It was discourteous, at the least, to pull up a chair opposite a man who was obviously intent being alone, but there was no alternative.
"Excuse me," he said in English. "I know you are Max Niemann, and I need to speak to you about a matter which cannot wait for a proper introduction." Niemann looked only momentarily startled, his face set in lines of mild irritation.
Before he could protest, Monk went on. "My name is William Monk. I saw you in London at the funeral of Elissa Beck, but you may not remember me. I am a friend of Kristian"s, and it is in his interest that I am here." He saw Niemann"s expression ease a little.
"Did you know that Kristian has been charged with the murder, and is due to stand He stopped. It was apparent from Niemann"s wide eyes and slack mouth that he had not known, and that the news distressed him profoundly. "I"m sorry to tell you so abruptly," Monk apologised. "I don"t believe it can be true, but there seems to be no other explanation for which there is any evidence, and I hoped I might find something here. Perhaps an enemy from the days of the uprising." A look of irony and grief crossed Niemann"s face. "Who waited thirteen years?" he said incredulously. "Why?" A waiter came by and Monk asked Niemann"s permission, then ordered coffee with cream and chocolate in it, and Niemann ordered a second coffee with hot milk.
"Of course we had quarrels then, loves and hates like any other group of people. But they were all over in hours. There were far bigger issues to care about." His eyes were bright, his brow furrowed a little. The noise of crockery and voices around him seemed far away.
"It was pa.s.sionate, life and death, but it was political. We were fighting for freedom from Habsburg tyranny, laws that crushed people and prevented us from having any say in our own destiny. The petty things were forgotten. We didn"t wait to murder our enemies in London thirteen years later, we shot them openly at the time." He smiled, and his eyes were bright. "If there was anything on earth Elissa hated it was a hypocrite anyone, man or woman, who pretended to be what they were not. It was the whole charade of the court, the double standards, that drew her into the revolution in the first place."
"Do you believe Kristian could have killed Elissa, even unintentionally, in a quarrel that got out of control?" Monk asked bluntly.
Niemann appeared to consider it. "No," he said at length. "If you had asked me if he would have during the uprising, if she had betrayed us, I might have thought so, but he would not have lied, and he would not have killed the second woman, the artist"s model." He looked directly at Monk without a shadow across his face. There was no guard in him, no withholding of the deeper, more terrible secret. He had used the word "betrayed" quite easily, because as far as he knew it had no meaning in connection with Elissa.
Monk hated the knowledge that he would have to tell him, and see the disbelief, the anger, the denial, and at last the acceptance.
"You know him well," Monk made it half a statement, half a question.
Niemann looked up. "Yes, we fought side by side. But you know that."
"People change sometimes, over years, or all at once because of some event, for example the death of someone they are close to." He watched Niemann"s face.
Niemann fiddled with the stem of his winegla.s.s, turning it round and round in his fingers. "Kristian changed after Hanna Jakob"s death," he said at last. "I don"t know why. He never spoke about it. But he was quieter, much more... solitary, as if he needed to consider his beliefs more deeply. Something changed in his ability to lead.
Decisions became more difficult for him. He grieved more over our losses. I don"t think after that he could have killed someone, even if they were a liability to the cause. He would have hesitated, looked for another way... possibly even lost the moment."
"And you didn"t know why?" Monk said, compelled to press again to see if Niemann had any idea of the betrayal, or if all he knew was the subtle guilt in Kristian, the perception of his own bigotry which troubled him ever after that.
"No," Niemann answered. "He couldn"t talk about it. I never knew what it was."
"Do you think Elissa knew?" The question was a double irony.
Niemann thought for quite some time, then eventually answered with sadness edged in his voice. "No. I think she wanted to, and was afraid of it. I don"t think she asked him." Monk leaned forward a little over the table. "You went to London three times this last year. Each time you saw Elissa, but not Kristian. You did not even let him know you were in England. What happened to your friendship that you would do that?" Niemann looked up at him, then away. "How did you know that?"
"Are you saying it is untrue?" Monk challenged.
"No." There was weariness in Niemann"s voice and a slump to this shoulders. "No, I did not tell Kristian because I did not want him to know. Elissa wrote to me. She was badly in debt and she knew Kristian had no more money to give her. She needed help. I went and did what I could for her, paid her debts. They were not so very great, and I have done well." He smiled very slightly. "I did not tell Kristian.
