Murder at the Victoria and Albert Museum by Jim Eldridge

Author:Jim Eldridge
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Allison & Busby
Published: 2022-11-15T00:00:00+00:00

In the same interview room in the basement of Scotland Yard where Inspector Feather had sat and listened to Pug Mason declare his innocence and offer to enter into negotiations over the compensation he believed he ought to receive for wrongful arrest and assault with a deadly weapon, now Feather faced the worried-looking outsized heap of muscles that was Percy Smith. Sergeant Cribbens sat at one side of the table, puffing on his pipe.

‘You’re here for two reasons, Percy,’ said Feather. ‘One, for hitting a man on the head with a leaded stick and there is concern that he might die. So that will be either murder, or – if he lives – attempted murder. The second is the death of a man called Andrew Page at the Victoria and Albert Museum. That is also murder.’ He stopped and fixed Smith with a hard look. ‘If you’re lucky you’ll go to prison, possibly for life. If you’re not, you’ll hang. You and Pug Mason.’

‘We didn’t murder anyone!’ burst out Smith in agonised tones. ‘All we did is scrag that couple, like we was told to. I didn’t mean to hit him that hard.’

‘Who told you to do it? I assume he paid you?’

‘Up front,’ confirmed Smith.

‘For both jobs?’ asked Feather. ‘Cutting the throat of the man at the Victoria and Albert Museum, and attacking that man and that woman.’

‘We never cut anyone’s throat! Neither of us!’

‘But you hit the man on the head with your leaded stick?’

Smith lowered his face and mumbled something, then nodded.

‘Who was he?’ asked Feather. ‘The man who paid you to do it?’

‘He didn’t give his name,’ said Smith. ‘He paid us up front, which was good enough.’

‘What did he look like? Give me a description.’

‘Tall bloke. Very tall. Big belly on him. In his fifties, I reckon. Bit of a toff.’

‘A toff?’

‘Yeh. The way he spoke. His smart clothes.’

Feather eyed Smith thoughtfully, then said: ‘If you help us, I might be able to help you. Maybe get you a lighter sentence. But that depends.’

‘Depends on what?’

‘Tomorrow morning I’m going to take you to the Victoria and Albert Museum.’

‘Where’s that?’ asked Smith.

‘It’s the new one that’s being built in Kensington. You’re going to get out of the van and stand beside it. You’ll be handcuffed to Sergeant Cribbens. I’m going to bring a man out of the museum offices to look at you. I want you to tell me if this was the man who hired you to attack the couple on Primrose Hill.’

‘I don’t know,’ said Smith doubtfully. ‘I ain’t never grassed on anyone.’

‘This ain’t grassing, Percy. This is just saying yes or no. And at the same time, stopping you and Pug from being hanged.’

Sergeant Cribbens waited until Smith had been taken back to the holding cell before asking the inspector: ‘D’you reckon this bloke Tweed did it, sir? Had the Wilsons attacked?’

‘I hope so,’ said Feather. ‘The description Smith gave us tallies, but you never know. There’s plenty of other people walking around looking like that.

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