by Kerry Tombs
‘So it must have been the soup, and not the pie that made all the people ill.’
‘Yes Mister Ravenscroft, so you see that the gent must have been poisoned! One of them folks must have poisoned him! You has to do something about it,’ pronounced Stebbins.
‘Look, Stebbins, we don’t know that anyone was poisoned. We do know that everyone who ate the soup was ill afterwards, but that they all recovered, and that the only person who died was the person who did not partake of the soup.’
‘Exactly! So someone must have killed ’im off!’
‘The gentleman who died could have been taking some kind of medicine for a particular ailment, and for one reason or another he accidentally took rather too much of it before he retired. People are sometimes very careless with their medicines and how they use them. So you see there may be a perfectly fair explanation for all of this. You and this Maisie, Stebbins, must not go around telling everyone that the deceased was poisoned on purpose, when there is no evidence to suggest that this was the case,’ said Ravenscroft seeking to curb the youth’s enthusiasm.
‘You wouldn’t say that, Mister Ravenscroft, if you had seen ’im the morning after.’
‘Did you?’
‘No — but my Maisie did. It were ’er that found ’im.’
‘Tell me what happened the next morning, after the maid found the deceased?’
‘Well Maisie, she told Mister Talbot that gent was dead. Then they called the doctor.’
‘And what did the doctor say?’
‘Said he had eaten too much of the soup.’
‘And then?’
‘They took him away, to the undertakers.’
‘I take it that the deceased man was all alone. There was no one who had accompanied him to the lodging house?’ asked Ravenscroft.
‘Not as far as I knows,’
‘And how long had this gentleman been staying at the establishment?’
‘Maisie says, about a week or so. What’s that got to do with it?’
‘Well if this gentleman was hardly known to any of the other guests, why would any one of them wanted to have poisoned him? No, it does not make any sense, Stebbins. What do the local police make of it?’
‘Policeman who came after the doctor, asked a few questions, took away some of the soup, and that were it.’
‘So the police have no reasons to investigate further?’
‘Ah, but they don’t know what you and I and Maisie knows, that the gent didn’t eat any of the soup.’
‘Then why on earth did Maisie not speak up when the policeman was there?’ asked Ravenscroft.
‘She couldn’t do that.’
‘Why ever not?’
‘Cause she was out when the peeler came. She were getting the victuals for the evening meal.’
‘So why didn’t anyone else in the lodging house inform the policeman that the deceased had not eaten the soup?’ sighed Ravenscroft.
‘I don’t know, does I? I weren’t there at the time.’
‘Look, Stebbins, I think that this is all rather fanciful.’
‘No, sir. They killed him. You has to do something about it Mister Ravenscroft. They be burying him tomorrow afternoon. Be too late then. You has to do something. You can’t let them get away with it!’ implored Stebbins jumping up from the chair and looking Ravenscroft directly in the face.
‘Stebbins, please don’t tell me what I can and cannot do,’ replied Ravenscroft firmly as he turned away and opened the door for the youth.
‘You ’as to do something. Please, Mister Ravenscroft. My Maisie is straight as a ruler. If she says something, it must be right. He were poisoned!’ entreated the youth.
‘All right, Stebbins, I think you have said enough for now. I’ll think about it overnight. If there is nothing else on in the morning, then Constable Crabb and I will travel over to Pershore and make inquiries.’
‘Lord bless you, sir! You won’t regret it, Mister Ravenscroft.’
‘Now, good night, Stebbins,’ said Ravenscroft walking towards the front door and gesturing that Stebbins should leave.
‘You mark my words, Mister Ravenscroft, he were done in, was that gent, and one of them folks in that place did it.’
‘Good night, Stebbins,’ said Ravenscroft opening the front door and indicating that the youth should step outside.
‘Nice juicy case this one will be, I’ll have no doubt, and remember it were Stebbins that told yer about it in the first place. You call on Stebbins if you need anything, Mister Ravenscroft. Stebbins is yer man.’
‘Yes, good night, Stebbins,’ sighed Ravenscroft closing the door on his uninvited guest.