Sometimes the best way to help a friend is not to let him know that you have seen that he needs help." He looked up from his gla.s.s. "But surely it was the artist who killed her? What was his name... Allardyce? He was utterly in love with her, you know. Sarah Mackeson must have known it, and she had enough imagination to fear that Elissa would supplant her not only in Allardyce"s affections, but more importantly, on canvas, and she would be without the means of support. She must have been frightened and jealous. What if she killed Elissa? She was a stronger and heavier woman. And when Allardyce came home he found Elissa"s body and knew what had happened, and in his own rage and grief, he killed Sarah."
"Possibly," Monk agreed with a shrug. "But he wasn"t there that evening. He was in Southwark, and didn"t return until the morning." Niemann looked startled, staring at Monk with slow incredulity. "Yes he was! I saw him myself! He was coming out of the gambling house with paper and pencils and things under his arm. He"d been drawing the people at the tables he often did. There were several people in the street, men and women, but he"s highly individual to look at with that broad brow and black hair falling over it. Besides that, I knew him. I spoke to him." Hope surged up in Monk, making him almost dizzy. "Allardyce was there?
You"re sure it was that night?"
"Yes. He was in Swinton Street. Whether he went back to the studio or not I don"t know, but he certainly wasn"t all evening in Southwark. If he said he was, then he lied." He watched Monk closely.
"Are you prepared to come back to London and swear to that?" Monk asked.
"Of course. And you"ll find others who saw him, but they may have their own reasons for not being willing to say so."
"Thank you. We had better hurry. Can you leave tomorrow? I know that is almost without notice, and " "Of course I can." Niemann finished his coffee and stood up. "It"s a murder trial. Once the verdict is in, nothing I say can help, unless I knew who did kill poor Elissa, and could prove it. Unfortunately I don"t, nor can I swear that Kristian was somewhere else. Through Cologne is the best way. The train leaves at half-past eight. I"ll meet you in the morning at the ticket office at the station at eight o"clock.
Now you must excuse me. I need to make some arrangements, and pack my suitcase." Hesterand Callandra sat opposite each other in the quiet, comfortable sitting room in Callandra"s house. They had been back from the trial for nearly an hour. It was dark outside but not particularly cold, and the fire blazed up in the grate, yet both women were shivering. They had spoken of events during the evidence of the day, but neither had said what Hester knew they were both thinking. Kristian looked haggard and without hope as one witness after another built up a picture of Elissa"s gambling, her desperation, her total inability to exercise any control over her compulsion. Pendreigh"s skill was remarkable that he had been able to drag out the proceedings this far. It was perhaps the greatest testament to Kristian"s innocence that the victim"s father so obviously believed it.
"It"s going badly, isn"t it?" Callandra said at last. "I can see it in the jury"s faces. They are beginning to realise that all Pendreigh"s tactics mean nothing except to spin out time." She did not ask when Monk would be home, but it hung heavily in the air between them. If he had found something easily he would have returned by now, or at least have sent word. Hester had received a couple of short letters, but they had been only personal, a desire to speak to her that could be partially satisfied on paper, and to let her know that he was well and still searching. He had asked her to tell Callandra so on his behalf.
The fire roared in the grate and the coals collapsed inward with a shower of sparks. It seemed the only brightness in the room.
"Yes," Hester said aloud. There was no point in lying and she could think of nothing to say to offer any comfort. "The trouble is we have no alternative they could believe." Even a day ago she might have added that there must be one; today it seemed hollow. Then she looked across at Callandra. "But I have an idea where to look for one," she said, pity wrenching inside her. Perhaps she was only putting off the inevitable, but she could see no further than tonight. Tomorrow would have to bring whatever it would, and she would deal with it then.
"Have you?" Callandra asked, struggling to grasp hope and feeling it almost impossible. Her eyes asked not to be told, so she could imagine it was real, just for a while.
Hester stood up. She was astonished by how physically tired she was, and yet she had done nothing but sit in the courtroom all day, her body locked in the aching tension of hope and fear. "I shall begin to seek proof of it tomorrow, so I shall not be in court. Will you be all right?"
"Of course!" Callandra rose to her feet also, a lift in her voice as if real, tangible alternatives were suddenly there in plain sight. If Hester had a clear intention, it must be something capable of proof!
"Do you want my carriage?" she said hastily. "It would be quicker for you." She did not add "and cheaper", but that was a consideration also. She had not thought to get actual money to give Hester for the expenses of hansoms, and to wait for it tomorrow would be another delay.
