The Fabric of Murder (Mysteries of Georgian Norfolk Book 2) (16 page)

‘Which is?’

‘I have no idea yet! Hopefully, rest, food and a quiet evening will bring me inspiration. If not …’

‘You’ll spend the rest of the day with one of the Catt sisters.’

‘What an excellent idea, Brock. Why didn’t I think of it? I believe it’s Kitty’s turn …’

‘They’ll ruin your health! Even one would try the stamina of any man, as I hear. But both on ’em …’

‘Go home, Brock! Now, I say! Go home!’

D
espite Brock’s suggestion
, Foxe did not go to see either of the Catt sisters that day or the next. He had intended to do so, but what he learned when he called on Alderman Halloran drove all else from his mind.

Foxe found the alderman in a state of high excitement. He obviously had some news he was on tenterhooks to pass on. Yet first he asked Foxe to relate what he had discovered about Hinman’s disappearance. That was the most pressing issue, he said.

Foxe explained what Brock and he had discovered. How Hinman had received two visitors, who had escorted him from the inn where he had been staying. He revealed the simple trick they had played to get the man away unnoticed by Brock’s watcher. Finally, he told the alderman who these men were and what he guessed about the purpose of their visit.

‘So Hinman is in the hands of this villain, Beeston. We shall probably never see him again, unless we find his body in a ditch somewhere.’

‘That may well be the outcome, Alderman. Yet what bothers me is why Beeston decided to seize the man now. By doing so, he ensured Hinman’s whole scheme was ruined. He would be unable to pay back whatever he owed. He must have thought he already knew what the outcome must be, so had nothing to lose by bringing all to an end. And how he discovered that, I have no inkling.’

‘No. Yet it must be the case. Now, I can be no help with that matter. Yet what I have learned only this morning may explain enough. I believe I know the reason for Hinman going to Beeston for money in the first place. And why he would have run anyway, the minute he learned we were enquiring about him.’

So, Foxe was right. The alderman did have news. Yet he sensed also that what he had revealed about Hinman’s involvement with Beeston had in some way spilled a little of the wind from the alderman’s sails.

‘I had a message from the mayor this morning, asking me to call on him at once. I don’t mind telling you that I arrived feeling quite apprehensive. I feared he had considered all I told him yesterday and especially that Hinman was flown. His surprise was so great at the time that he had said little. Now I imagined he realised what it all meant and would upbraid me severely for the loss.’

‘But it was not your fault!’

’Such things as logic and consideration do not weigh on our worthy mayor’s mind at the best of times.’

‘Yes, I have heard he is not a tolerant man when things do not go his way.’

‘Imagine my surprise when he ignored my attempts to start on my defence and said that he had already decided I was not at fault.’

Foxe looked suitably surprised, though he judged the mayor might seem to forgive, but would recall the matter any time when he felt he needed to bring the alderman to order.

‘What he wished to tell me,’ the alderman continued, ‘was that he had received a response to his enquiry about Mr. James Hinman from the Mayor of Halifax. It seems none in that town have ever heard the name! There neither is, nor was, a person employed by any master-weaver thereabouts who was called James Hinman. No, not from the most trusted factotum to the humblest out-worker. The Mayor of Halifax had even made enquiries in Bradford. In case, he wrote – and this angered our mayor – we had confused what he called ‘the two premier manufacturing towns for woollens in the kingdom’.

‘I can well imagine such effrontery would not have been pleasing to His Worship,’ Foxe said.

‘Indeed it was not! I had some trouble in dissuading him from sending a most insulting reply. In the end, he agreed that remarks of that kind should be ignored, thus indicating a suitable contempt for both the content and the occasion.’

‘Hinman not known there! I can scarce even begin to understand what this may mean. Did he come from some other centre of the making of worsted cloth? Paisley, perhaps, or even the area in the Cotswold Hills where men are now establishing factories? He must have obtained a good knowledge of the business from somewhere. Without that, he could not convince Bonneviot it would be worth making a deal with him.’

‘Indeed. Bonneviot was not a man to be fooled easily. However much he was in need of money and an outlet for his unsold stocks, he would never have taken any man on trust, let alone one from outside the city.’

‘Maybe Hinman came from London and had worked for one of the merchants there?’

