Read The Detective Branch Online
Authors: Andrew Pepper
Tags: #London (England) - History - 1800-1950, #Mystery & Detective, #Pyke (Fictitious Character: Pepper), #Pyke (Fictitious Character : Pepper), #Fiction, #General, #Mystery Fiction, #Historical, #Traditional British, #Suspense, #Crime
The Detective Branch (37 page)
‘Druitt receives
The Times
each day. Is that usual for a prisoner?’
The Times
each day. Is that usual for a prisoner?’
The governor sat forward, hands resting on the edge of the desk. ‘If we’re to convince the felons to alter their behaviour, to see the value of discipline and hard work, then some small inducements are necessary. But if you feel that this prisoner’s receiving of the newspaper has in any way contributed to the affairs you speak of, I won’t hesitate to rescind this privilege forthwith.’
‘That won’t be necessary, for the time being.’ Pyke didn’t yet know how Druitt was sending and receiving messages, but if he was using
The Times
to do so, it was probably best to keep the lines of communication open.
The Times
to do so, it was probably best to keep the lines of communication open.
‘I have to say, sir, I’m a little perturbed by your claims regarding this particular felon. Until now, I regarded him as a model for others. A man who works hard, says little, reads the Bible and attends chapel.’
NINETEEN
S
cotland Yard had been Pyke’s place of work for almost a year but he still didn’t feel quite comfortable there. It wasn’t necessarily the architecture which he objected to, though in common with all state buildings its intention, he felt, was to overawe and intimidate. Nor did he object to the fact that in a building of such apparent scale and grandeur, the Detective Branch had been housed in such poky conditions. Rather it was the idea that of the hundreds of people who worked there, he could count the people he liked and trusted on the fingers of one hand. More than this, he believed there were at least as many again who were actively trying to damage his reputation. These fears may not have been grounded in hard evidence but the whole place seemed to run on gossip and innuendo, and as he walked by huddles of clerks and policemen they would stop talking, and it was difficult not to feel that he was the subject of their conversations.
cotland Yard had been Pyke’s place of work for almost a year but he still didn’t feel quite comfortable there. It wasn’t necessarily the architecture which he objected to, though in common with all state buildings its intention, he felt, was to overawe and intimidate. Nor did he object to the fact that in a building of such apparent scale and grandeur, the Detective Branch had been housed in such poky conditions. Rather it was the idea that of the hundreds of people who worked there, he could count the people he liked and trusted on the fingers of one hand. More than this, he believed there were at least as many again who were actively trying to damage his reputation. These fears may not have been grounded in hard evidence but the whole place seemed to run on gossip and innuendo, and as he walked by huddles of clerks and policemen they would stop talking, and it was difficult not to feel that he was the subject of their conversations.
Wells had sent word that he wouldn’t be able to attend the meeting that Pyke had scheduled for five o’clock that afternoon, so it was just the four of them. Jack Whicher started, telling them he’d still been unable to find anything at all that linked Isaac Guppy and Charles Hogarth; there were no business, social or religious associations. He seemed disheartened. Pyke assured him that he was doing a good job and told him to continue looking into Hogarth’s business affairs. Now that Mayne knew the real cause of death, he added, they didn’t have to take such care to hide their motives for asking potentially awkward questions. Lockhart and Shaw reported that they had spent the previous two days in St Giles and Soho looking for Keate’s mother or his siblings or anyone who might know the family. They, too, had failed to discover anything of interest. Their difficulties had been compounded by the fact that no one from either district had been willing to talk to police detectives.
As the meeting broke up, Pyke asked to speak to each of the detectives separately in his office.
‘Ah, Frederick,’ Pyke said, as Shaw took the chair opposite him. The youngest detective sergeant had a nervous disposition and Pyke wondered whether this made him more or less susceptible to the kind of pressure Pierce was capable of exerting.
‘I wanted to make sure that you didn’t have any concerns with the way I’m overseeing the investigation.’