"Thank you," Hesteraccepted. "That is a good idea." She gave Callandra a quick, hard hug, then took her leave, her mind already planning ahead. There was no time to wonder about tactics, whether she were offering false hope, or whether it were wise or safe. She knew of no other course towards anything but defeat.
She slept only fitfully, waking every hour or two, her mind still racing over what she should do, mistakes to avoid, how to get around lies she might be told. And always at the back, spreading across everything like a coming nightfall drawing closer every time she looked, having to tell Callandra that she had failed.
She missed Monk with a constant hunger. Sometimes she could forget it, only to be reminded by the ache inside her. He would have known how to do this properly; success would not have eluded him if there were any chance of it whatever.
She rose early, ate two pieces of toast. She had learned long ago that no matter how busy your mind or clenched up your stomach, if you had work to do then you must eat. To say you were too excited or too worried was a self-indulgence and highly impractical. To be of any use to others you must maintain your own strength.
Then she set out in Callandra"s carriage, whose driver had stayed around the corner at a suitable lodging house and was ready and waiting for her by half-past seven. She requested to be driven straight to the police station where she presented herself at the desk and asked for Superintendent Runcorn, telling the sergeant that it was a matter of urgency. The hour of the day, and her name were sufficient to impress the man, and he took the message straight away. He returned with the answer that if she were to wait ten minutes, Mr. Runcorn would see her, and would she like a cup of tea. She declined the tea with thanks, and sat down grateful that Runcorn was here and she could gain his attention.
In ten minutes she was duly shown up to a freshly shaven Runcorn sitting behind a tidy desk. The shaving had obviously not been for her, but she thought the clearing of the desk might have been.
"Good morning, Mr. Runcorn," she said, swallowing down her nervousness. "Thank you for seeing me so rapidly. As you know the trial of Dr. Beck is going badly for him. I have worked beside him for several years and I believe there must be more to know than we have yet learned, and that the artist Argo Allardyce may be the source of at least some of it. William is in Vienna seeking knowledge of Max Niemann. I should like to pursue Argo Allardyce." She had spoken too rapidly to allow him time to interrupt her, but she was aware that he had not attempted to, and it surprised her. His face looked sad, as if the way the evidence had gone distressed him also. He had not wished Kristian to be guilty, he had simply found it unavoidable.
"Allardyce was in Southwark all that evening, Mrs. Monk," Runcorn said ruefully. "Got a picture that proves it, much as I"d like it not to." She must be very careful exactly what she said. A month ago she would have been delighted to dupe him in any way. Now she hated the necessity. She frowned, looking puzzled. "Does it really?"
"Oh it"s him, plain as day," replied Runcorn. "And it"s the Bull and Half Moon for sure. Landlord recalls Allardyce there, knows him quite well." She managed to look doubtful. "I still believe he had something to do with the murders," she insisted, "one way or another. If Dr. Beck wanted to kill Elissa, he would hardly do it in another man"s house!"
"Murder isn"t often very sensible," he said sadly.
She remained sitting. "Your sergeant was good enough to offer me a cup of tea, and I am afraid I was so eager to see you that I refused. I wonder... ?" He was glad of the chance to do something for her. "Of course," he stood up immediately. "Just sit there, and I"ll have him bring one up."
"Thank you," she accepted with a slight smile.
He went out, and instantly she darted around his desk and opened the first drawer. There was nothing in it but pencils and blank paper. The second had neatly written reports. She was desperate, trying to keep her fingers from fumbling. He had spoken of the picture. Which way had he been looking? She had only moments before he came back.
Third drawer... nothing. She turned to the shelf beside him. She moved two books lying flat. There it was! An artist"s sketch of a group of men sitting around a table. She s.n.a.t.c.hed it and pushed it down inside her jacket just as she heard his hand on the door. She had no time to sit again. Instead she moved towards him as if she had risen to take the cup from him.
"Thank you!" she said with grat.i.tude more for the escape than the tea.
"I hadn"t realised I was so cold, or so thirsty. That is very good of you." He coloured very slightly. "I"m sorry it"s going badly for Dr. Beck.
I wish there were " "Of course," she agreed, sitting down again and sipping the tea. "But you can"t alter the evidence, I know that. I was just hoping. I dare say it was foolish." Since she had asked for the tea, she was obliged to stay long enough to finish it. She was terrified in case he decided to get the picture out just to prove to her that Allardyce was really in it. "I mustn"t take up your time," she said, swallowing hastily.
"You have been very patient. I suppose there is no possibility the murders had to do with gambling?"