CHAPTER TWO
PERSHORE
‘Of course all this could be a complete waste of time, Tom. You realize that.’
‘The lad’s been right in the past, sir.’
‘It all seems a bit too fanciful for me. However, it’s a fine day, no crimes committed overnight, and we have nothing else to occupy our minds at the present, so it will do no harm to make inquiries,’ added Ravenscroft as the trap made its way along the country lanes that lead from Ledbury towards the county town of Pershore.
‘So Stebbins never saw the body then?’ asked Constable Crabb as he encouraged the horse to quicken his pace.
‘No. It is all rather second-hand evidence, passed on by the scullery maid to Stebbins, and no doubt embellished by him. We shall probably discover that the dead man died from eating the Brown Windsor soup after all, and that there is nothing for us to investigate,’ said Ravenscroft.
‘Funny thing, soup. You never know what’s in it, ‘specially the cloudy ones.’
Ravenscroft smiled as the trap crossed the Severn at Upton.
* * *
An hour later the horse and trap made its way through the busy market place with its stalls and groups of people, and along the main street of the town lined with its elegant Georgian buildings and coaching inns, until Crabb pulled up the horse outside a drab looking building at the end of the road.
‘Let us go and see what the local men have found out,’ said Ravenscroft alighting from the trap and pushing open the door of the police station.
‘No one about,’ remarked Crabb following on behind and looking around the empty office.
Ravenscroft called out, and upon receiving no reply, the two men entered the smaller inner room.
‘No wonder the office was unattended,’ said Ravenscroft looking down at the armchair where a stocky, ruddy-faced, uniformed figure lay snoring loudly.
‘Must have had a late night, sir,’ smiled Crabb.
‘Confound the fellow. Wake up, man!’ shouted Ravenscroft.
The figure merely made a grunting sound before continuing with his deep snores.
‘This is intolerable!’ exclaimed Ravenscroft leaning forwards and pushing the man’s shoulder with a violent shove.
‘Eh . . . what . . . the deuce . . .’ stuttered the uniformed officer.
‘Wake up, man. Pull yourself together!’ instructed Ravenscroft.
‘What? Oh sorry, sir,’ replied the man springing to his feet. ‘I’m sorry, sir. You must forgive me. How can I help you, sir?’
‘Don’t you know that such conduct is a gross dereliction of duty?’ reprimanded Ravenscroft.
‘Sorry, sir. And you are?’
‘Ravenscroft. You have heard of me? Detective Inspector Ravenscroft.’
‘Oh my God!’ exclaimed the embarrassed policeman growing even redder in the face as he quickly brushed down his tunic with his hands and attempted to straighten out his collar. ‘I’m sorry, sir. Please excuse me. I don’t know what came over me.’
‘You know you can be sacked for this,’ joined in Crabb.
‘Yes, I’m sorry, sir. It will not happen again I can assure you. This has never happened before. You must—’
‘Stop babbling on, man,’ said an annoyed Ravenscroft.
‘Yes, sir. Sorry, sir.’
‘Who are you?’
<
br /> ‘Hoskings, sir. P.C. Hoskings,’ replied the policeman shuffling his feet and growing even redder in the face.
‘Well, Hoskings, where is Sergeant Braithwaite?’
‘Away, sir.’
‘Away?’
‘Ill, sir. Laid up with a broken leg in Worcester Infirmary, sir.’
‘I see. So you are in charge?’
‘Yes sir. Until they can find a replacement.’
‘Well Hoskings, I suppose you will have to do. Now what can you tell Constable Crabb and myself about this poisoning case?’ asked Ravenscroft.
‘Poisoning case? Oh yes, sir. Nasty case of food poisoning at Talbots Lodging House. Everyone ate the soup and was ill afterwards. Brown Windsor I believe. Only one gent ate too much and died as a result. Wonder they didn’t all die.’
‘And you went to investigate?’
‘Yes sir.’
‘Well, what happened, man?’
‘Doctor Homer was already there when I arrived. The man was lying on his bed. He was quite dead. Seemed he had eaten too much of the soup.’
‘Only he hadn’t,’ interjected Crabb.
‘Go on,’ urged Ravenscroft.
