residence. He, the court clerk, sat beside the magistrate, a large, old cavalry pistol prominently displayed on the table before him. This show of arms was, of course, meant to discourage any further attempt upon Sir John’s life. I, for one, doubted there would be any such attack in a place so public. There was, after all, not a single black face among the many in the courtroom, and I knew quite well that his assailant of the night before had been an African.

In any case, Sir John’s session had gone routinely well that day. No shots were fired, and there were no disturbances of any sort. For his part, the magistrate sent a pickpocket off to a term of sixty days in prison; fined two brawlers for disturbing the peace in Bedford Street; and settled commercial disagreements between two Covent Garden greengrocers and their customer. An average day it was, perhaps a bit lighter than some. Even so, by the time Sir John had heard the last case, he was visibly exhausted. I saw him rise from his place, then did I notice that his left arm, bent at the elbow, was suspended in a narrow cloth sling. I turned away, giving my attention to the last of the spectators as they filed past me and out the door. When next I turned my attention back to him, I was shocked to see him collapsing to the floor before my very eyes. Fortunately Mr. Marsden was close by, and reaching out to him, he managed at least to ease his passage down. I hastened to them, hoping that I might be of some help.

“Mr. Marsden,” I called out before I had quite arrived, “what is wrong?”

“What indeed!” he wailed. “I could do naught to prevent his fall.”

Sir John, I saw, had slipped to a sitting position there on the floor and was fully conscious. “There is nothing wrong with me but a brief bout of lightheadedness. Why, it could happen to anyone.” Grousing and grumbling he was as one might, having slipped upon the stairs.

“But the truth of it, Sir John, is that it happened to you,” said Mr. Marsden, obviously distressed. “We must have you looked after.” Then, turning to me: “Jeremy, go tell Mr. Fuller to come at once. Then you must run and fetch the doctor — the Irishman in Drury Lane.”

I did as he said, sending Mr. Fuller back into the courtroom whence he had just come, and then ran at full speed for Mr. Donnelly. Luckily, I found him in his surgery and quite ready to match me stride for stride as we raced back to Bow Street.

We found Sir John still in the courtroom, sitting in the chair from which he had presided over the day’s session. Mr. Marsden hovered nearby. Mr. Fuller, having aided to the extent to which he was capable, had excused himself and was no doubt preparing his single prisoner (the pickpocket) for his journey to jail.

“Well,” said Mr. Donnelly, looking down upon Sir John most severely, “and what did I prescribe for you last night just before I left Mr. Bilbo’s residence?”

“I’ve no idea,” said Sir John, “I was drunk at the time — as you well know.”

“Jeremy,” said the surgeon, turning to me, “what was it that I prescribed?”

“Bed rest,” said I in a manner most emphatic.

“Exactly,” said he. “And here you are paying the price for your disobedience. But let me examine you, so that I may see if you have done irreparable damage to yourself.”

And without further ado, he pushed aside Sir John’s coat, pulled up his shirt and listened to the patient’s heart with a kind of ear trumpet which he had pulled from his bag. Satisfied, he removed the dressing he had applied the night before and examined the wound itself. “You’re coming along,” said he.

” ‘Coming along’? What does that mean?”

“It means, Sir John, that if you take care of yourself in the manner I have prescribed, then you may well make a swift recovery. If you do not, then you may find yourself chronically ill with the effects of the gunshot wound — not dying, you understand, but never fully recovering.”

Sir John was silent for some time, considering the choice that he had been offered. “All right,” said he, “I’ll go upstairs to my bed and hope for the best.”

“But,” said the surgeon, “not before I’ve put a new dressing on that wound.”

Sir John offered no argument, and Mr. Donnelly accomplished his task with his usual efficiency. As for the ascent to the floor above, when the surgeon suggested that he be carried up the stairs, Sir John refused utterly to allow it, declaring that I, Jeremy, would precede him in the usual way; and that Messrs. Marsden and Donnelly should trail him closely that they might catch him in the event that he should fall backward.

Thus we proceeded without mishap. Sir John’s hand was firm upon my shoulder, and his step was much more sure than I had anticipated. When I opened the door to the kitchen, I found Annie seated at the table, reading in the book given her that day by Mr. Burnham. Seeing that it was Sir John who accompanied me, she was out of her chair in a trice and at his side.

“Sir,” said she in a manner most solicitous, “what may I do for you?”

“Ah, it’s Annie, is it? They are about to put me to bed — and I must admit that I am quite tired. But I wonder, dear girl, could you provide something for me to eat? I’ve had naught since dinner. Some cold meat, bread, and tea would do me nicely.”

“Make it bread and broth and nothing more,” said Mr. Donnelly. “Let us see how well he holds it down.”

Annie looked uncertainly from one to the other, but in another moment we were gone — up that shorter flight of stairs and into the bedroom which Sir John shared with Lady Kate. Here he needed no help: He was most familiar with the room. He sat down upon the bed and removed first his right shoe and then his left.

“Mr. Marsden, and you, Mr. Donnelly, I fear I must ask you both to leave now. Jeremy will ready me for bed. I thank you both for your concern and your assistance. I shall see you again soon, I’m sure.” This was said, reader, with great authority.

Court clerk and surgeon looked one at the other, shrugged, and with meek goodbyes, departed the room.

Sir John sat upon the bed, listening to their footsteps down the stairs and across the kitchen. He turned my way then and said, “Help me out of my coat and breeches, Jeremy, and tell me what you learned at the Lilley residence.”