‘Maybe. All in London associated with our business already knew of Bonneviot’s quarrel and the merchants’ response. Yet if Hinman came from London, why did he not simply suggest that Bonneviot could deal with him there? That he would take the place of those Bonneviot had quarrelled with? Why include all the extra complexity of dealings overseas?’

‘I’m sorry, Alderman. My mind is so confused with possibilities to account for this news that I can scarce grasp anything of what it may mean. It is even leading me to ask if there ever was a deal agreed with Bonneviot. Perhaps they had discussed such a deal – even agreed it in principle – then Bonneviot was killed and all seemed lost. That might account for Hinman’s subsequent actions. I have always thought these based more on improvisation that careful strategy.’

‘But there was a deal. We know there was.’

‘It’s no use, Alderman. I need time to think more. It seems to me that much of what we have believed we knew until now must be flawed in some way. We have perforce made many assumptions to cover gaps in our knowledge. I fear one or more of those will prove to have pointed us along the wrong path. All I can do is to work through everything again from the beginning, hoping to spot the place where I went wrong.’

‘Well, there is little need for haste now, Foxe. Let the processes of justice deal with the forger and the assassin. We have their confessions. No need in present circumstances for either to turn King’s Evidence. I will have them brought before me this afternoon and commit both to the next convenient assizes. At least they will trouble us no more.’

Foxe sat silent for so long that Alderman Halloran had to clear his throat twice, and loudly, to gain his attention and indicate he should leave. Yet when the bookseller finally emerged from his reverie, it was with a sudden access of energy quite out of place compared with what had gone before.

‘A thought has come to me that warrants further enquiry, sir, and that urgently. I would be most grateful if you would ask amongst all the master weavers of the city to discover which of them Hinman had approached before settling on Bonneviot.’

‘I imagine many of them, Foxe. Why should it matter now?’

‘It is of great importance I believe. You should also ask what story he told each. Was it the same as he told Bonneviot, so far as we know? Did he refine it as he went along? Was it by speaking with such men that he picked up enough seeming knowledge to dress his words to Bonneviot in suitable garb?’

‘Very well, Foxe, I will do as you ask. Though for the life of me I cannot see what you are driving at.’

‘It is not quite clear to me either, Alderman. I am proceeding by instinct, not sure knowledge. Something tells me that we will discover Hinman refining his approach. The extent of his knowledge of which master weavers to contact first may also show the source of his knowledge about our city and its industry. At the least, it is worth trying, for I cannot see where else we can make progress.’

B
rock came just
as Foxe was preparing to go in to dine, so Foxe immediately invited him to the table. No, he said, he would not stay to eat. Foxe was sad to see his friend look so careworn. Brock had taken the escape of Hinman as a personal failure on his part. Nothing Foxe could say would change that. Somehow, Brock must be left to work out his own way of forgiving himself, probably through constant work until the man could be found again.

‘Very well, Brock,’ Foxe said to him. ‘I know you will not rest until you have that rogue back under your hand. Yet I tell you again that no one – myself least of all – holds you responsible for his escape. You did everything I asked of you. If there is any blame, it is mine for failing to recognise a possible danger.’

Brock ignored this and launched at once into his own news. ‘We aren’t the only ones seeking Hinman. By God, he’s a slippery cove! It seems he gave Beeston’s men the slip and ran off. Now Jack Beeston ‘as ‘is own resources out in force. He’s put the word out amongst all the thieves, footpads, pickpockets, whores and layabouts in Norwich. He’ll give a fine reward to whoever can bring ‘im news that lets this man be taken. Of course, being the wretch ‘e is, ‘e’s also added the promise of harsh treatment indeed for any foolish enough to aid Hinman in ‘is escape. It’s a rare mess.’

‘So … Hinman ran away. Amazing! I wonder how he managed that? If Beeston finds him before we do …’

‘Which ‘e probably will. He ‘as twice the searchers we have and contacts amongst all the worst elements in the city and beyond. We’ve lost ‘im for good, as I see it. Damn the man!’

‘Well if Beeston finds Hinman first, so be it. Cheer up, Brock. I know it would be good to discover the truth about this affair. Still, I doubt Hinman would be willing to confess to us. In the end, Providence will determine all. But listen. I spoke earlier to the alderman. He brought the most surprising news from the mayor.’

Foxe told Brock all he had learned, how Hinman was not who or what he claimed to be, and how they must have been on the wrong path all along.