‘Well, I . . . er . . . interviewed Mr Talbot, that’s the owner of the lodging house, who confirmed that they had all been ill through drinking the soup, then we called in Johnsons’ the undertakers and they took the deceased away. That was all there was to it, sir.’
‘I believe there was probably a lot more to it, Hoskings. That is what we have come to find out. Did you interview any of the other members of the party?’
‘No, sir. Didn’t see the need to, sir. Seemed a straightforward case.’
‘That will be for us to judge.’
‘Yes, sir. Of course, sir.’
‘We understand that you took a sample of the soup away with you?’ asked Ravenscroft.
‘Er . . . well sir . . . I . . . er.’
‘For goodness sake, man, did you, or did you not, take away a sample of the soup for further investigation?’ asked Ravenscroft becoming annoyed.
‘Yes sir,’ replied Hoskings looking sheepishly down at his boots.
‘Well, man, where is it then?’
‘I’m afraid there was an accident, sir.’
‘Accident? What do you mean an accident? Speak up, man.’
‘Sorry, sir. I was carrying the jar back to the police station when it slipped out of my hand and fell to the ground. I’m afraid there is none of the soup left. I’m very sorry, sir. I couldn’t help it, sir.’
‘Good gracious, man!’ exclaimed Ravenscroft. ‘That could have been valuable evidence.’
‘I’m sorry, sir.’
‘Your carelessness may have profound consequences for the investigation of this case.’
‘Yes, sir. Sorry, sir.’
‘And stop saying you’re sorry all the time,’ said Ravenscroft, glaring.
‘No, sir. Sorry, sir, I mean yes, sir.’
‘All right. Now we understand that the man is due to be buried this afternoon. I presume the body is still at the undertakers. You best come with us and show us the way.’
‘I’m sorry, sir. The deceased was buried this morning.’
‘What do you mean, he was buried this morning? It has only just gone twelve,’ said Ravenscroft feeling more and more frustrated.
‘Buried earlier this morning, sir. About two hours ago, I believe,’ muttered the crestfallen policeman.
‘For goodness sake!’ exclaimed Ravenscroft. ‘If we had known this, Tom, we would have come earlier. Confound it!’
‘We will have to get an exhumation order, sir,’ offered Crabb.
‘On what grounds, Tom? We don’t even know if someone deliberately poisoned the man, or whether it was the soup after all that killed him. We will never be able to obtain an order. So now we have no corpse, and now that Police Constable Hoskings here has destroyed all the evidence, we have nothing to go on at all!’ said a dispirited Ravenscroft.
‘I’m sorry, sir.’
‘Look Hoskings, when you entered the dead man’s bedroom, did you notice anything unusual there?’
‘Unusual, sir?’ asked the perplexed constable.
‘Yes, Hoskings. Were there any signs that a struggle had taken place?’
‘No, sir.’
‘Did you observe any bottles or other medicine on the bedside cabinet for instance?’
‘I don’t think so, sir. I didn’t really notice . . .’ trailed off Hoskings.
‘For goodness sake. Come, Crabb, I can see that we are wasting our time here. We shall have to go and visit this Talbots lodging house for ourselves and see if we can arrive at the truth of the matter.’
‘What would you like me to do, sir?’ asked Hoskings.
‘Nothing, Hoskings. You had better remain here. I think you have done more than enough as far as this case is concerned.’
‘Yes, sir. Sorry, sir.’
‘If you want something to do, you can clean up this room. It looks a mess, man. Then you can tidy yourself up as well,’ said Ravenscroft beginning to leave.
‘Yes, sir.’
‘And Hoskings—’
‘Yes, sir?’
‘Try not to fall asleep again.’
‘No, sir.’
* * *
A few minutes later Ravenscroft and Crabb made their way up the road that took them away from the centre of the town and onwards towards a large, shabby, four-storeyed, half-timbered building situated at the end of a driveway where they found a faded and chipped sign bearing the words TALBOTS’ in large letters swinging somewhat precariously over the front door.
Ravenscroft grasped the large bellpull and was rewarded by the sound of ringing somewhere in the distance.
