‘Think of your sister. Is this how you want her to remember you?’
‘I only did it for Colette.’
Marmion had paused on a step. ‘And how does killing her instructor help your sister’s dancing career?’
‘You keep out of this, Inspector.’
‘What you did was done in a blind rage.’
‘I won’t tell you again.’
Orme pointed the gun at Marmion this time. Seeing his chance, Keedy dived forward and knocked Orme off his feet. There was a fierce struggle on the floor with neither man getting the upper hand. Marmion dashed up to the landing to help Keedy but he was too late. The gun went off with a fearsome bang and both men froze in position. There was a long, agonising pause.
‘Are you all right, Joe?’ asked Marmion, worriedly.
Keedy rolled off the dead body. ‘He shot himself,’ he said, gazing in horror at the blood all over his jacket, ‘and he ruined my best suit.’
Claude Chatfield was delighted that the murder of Simon Wilder had finally been solved though disappointed that the killer had escaped the hangman. Puritanical by nature, he was shocked by some of the aspects of the case and was anticipating some awkward questions at the imminent press conference. Meanwhile, he congratulated his detectives on their success.
‘Thank you, sir,’ said Marmion, ‘but the real praise should go to Sergeant Keedy. He risked his life by tackling an armed man.’
‘That won’t be forgotten,’ promised the superintendent.
‘I hope that it exonerates him.’
‘An act of bravery is always commendable, Inspector, but it won’t blind me to the fact that the sergeant behaved disgracefully towards me in this very office.’
‘I apologised for that, sir,’ said Keedy.
‘The matter is not yet settled.’
‘I’m ready to take my punishment.’
‘This is hardly the ideal moment,’ said Chatfield. ‘I’m just about to introduce you to the press as the heroes of the hour. How would it look if I told them that I was just about to discipline you for insubordination? It would seem petty of me. For the time being, Sergeant, you are safe.’
‘Thank you, sir.’
‘I’d like to add my thanks as well,’ said Marmion. ‘Nothing should take away the sergeant’s lustre at a time like this.’
Keedy saw a chance to use flattery, ‘You deserve some of the plaudits as well, Superintendent,’ he said. ‘I was so convinced of Redmond’s guilt that I brought him back here in handcuffs. Wisely, you had him released from custody.’
‘You didn’t appreciate my wisdom at the time,’ said Chatfield.
‘I’ll take care to do so in future, sir.’
‘That’s heartening. Going back to the murder victim, why did he rent that house in the name of Philip Clandon?’
‘Mrs Wilder had the answer to that, sir,’ said Marmion. ‘She and her future husband met when they were acting in a comedy by Bernard Shaw. It was called You Never Can Tell and the character played by Mr Wilder was a certain Philip Clandon. He decided to use the name again.’
‘I have another question for you, Inspector, and it’s one that will surely be directed at me in a short while, so I’d be grateful for an answer. What put you on to this fellow, Orme?’
‘It was his dedication, sir.’
‘Dedication?’
‘Dennis Orme was intensely proud of his sister. He’d made great sacrifices for her. He’d do anything to further her dancing career. Then he saw a nude photograph of her being passed around his drunken friends in a pub and something snapped inside him. He wanted revenge against the man who took the photo.’
‘I thought he was disabled.’
‘He was stronger and more mobile than I thought,’ said Marmion. ‘When I first met him at the house, he put on a show of struggling along on his walking stick. As the sergeant found out, however, he could certainly defend himself.’
‘Yes,’ said Keedy, ‘he was powerful. I had to fight for all I was worth.’
‘The irony of it all is that the sister he idolised is the one who’ll suffer most now. Her dancing career is in ruins and she’ll be haunted by what her brother did. When she got back to the house, Dennis Orme was having an altercation with one of the people he used to go drinking with. Orme had cut himself off from them. On the night of the murder, he’d told Colette, he’d got so drunk that he’d slept at the house of a friend. In fact, of course,’ said Marmion, ‘he was stalking Simon Wilder.’
Chatfield looked at his watch. ‘Time to go, gentlemen,’ he said. ‘Tomorrow morning, your names will be all over the newspapers and I can tell you now what the most popular headline will be.’
‘So can I, sir – DANCE OF DEATH.’
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About the Author
EDWARD MARSTON was born and brought up in South Wales. A full-time writer for over forty years, he has worked in radio, film, television and theatre, and is a former chairman of the Crime Writers’ Association.
www.edwardmarston.com
By Edward Marston
THE HOME FRONT DETECTIVE SERIES
A Bespoke Murder • Instrument of Slaughter
Five Dead Canaries • Deeds of Darkness • Dance of Death
THE RAILWAY DETECTIVE SERIES
The Railway Detective • The Excursion Train
The Railway Viaduct • The Iron Horse
Murder on the Brighton Express • The Silver Locomotive Mystery
Railway to the Grave • Blood on the Line
The Stationmaster’s Farewell • Peril on the Royal Train
A Ticket to Oblivion • Timetable of Death
Inspector Colbeck’s Casebook:
Thirteen Tales from the Railway Detective
The Railway Detective Omnibus:
The Railway Detective, The Excursion Train, The Railway Viaduct
THE CAPTAIN RAWSON SERIES
Soldier of Fortune • Drums of War • Fire and Sword
Under Siege • A Very Murdering Battle
THE RESTORATION SERIES
The King’s Evil • The Amorous Nightingale • The Repentant Rake
The Frost Fair • The Parliament House • The Painted Lady
THE BRACEWELL MYSTERIES
The Queen’s Head • The Merry Devils • The Trip to Jerusalem
The Nine Giants • The Mad Courtesan • The Silent Woman
The Roaring Boy • The Laughing Hangman • The Fair Maid of Bohemia
The Wanton Angel • The Devil’s Apprentice • The Bawdy Basket
The Vagabond Clown • The Counterfeit Crank
The Malevolent Comedy • The Princess of Denmark
THE BOW STREET RIVALS SERIES
Shadow of the Hangman
Copyright
Allison & Busby Limited
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London W1T 6DW
allisonandbusby.com
First published in Great Britain by Allison & Busby in 2015.
This ebook edition first published in 2015.
Copyright © 2015 by EDWARD MARSTON
The moral right of the author is hereby asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All characters and events in this publication other than those clearly in the public domain are fictitious and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retr
ieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent buyer.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 978–0–7490–1844–3
Dance of Death Page 31