‘What do you make of that, Brock?’ Foxe said at the end.

‘It goes from bad to worse! It makes my ‘ead ache! Why did you ‘ave to tell me all that when we’ve probably no chance of ever discovering the truth? Now I don’t even know who I let get away.’

‘Come, old friend. Don’t be so downhearted. Sit, eat and help me work out what this may mean. They say two heads are better than one, and yours is the head I would always choose to help me. You can do no more useful task than this. It will serve us far better than running around the city, half a step behind Beeston’s ruffians.’

Slowly, Brock let himself be persuaded. Mrs. Dobbins produced enough food for two and more besides – from where, Foxe did not ask – and the two men set to with healthy appetites.

At length, relaxing over a glass or two of fine port, Foxe returned to the problem of Hinman’s actions.

‘When I spoke about it before, Brock, you said you did not believe Hinman would have been foolish enough to let Beeston in on the plot. He must have concocted a different story to support his need for money. Either that or used the tale he told everyone else about being a wealthy man temporarily in need of extra funds. Which?’

‘The second. Why dream up another story when you ‘as one as is already shown to work? Besides, Beeston keeps ‘is eyes and ears open for all that goes on in this city, in case it should offer him profit. If Hinman had produced a different tale from what ‘e told others, Beeston would’ve been mighty suspicious.’

‘I agree. So Hinman uses the same tale, adding something to account for a temporary shortage of case. Perhaps he claimed to be awaiting some payment due to him, or the collection of a large debt. Something like that. Would Beeston have been taken in?’

‘That depends on the source of the money to come. He would never accept the idea of someone of the middling sort approaching ‘im for money. Not unless the reason for their need was something disreputable. If it was a simple delay in payment of a legitimate debt, why not borrow from a friend or business associate?’

‘Because Hinman was far from home in a strange city?’

‘No, no. That wouldn’t do. He could use a servant or a trusted agent to get the money for ‘im where ‘e was known and trusted. No, it would have to be money from some action ‘e did not wish to become known. Perhaps he claimed to be owed some money by a lonely wife to hush up an affair between them. No … he doesn’t seem to like women. Suppose he had been involved with the perverted son of a wealthy father. Maybe he enjoyed the boy’s favours, or sent him to someone else who would, then turned to blackmail. The boy dare not ask ‘is father for the money outright, but claims he can find the cash elsewhere. Meanwhile Hinman holds the threat over ‘is head of telling the father his lad is a sodomite if ‘e does not. Something like that.’

‘Yes, that makes sense. So, on that basis, Hinman has been indulging in something he certainly does not wish his fine business friends to know about. Sodomy, adultery, pimping or something even worse. He tells Beeston he was relying on the money to finance some other matter, but now has to wait for payment. So why does Beeston suddenly send his standover men to demand his money back?’

‘He thinks ‘e’s going to lose it. Can’t see why else.’

‘Indeed. But why now? Let’s think it through. Suppose Beeston learns that Hinman has consulted a forger to produce a fake document. Would that be enough?’

‘No. Not as I see it. Beeston is the foulest of criminals, evil through and through. If Hinman also proves to be dishonest in some way, that wouldn’t make ‘im any less of a source of profit. More, perhaps. Beeston would ask Underhill the nature of the document. When ‘e learned it wasn’t anything to do with, say, a gambling debt, ‘e would’ve smelled profitable villainy and tried to take advantage of it.’

‘Again, you are right, I’m sure. What about when – or if – Beeston learns Underhill has been arrested?’

‘That would give ‘im some cause for worry, right enough. Even so, Underhill was an habitual forger. It was ‘is business, under all that nonsense of being a scrivener. There’d be nothing to say ‘is arrest had anything to do with ‘is dealings with Hinman.’

‘Right yet again! Now, if I were Beeston, what would I do? I think I might take note that someone – but not someone in league with the law, so far as Beeston knows – is watching Hinman, just as he is. Maybe Hinman has borrowed money elsewhere. Maybe the forged document from Underhill was to do with that matter. I would wish to know, that’s certain. If Hinman is running a number of tricks of that nature, I – as Beeston – would want to be able to take profit from them all.’

‘You have the man down perfectly, Foxe. Devious, cunning, without any scruple and always on the watch for a chance to make yet more geld. I hate the bastard!’