The Murder of Crows by Unknown Author

Author:Unknown Author
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-02-10T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seventeen

‘You Got Me Crying Again’

Bert Ambrose and his orchestra

‘It’s all a bit of a shambles, Benson. In fact I’d say it’s a blooming cock-up.’

Yes, sir.’ Her cheeks started to colour.

‘And you failed to make a single identification?’

‘No — I mean, yes, sir.’

Vignoles looked at the discomfited officer for a few moments and shook his head. He had chosen to speak to Benson alone: it was, after all, she who was leading the investigation, rather than the more reserved Lansdowne, and so she was going to have to take the flak. ‘So, what did you gain from this debacle?’

‘We ascertained the identity and registration of the van we believe they are using to deliver the coal. It was almost certainly the same one we saw the other night.’

Vignoles nodded slowly, flipping over the two pages of foolscap of her typewritten report. ‘That’s something, at least. But without being able to identify the men using the vehicle, it’s no more than a just a lead.’

‘But surely the Rosedale’s van ties Ferens down as part of the gang?’

‘It implies that he is, but it’s not enough to convict him. Maybe Mr Rosedale himself was at the wheel.’

‘Do you think that’s possible?’

‘Hardly. I was just making the point that anyone could have been driving it.’

‘Yes, I see.’ Benson looked momentarily crestfallen, but then spoke up with an eagerness in her voice that made Vignoles look up. ‘I was thinking that the landlord of the Black Horse might be in on all this.’ Vignoles waited for Benson to continue. ‘Lucy — I mean, W.P.C. Lansdowne—advised me that when she and the sergeant visited, they noticed that the pub was awfully warm. A rare experience these days. And the reason was, they had a roaring fire burning in there.’ Benson anticipated her theory would be shot down in flames.

‘Go on.’ Vignoles looked at her with one eyebrow lifted, he was intrigued to see where this was leading.

‘Well, coal is terribly scarce. How could he afford to be so profligate? And both she and the sergeant noticed that the landlord was edgy and defensive about our questioning the barmaid over Mr Ferens. I think he could be covering for them.’

‘It’s plausible, and a decent angle to pursue.’

The sound of typing could be heard from behind the matchboard dividing wall down one side of Vignoles’s office. His eye caught a reference to the police Rover in Benson’s report and he changed the subject. ‘I knew allowing use of the car was a mistake.’ Vignoles was already counting the cost both in precious petrol coupons and in the roasting he would get from Badger. He was not quite sure why he had agreed in the first place. He recalled that he had been (almost literally) snowed under with too much work because of the terrible weather and so, when Benson had approached him about using the vehicle, she had caught him feeling tired and distracted and her charming and ebullient nature had rather sandbagged him into submission. He

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