‘Looks as though the place has seen better days,’ said Crabb glancing apprehensively at the sign above their heads.
‘Good morning, sir,’ said a young red-headed, sallow-faced girl opening the door.
‘Good morning,’ replied Ravenscroft removing his hat. ‘I wonder if I might have a word with your master, Mr Talbot?’
‘Yes, sir. If you would care to wait a moment, sir, I will go and get him for you,’ said the maid disappearing down what appeared to be a long hallway.
‘I wonder if she is Stebbin’s girl, Maisie?’ whispered Crabb.
A few moments later a small, thin, shabbily dressed man made his way along the hallway towards the policemen. ‘Good morning, sir. I expect you have come to see the room. It will be ready shortly, and at only six shillings a week including all meals, and a change of linen on Mondays. You will find nothing better in Pershore, I can assure you.’
‘No Mr Talbot, we have not come about the room. My name is Detective Inspector Ravenscroft, and this is my colleague Constable Crabb.’
‘I see. Forgive me, I had not observed your constable’s attire.’
‘Who is it, Talbot?’ boomed a loud voice from somewhere at the far end of the hallway.
‘It is the police, my dear,’ replied the lodging-house owner forcing a brief smile through clenched teeth.
‘Tell them to go away, Talbot. Room ain’t available yet. Tell them someone has already been and made enquiries,’ continued the voice.
‘I know that Constable Hoskings has called upon you already, but the matter has now reached a more senior level,’ said Ravenscroft.
‘What’s that?’ shouted the voice.
‘Gent says he needs to make further enquiries. Something about a more senior level—’ began Talbot.
‘What senior level?’ asked the owner of the voice suddenly emerging from the interior of the building and striding towards the front door.
‘Good morning. I take it I have the honour of addressing Mrs Talbot?’ said Ravenscroft somewhat taken aback by the large, red-faced, buxom woman who seemed now to occupy the whole width of the front doorway and who stared at him, in what he considered to be an unfriendly manner.
‘Talbot and I have told everything there is
to tell — and that’s an end to it. Close the door, Talbot,’ instructed the woman casting a dismissive glance at Ravenscroft before turning upon her heel.
‘I am sorry, but Mrs Talbot has spoken,’ said the small man in a nervous way as he began to close the door on the two policemen.
‘I am afraid that I must insist on speaking to you both,’ said Ravenscroft placing his foot in the doorway. ‘I can of course return with a warrant. There have been certain irregularities.’
‘Irregularities!’ said Mrs Talbot quickly returning to the scene. ‘Irregularities? What irregularities? I’ll have you know that Talbot and I run a very respectable establishment here. You’ll find none of your irregularities here.’
‘I’m sure not, Mrs Talbot. Your establishment comes very highly recommended,’ replied Ravenscroft seeking to placate the formidable woman.
‘Highly recommended? Who says so?’ asked Mrs Talbot.
‘Er . . . the Duke of Welshpool,’ stammered Ravenscroft.
‘Did you hear that, Mrs Talbot. The Duke of Welshpool no less,’ said the lodging-house owner.
‘He was most complimentary,’ added Ravenscroft attempting to smile.
‘Don’t remember no Duke of Welshpool staying here,’ said the woman in a more conciliatory tone.
‘I believe it was a few years ago, before he inherited the title,’ continued Ravenscroft anxious to obtain access to the building.
‘Highly recommended you say?’
‘Yes indeed, ma’am. The best lodging house for miles, he said. He particularly praised the cooking,’ continued Ravenscroft realizing that he was now slowly gaining the advantage.
‘Did you hear that, my dear. I have always said your cooking could not be bettered, and that it would bring us fame and fortune one day,’ said Talbot.
‘We just wanted to ask you a few questions concerning your late guest,’ said Ravenscroft easing himself slowly into the hall. ‘The constable who visited you failed to carry out the correct procedures. The fault is not on your part, I can assure you. We have been asked to clarify one or two points. I am sure we will not detain you for more than a few minutes or so.’
The landlady stared hard at Ravenscroft.
‘It can do no harm, my dear,’ said Talbot.