"Doesn"t make any sense," Mrs. Monk," he said regretfully. "Nothing I"d like more than to string a few of them up, but I"ve got no excuse to. They kill slowly, not by breaking necks." She put the tea down.
"I"m sorry," he apologised, his face flooding with colour.
"Please don"t be," she said quickly. "It is only the truth." She stood up. "I appreciate candour, Mr. Runcorn. Too many evils are tolerated because we give them harmless-sounding names. Thank you for your courtesy." She did not hold out her hand in case the paper under her jacket crackled. "I can find my way downstairs. Good day."
"Good day, Mrs. Monk." He had risen also and came around the desk to open the door for her.
She escaped with pounding heart, and an acute sense of guilt, but she had the drawing.
She spent a useless morning and early afternoon around the area of Allardyce"s studio, and came to the conclusion that in this type of detective work she lacked a skill. By the middle of the afternoon she decided to follow Allardyce"s friends more directly, and if she took the carriage south of the river to Southwark she would find some of them at least already in the Bull and Half Moon. The light was fading and no one would be able to paint by it at four o"clock or later.
It was nearly dark and the lamps were lit by the time she went through the tavern door. The warm, smoky, ale-smelling interior was already filled with the babble of conversation. The yellow light of a dozen lamps shone on all manner of faces, but entirely masculine. It was too early for street women to be seeking custom, and more respectable women had work to do: dinners to cook, laundry to iron, children to care for.
Hester took a deep breath and went in anyway.
One or two bawdy remarks were hurled at her, which she ignored. She was too eager to find anyone who might be a friend or a.s.sociate of Allardyce"s to have time for offence. Then she saw a man with an arm amputated above the elbow and a scar on one lean cheek. Her spirits leaped at the thought that he might be a soldier. If he were, that would be at least one person with whom she could talk, perhaps find an ally.
There was no time for delicacy. She smiled at him, coolly, not an invitation. "Where did you serve?" she asked, hoping she was right.
Something in the tone of her voice, an expectation of friendship, even equality, startled any misunderstanding he might have had. He glanced momentarily at his empty sleeve, then up at her. "Alma," he answered, a slight curiosity in his voice. He was waiting to see if the name of that dreadful battle had any meaning for her.
"You were lucky," she said quietly. "Many fared a lot worse." Something lit in his eyes. "How do you know that, miss? You lose somebody?"
"A lot of friends," she replied. "I was in Sebastopol and Scutari."
"Widow?" he raised his eyebrows, pity in his face.
She smiled. "No, nurse."
"Let me buy you a drink," he offered. "Anything you want. I"d get you French champagne if I could."
"Cider will do fine," she accepted, sitting down opposite him. She knew better than to say she would get it herself, and rob him of his generosity, or the feeling that he was in control and did not need anyone else to fetch or carry for him.
"What you doing here?" he asked after they were settled and she was sipping her drink. "You"ve not been here before!" She had already decided that candour was the only way. She told him that she was looking for information to help a friend in serious trouble, accused of a crime of which she believed him innocent if not in fact, then at least with mitigating circ.u.mstances. She wanted more knowledge of someone who had been here on the night of the crime, and showed him the picture she had taken from Runcorn"s office.
The soldier screwed up his eyes as he looked at it, one face after another. "What night was that, then?" he said at last.
She told him the date.
"That"s a while back." He pursed his lip.
"Yes, I know," she admitted. "I should have come sooner. There have been several reasons. We were looking in a different direction. Will anyone remember? It was the night there was a big spill of raw sugar in Drury Lane, if that"s any help?"
"Wouldn"t know," he shook his head. "Don"t have any reason to go up that way." He concentrated on the picture again. "Know that artist fellow," he pointed to one of the men. "And that one," he indicated Allardyce. "He lives up that way, but he comes here every now and then." He stared at the picture of half a dozen men around a table, ale mugs in their hands, the surroundings roughly sketched in suggesting the tavern, the parallel walls, a couple of hanging tankards and a poster advertising a juggling act at a nearby music hall.
Hester waited with a sinking feeling of disappointment growing inside her.
The soldier still frowned. "There"s something wrong," he said with a shake of his head. "Don"t know what." Hester stared around the room, looking for the place where they had been sitting. Perhaps it was not this tavern? It was too slim a thought to offer hope. Almost before it had taken form in her mind she recognised the tables and the chairs, the angles of the panelling on the wall behind them.