‘Me?’ Shaw ran his fingers through his brown hair and laughed. ‘Why would you think
I
had a concern?’
I
had a concern?’
‘You’d come to me, if you did, wouldn’t you?’
‘Of course I would.’
‘Because I remember you saying that the investigation into the murders five years ago had been flawless. I suppose I’ve been arguing otherwise in public. I think there were avenues that weren’t fully explored and I’m not sure how overwhelming the evidence against Morris Keate actually was.’
Shaw nodded vigorously, as though he agreed with Pyke’s point. ‘I was young at the time and maybe a little naive. It was my first murder investigation. A part of me still wants to think we got everything right.’
‘And do you? I mean now, with the benefit of hindsight?’
The younger man shook his head. ‘It doesn’t seem likely, does it? Not in light of what’s happened in the past month or so.’
Pyke looked into Shaw’s eyes and tried to imagine him slipping off to see Pierce in his office at Bow Street. Was he capable of such deception?
‘Very good,’ he said, smiling. ‘That’s all for now, Frederick. Could you tell Jack to join me for a few minutes?’
As soon as Whicher had settled into the chair Pyke started by telling him about his suspicions regarding Shaw; the fact that he might be the one passing secrets to Pierce.
Whicher held his breath for a moment, as if weighing up the claim in his head. ‘Do you know this for certain?’
‘He was part of the original investigation. I think he feels a certain loyalty to what was done at the time and hence to Pierce; and I don’t think he quite realises what’s at stake here. I’m not just suggesting that the investigation was botched; I’m saying it’s possible that Morris Keate was deliberately picked out to take the blame and that Pierce knowingly allowed it to happen.’
Whicher nodded, but said, ‘You’re sure you’re not letting your antipathy for Pierce colour your reading of the situation?’
‘All I know is that I need to plug the leak in this vessel as quickly as possible. If Pierce knows what we’re doing as a department, he can always remain one step ahead of us, covering his tracks.’
‘You’re talking as if you’ve already made up your mind that Pierce is actively seeking to sabotage this investigation.’
Pyke had asked himself the same question: whether his antipathy towards Pierce was causing him to read more into the situation than was appropriate.
‘Now you’re here, Jack, I did want to talk to you about something else.’ He waited for a moment and then gave an account of his visit to the Model Prison and his suspicions regarding Druitt.
‘You think Druitt knows who killed Guppy and Hogarth?’
‘Either that, or he’s pretending he does. But if he is in communication with the murderer, perhaps he might lead us to him.’
Whicher crossed his legs and pondered what Pyke had told him: the idea seemed to sit heavily on his mind.
Pyke rubbed his eyes again and tried to suppress a yawn. He hadn’t slept well the night before and had woken up long before dawn. ‘I was also thinking about these two boys, Gregg and Clough. They were part of a mob run by Horace Flint. He was murdered a few years ago. Now a man called George Culpepper has taken over.’
‘And?’
‘If I’m not mistaken, Culpepper is involved in a battle over territory with the Rafferty brothers. The same Raffertys, if you remember, who were initially accused of killing the three men in Cullen’s shop.’
‘But we came to the conclusion that the Raffertys weren’t to blame for that.’
‘I know. I was just thinking that no one’s ever recovered the Saviour’s Cross, have they?’ Pyke was still bothered by this idea and the notion that Egan, the fence, might have found a way of locating it without them knowing.
Whicher was still struggling to follow his logic. ‘Are you suggesting that this business between the Raffertys and Culpepper is related to the theft of the cross?’
‘Not at all.’ Pyke leaned back against his chair and sighed. ‘I don’t know what I’m saying, Jack. I’m just worried that Rafferty and Culpepper are involved in all this and I can’t yet see how.’
Afterwards Pyke thought about their conversation and wondered how much he could trust even Whicher. It was surely inconceivable that Whicher was passing information back to Pierce. Pyke liked the man, and in their own way they’d become close since the summer, but he knew very little about the detective sergeant. He was interrupted in his thoughts by a knock on the door as Lockhart peered in.
