Points of Danger by Edward Marston

Author:Edward Marston [Edward Marston]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780749023577
Publisher: Allison & Busby
Published: 2018-11-05T16:00:00+00:00

Edward Tallis lived in a set of rooms that afforded him peace, privacy and comfort. When he heard the doorbell ring, he ignored it at first. Nobody ever called on him. It rang again with more force. Hauling himself out of his chair, he put his cigar aside and went to open the door. He was amazed when he saw that he had a visitor.

‘What are you doing here, Terence?’ he asked.

Wardlow smiled. ‘Hello, Edward …’

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Shortly after arriving back at the cottage that evening, Colbeck and Leeming had a visit from Cecil Freed, who apologised for disturbing them but thought they should know that Grace Swarbrick had been spirited out of the reach of her stepson.

‘That was a sensible move,’ said Colbeck.

‘Did he protest very strongly?’ asked Leeming.

‘No,’ replied Freed. ‘They made their escape while he was out of the way. One of the servants drove them here by stealth. But for the circumstances, Grace said, she’d have found it quite exciting.’

‘What if he turns up here?’

‘He won’t, Sergeant. He’ll know that he wouldn’t be allowed in. I daresay he’ll take out his spite on the housekeeper, Mrs Wymark, and accuse her of being part of the conspiracy.’

‘That’s unfair.’

‘Men like that don’t bother with fairness when there are high stakes,’ said Colbeck. ‘Ruthlessness is second nature to them.’

‘Jarvis had a streak of that,’ admitted Freed.

‘Parliament is no place for the tender-hearted, sir.’

Since he hadn’t seen Freed since much earlier that day, Colbeck gave him a brief account of their movements. Their host was pleased that the police had tracked the killer to Yarmouth and he praised Leeming for instigating the search along the road there. When he realised that one the ECR’s sidings had been used to rehearse the crime beforehand, he was stunned.

‘I didn’t know that criminals practised.’

‘The clever ones do,’ said Leeming. ‘The others take a chance and usually end up behind bars. The killer planned everything carefully.’

‘That’s worrying.’

‘They all make mistakes in the end, sir.’

‘Who was his paymaster?’

‘That’s what we’ve been asking ourselves,’ said Colbeck. ‘Initially, I thought that someone from another railway company wanted to block the merger by getting rid of the man most likely to achieve it, but I fancy that we must cast our net more widely now.’

‘That’s an apt metaphor, inspector. Fishing is one of our major industries. If it ever comes into being,’ said Freed, ‘the Great Eastern Railway will service five ports – Harwich, Felixtowe, Lowestoft, Yarmouth and King’s Lynn. We’ll be able to convey huge quantities of fish from Lowestoft and Yarmouth to London and to the Midlands.’

‘A great deal rests on the amalgamation, then.’

‘That’s why it must be salvaged.’

‘Do you think Andrew Swarbrick is the person to do that?’

‘He has the right credentials,’ said Freed. ‘He has a good working knowledge of the details of the merger because his bank has a financial stake in the venture. Whether or not he could get it safely through Parliament is another matter. I trusted his father. I don’t trust Andrew.

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