Then it struck her. The poster was different. This was for a singer with a red shirt. She hardly dared put words to it. Her heart was hammering inside her chest.
"When did they change the poster?" she asked.
The soldier"s eyes widened. "That"s it!" he said with a long sigh.
"You"ve got it! That one was up the night you"re talking about not the juggler they"ve got here. You can check at the music hall, check with anyone, they"ll tell you! This wasn"t made that night!" He poked his finger at the drawing. "He was here, all right, but not then!" His face shone with triumph. "That help you?"
"Yes!" she said, smiling at him so widely it was a grin. "Yes, it does! Thank you very much. Now let me get you a cider, and maybe a pie to eat. I could certainly do with one. Then I"ll go and make sure the music hall will swear to it, if necessary."
"Thank you," he accepted graciously. "I"ll have a mutton pie with mine, if you please. You"d like that too, real tasty they are. Fill you up." She left the Bull and Half Moon and was startled as she stepped out into the street to see how the fog had closed in in a thick, dark shroud so she could barely see five or six yards in front of her. She had intended to go to the music hall and check with them to be absolutely certain about the dates of the juggler and the singer, and that they had actually changed the bill, but in this murk that had blown up from the river it would be almost impossible. She could not even see the other side of the street. Where was the carriage? It was not where she had left it, but the driver would not have been able to wait there. No doubt he was along in the next side street.
She started to walk, and was aware of footsteps behind her, or was it an echo of her own? Fog distorted sound. But it m.u.f.fled rather than magnified!
She whirled round, and saw a figure darkening the white vapour that is landed her in every direction. She stepped back, but he came forward. She went back again until she was under the streetlamp and the light filtered down pale and patchy as the mist moved, and she saw Argo Allardyce s ashen face and black hair. Her breath caught in her throat and for a moment she choked with blind terror. There was no point whatever in trying to deny what she had been doing. He must have followed her from the Bull and Half Moon. She still had the picture with her. Where was the carriage? How far away? Could she turn and run? Was she even going in the right direction?
She took another step back, and another. The fog thickened, then a gust of cold air blew it away again and he looked only feet from her.
He must see in her face that she knew he had lied "Who are you?" he demanded, his voice hard and angry, or was it frightened because in a way he too was cornered? "Why are you asking questions about me? I didn"t kill Elissa, or Sarah!"
"You lied!" she accused. "You said you were here, but you weren"t. If you didn"t kill them, why didn"t you tell the truth?" She was still moving away from him, and he was following.
"Because I was afraid they"d blame me anyway!" His voice was sharp and brittle. "I was in Acton Street at the gambling house and one of the women I drew was furious about it. Her husband made a terrible scene and they knocked him senseless. She followed me out and practically tore the pictures of her away from me." With a wild mixture of misery and elation Hester realised he was talking about Charles and Imogen. It wasn"t proof of his innocence, but that much at least was honest.
She gulped. "What was she like, the woman?" He was incredulous. "What?"
"What was she like?" She all but shouted at him.
The cold mist swirled around in heavier wreaths and the boom of a foghorn drifted up from the river, followed almost immediately by another.
"Dark," he said. "Pretty. Soft features." It was enough. Imogen. "Then where did you go?" she demanded, taking another step back. Now she was in the gloom and he was under the light. She could see the droplets of the moisture clinging to his hair and skin.
"Not to Acton Street!" he shouted back at her. "I got a hansom and went all the way to Canning Town. I never came back until morning."
"If you can prove that, why did you lie?" she charged him. He was still coming towards her. Were all the words only a distraction, and when he was close enough and she was off guard, he would lunge for her, and with a swift movement, a wrenching pain, a crack, and her neck would be broken too? She wheeled around, picked up her skirts and ran as fast as she could in the blind, clinging fog, her heart beating so violently it almost stopped her breathing, the sound of her footsteps m.u.f.fled. She had no idea where she was going. She tripped over the kerb of the cross street and lurched forward, almost losing her balance, flinging her arms wide to stop from pitching over.
There was a snort beside her, a blowing of air and she stifled a scream. She shot forward and ran straight into the side of a horse. It jerked up and backwards, and the next moment a man"s voice called out angrily.
"Albert!" she yelled as loudly as she could.
"Yes, miss! Where are you?"
"Here! I"m here!" she sobbed, scrambling back past the horse to feel for the dark bulk of the carriage and fumble to open the door. "Drive me home! If you can see your way, get me back to Grafton Street, but hurry! Out of here, please!"