‘Come in, Eddie, please have a seat.’ Pyke waited for Lockhart to sit down before adding, ‘I just wanted to say how much I appreciated all you did, getting the affidavit from the coroner’s assistant.’
Lockhart nodded but said nothing.
‘There’s something else I’d like you to do for me. It’s a little unorthodox.’ Pyke saw Lockhart’s strained expression and smiled. ‘You were once a beat constable in the Kensington Division, weren’t you?’
‘For a year or so.’
‘So you would have come across a sergeant by the name of Russell?’
‘I knew him; I couldn’t say with any certainty that he’d know me any more.’
Pyke was certain that the man had been told to look out for and protect the interests of the Hogarth family. Why else would he come running as soon as the alarm was raised?
‘I want you to go and see Russell. Assure him you’ve got confidential information about our investigation into Hogarth’s death. Tell him you want to trade. He’ll ask what you want in return; be vague. Tell him the investigation has uncovered something important that links Hogarth and Guppy, that this information will discredit Hogarth and that his family will want to pay to have it silenced.’
Lockhart looked at him dubiously. ‘You’re assuming Russell is somehow in the pocket of this family.’
‘That’s right,’ Pyke said. He paused, wondering whether he needed to add that, until recently, Pierce had been in overall charge of the Kensington Division.
‘You’re assuming that Russell will believe I’m corrupt, too.’
‘If he is corrupt, it will be easier for him to believe you are. My guess is he won’t question it: he’ll be too keen to relay your offer to the family.’
Lockhart thought through the request. ‘I take it you’re just fishing? You don’t really have anything that connects the two murders?’
‘Not at the moment. But that’s not to suggest a connection doesn’t exist. And let’s not forget about the issues here. We’re up against a man, or a group of men, with the power to conceal a murder and make two other people - the coroner and the porter - disappear into thin air.’
‘So what if Russell turns around and accuses me of trying to profit illegally from my work?’
‘He won’t.’
‘But if he does?’
‘If he does, just deny it. After all, it’ll be your word against his.’ Pyke paused and rubbed his chin. ‘But I’ll bet you a hundred pounds he won’t do that.’
‘A hundred, eh?’ Lockhart looked at Pyke and smiled. ‘Maybe I should take you up on that.’
Martin Jakes was waiting for Pyke in the main office of the Detective Branch. At first Pyke thought something might have happened to Felix. Quickly the curate assured Pyke that his son was well and was thriving as a helper. Once they were seated in Pyke’s office, Jakes started to explain the real reason for his visit.
‘Something’s been playing on my conscience since our last conversation. I’m afraid to say I wasn’t entirely honest with you.’
Pyke studied Jakes’s face and motioned for him to continue.
‘You asked me whether I knew Brendan Malloy and Morris Keate . . .’
‘And you told me you didn’t. Or that you had heard of them but didn’t actually know them.’
Jakes nodded slowly, as though acknowledging the lie. ‘Keate was once a member of my congregation at St Luke’s.’
Pyke went across to the fireplace and poured more coal on to the fire. When he turned around, he said, ‘I’d always assumed he was a Catholic.’
‘Most people did; because of his association with Malloy.’
‘So Keate did know Malloy, then?’
‘When I couldn’t help Keate any further, I sent him to Malloy. I didn’t know Malloy and to this day I’ve never met him, but at the time he’d garnered something of a reputation for the exorcisms he performed . . . For a long time, the Protestant Church has turned its back on the practice of exorcism. It’s deemed to be too close to confession; too much power in the hands of the priest. I sent Morris to him because I didn’t know what else to do.’
Pyke gazed into the fire and said, ‘Tell me about him.’
‘Morris Keate was a simple man, in every sense of the word; a little strange, perhaps. Lived with the constant fear that he’d been possessed by the Devil. But in his own way he was kind hearted. Or so I thought.’
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