A Bespoke Murder

by Edward Marston

  ‘What d’you want?’ demanded the first man.

  Keedy held up the leaflet. ‘I came about this.’

  ‘What about it?’

  ‘I liked what it said.’

  The man was cautious. ‘Oh, yeah – why was that?’

  ‘I hate Yids,’ said Keedy with a snarl. ‘I used to work in a factory that was taken over by one. First thing the long-nosed bastard did was to lower our wages. When I tried to organise a protest, he booted me out.’

  ‘Where was this?’

  ‘It was in Ashford, down in Kent.’

  ‘What sort of factory?’

  ‘We made furniture. I was a storeman.’

  ‘What’s your name?’

  ‘What’s yours?’ asked Keedy, meeting his unfriendly gaze.

  The man stopped to appraise him. His tone was hostile.

  ‘We get lots of people who say they support our aims,’ he said, ‘but they turn out to be shit-scared of doing anything about it. You look as if you might be one of those.’

  ‘Then you’d better ask Mr Liebermann.’

  ‘Who’s he when he’s at home?’

  ‘The rotten Jew who kicked me out of the factory,’ said Keedy. ‘He won’t forget me in a hurry. His wife used to have this little dog she was mad about. She was always cosseting it. Well, she won’t be doing that anymore,’ he added with a cackle, ‘because I killed the bleeding thing. It’s the reason I had to get out of Ashford and come to London.’

  Keedy heard the newspaper rustle slightly and realised that the man he was talking to was not in charge. It was the other one who was assessing him, listening carefully for any signs that he might be an impostor. Keedy walked over to him and pushed the paper aside.

  ‘Since you don’t want me,’ he said, ‘I’ll find someone who does. I heard you were people who meant business but I can see I was wrong about that.’ He turned on his heel and walked away. ‘Thanks for wasting my time.’

  ‘Wait!’ said the man with the newspaper. Keedy halted. ‘Why didn’t you give a name?’

  ‘It’s because I’m as careful as you two are. The police are after me. How do I know you won’t pass my name on to them?’ The big man guffawed. ‘What’s he laughing at?’

  ‘Brad hates coppers,’ said the other. ‘He’d never help them.’

  ‘Neither would I – unless they did what they ought to do and arrested every Jew in the country and deported them.’

  ‘What do we call you, then?’

  Keedy shrugged. ‘Call me what the hell you like.’

  ‘How long have you been in London?’

  ‘I came here three weeks ago.’

  ‘And is this the first time you’ve got interested in a group like ours and given serious thought to the Jewish conspiracy bent on taking over Britain?’

  Unlike the first man, he had an educated voice and a shrewd gaze. If Keedy was to get accepted, he had to impress him somehow. He therefore claimed to have been part of a mob that stormed through the East End after news of the Lusitania tragedy broke. Having seen the police reports of the incidents, he was able to give accurate details of a particular attack. Drawing on information gathered by detectives, he talked about two other groups with similar objectives, saying that he tried to join them but found their activities were largely confined to holding public meetings and pamphleteering.

  ‘If you believe in something,’ he asserted, ‘you should be ready to stand up for it. I’ve got no time for theories that never get put into practice. So unless you’re the type of people who’re ready to defy the law and use force, I’m off.’

  ‘He sounds angry,’ said Brad with approval.

  ‘We’ve had angry people in here before,’ recalled his companion. ‘When we put them to the test, however, they turn out to be useless.’

  ‘I’m not useless,’ insisted Keedy. ‘Just try me out.’

  ‘There’s more to it than poisoning a dog,’ warned Brad.

  ‘I didn’t poison it. I strangled it to death with its lead. And if Mrs Liebermann had been there, I’d have strangled the old bitch as well.’

  The younger man studied Keedy then turned to his friend.

  ‘What do you think, Brad?’

  ‘No harm in trying him out,’ said the other.

  ‘I fancy that he sounds too good to be true.’

  ‘Then I’ll be off,’ snapped Keedy, looking round. ‘If this dump is your headquarters, you’re obviously short of cash. I want to join an organisation with the money to do something serious.’

  ‘Oh, we’ve got money,’ said the younger man. ‘Thanks to an anonymous donation, we were able to buy a lorry. That makes it a lot easier to get around. And we’ve built up a healthy fighting fund.’ He subjected Keedy to a long stare. ‘Very well,’ he said at length, ‘let’s put you on trial. Be here this time on Friday.’

  ‘Where am I going?’ asked Keedy.

  ‘You’ll find out.’

  ‘Right – I’ll be here.’

  ‘We’ll be waiting,’ said Brad.

  Keedy walked to the door and opened it. He turned back and addressed the younger man who was reading his newspaper again.

