Blackmail In Bloomsbury: A 1920s murder mystery by Anna Sayburn Lane

Author:Anna Sayburn Lane [Sayburn Lane, Anna]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Starling Street Books
Published: 2023-10-04T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 28

We walked up the stairs and out into the quadrangle, where the sun shone onto the steps below the dome.

‘Come on. Let’s sit up here,’ he said. ‘It’s freezing in the basement when you’re not moving about. At least we can sit in the sun. And I’m starved. I’ll get us some buns from the student café, and a mug of tea.’

From where we were sitting, I could see across the road to the steps of University College Hospital, where I’d sat having tea and cake with Inspector Chadwick the day before. This job involved a surprising amount of outdoor dining.

‘I think you’re going to make an excellent detective,’ Hugh said, handing me a mug of very strong, hot tea. ‘I’ve already told you more than I told Scotland Yard’s finest during the whole of yesterday.’

‘Then tell me the rest,’ I said. ‘Where did you go? I don’t think you had time to walk all the way back to Sidmouth Street and kill Mrs Norris. I think she was killed as soon as she got home, which would have been ten minutes after she left. It was later than that by the time we got to Piccadilly Circus.’

He sighed. ‘I’ll tell you if you promise not to tell anyone else. Including your Inspector Chadwick. I went to a night-club.’

That didn’t sound too bad. ‘Well, that’s good, then. You can get the people at the club to give you an alibi.’ I took a bite of bun, which tasted more of bicarbonate of soda than it did of cinnamon.

‘Not this club. I met Ralph there, you see. We were both there till – I don’t know – two, three o’clock. Then we went back to my studio.’

I almost choked, spitting out crumbs. ‘Ralph was there? He’s innocent – and you know it! Why haven’t you told the police? Hugh, it’s serious. He really could hang for this, you know.’

He swigged his tea and gazed across the street. ‘He won’t. His family will get him off. The police don’t have anything definite against him, do they?’

I was speechless. Hugh had an alibi for Ralph, but he’d let him stew in the police station for two days, knowing he was innocent.

I found my voice again. ‘Explain,’ I said. I wasn’t taking any nonsense now. ‘Tell me where you were and what time Ralph joined you, and why you’ve kept this from the police. I can’t help either of you unless I know.’

He gave me a sad smile. ‘I trust you, Marjorie. But you must promise not to tell the police. I mean, I’ve lied to them already. I’ve asked a girl who models for me to say she met me at the Café Royal. And it would have repercussions – serious repercussions – if the police knew where Ralph had really been.’

I didn’t like it. If I kept it to myself, I would be complicit in an innocent man’s conviction for murder. But perhaps if I knew, I could find another way to prove his innocence without betraying Hugh’s confidence.

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