  ‘You didn’t tell me your name,’ said Keedy.

  ‘That’s right,’ replied the other, ‘I didn’t, did I?’

  After a full day, Herbert Stone finally found time to call on his sister-in-law. He moaned about the destruction of his car and complained bitterly about the uselessness of the police. It was only after he’d ventilated his many grievances that he remembered his niece.

  ‘How is Ruth?’

  ‘She’s still in a world of her own,’ said Miriam.

  ‘It’s not healthy to be like that.’

  ‘We’ve tried everything to bring her out of it, Herman.’

  ‘Let me have another talk with her,’ said Stone. ‘I can usually get through to her. Where is she, Mimi?’

  ‘Up in her bedroom – I’ll go and fetch her.’

  Leaving him in the living room, she tripped up the stairs. Her brother-in-law, meanwhile, took out a box of small cigars. Selecting one of them, he bit off the end and spat it into the fireplace. Then he lit the cigar and inhaled until it began to glow. A distant cry made him hurry into the hall. Miriam came running down the stairs.

  ‘Ruth is not here,’ she said in alarm. ‘I’ve looked everywhere. She’s just disappeared.’

  Having started work early, Harvey Marmion habitually finished late, so it was a pleasant surprise to his family that he managed to get home by mid-evening. He had a welcoming kiss from his wife, then waved a greeting to Alice who was perusing a seed catalogue in the living room. Marmion followed his wife into the kitchen, which had a pervading aroma of cooked vegetables.

  ‘What’s happened?’ he asked.

  ‘Nothing much,’ she replied.

  ‘I can smell tension in the air.’

  ‘It must be the cabbage or the onions.’

  He lowered his voice. ‘Have you and Alice had a row?’

  ‘No, we haven’t. In fact, I apologised to her for stepping on her toes a little yesterday. We’re friends again.’

  ‘So domestic harmony has been restored?’

  ‘It is now that you’re back home.’

  He gave her a warm hug. Ellen had spoken too soon. Now that both her parents were there, Alice joined them to pass on her news. She’d refrained from telling her mother when she first got back from school because she knew that it would provoke an argument. Alice was relying on her father to respond more calmly and reasonably to her decision. When they saw Alice’s expression, they sensed that an announcement was coming.

  ‘Why don’t we step into the living room?’ suggested Marmion. ‘There’s less of a pong in there.’

  ‘Cooked veg has a lovely wholesome smell,’ insisted Ellen.

  ‘Then I’ll be glad to eat it when it’s fresh out of a saucepan instead of having it the usual way – after it’s been kept warm in the oven for hours.’

  They adj
ourned to the living room and sat on the sofa.

  ‘You’re not at school now,’ he said as his daughter remained on her feet. ‘Take a pew – there’s no charge.’

  Alice perched on the arm of a chair and took a deep breath.

  ‘I’ve been doing some thinking,’ she said, ‘and I reached a decision. I know it will come as a shock but I think we’ll all benefit in the end.’

  ‘That sounds ominous,’ said Ellen, worried.

  ‘What is this decision, Alice?’ prompted her father.

  ‘I’m going to find a place of my own.’

  Ellen was aghast. ‘You mean that … you’re leaving home?’

  ‘I feel that I need a little more space, Mummy.’

  ‘But there’s plenty of space here – especially since your father is at work most of the time. You’ve even got a free hand in the garden. What more space do you need?’

  ‘Don’t get so het up about it, love,’ said Marmion with a hand on his wife’s arm. ‘Alice is not only talking about physical space.’

  ‘That’s right, Daddy,’ said his daughter.

  ‘Do you have anywhere in mind?’

  ‘You’re surely not going to encourage her, are you?’ protested Ellen. ‘I love having Alice here. Don’t drive her away, Harvey.’

  ‘I’m just respecting her right to do as she wishes.’

  ‘Thank you, Daddy,’ said Alice.

  ‘So what’s the answer?’

  ‘I don’t have anywhere particular in mind. Wherever it is, it won’t be far away. It’s not as if I’m emigrating.’

  ‘This is Vera’s doing, isn’t it?’ said Ellen. ‘Mrs Dowling told me that she keeps going on about sharing accommodation with you.’

  ‘That would be a big mistake,’ observed Marmion. ‘Not that it’s up to me, of course, but Alice would get none of the space she wants if she moves in with Vera.’

  ‘You’re quite right, Daddy,’ said Alice. ‘I want to live alone.’

  ‘Fair enough – I have no objection to that.’

  ‘How can you say that, Harvey?’ demanded his wife. ‘Alice is our daughter. She belongs here. Well,’ she continued, ‘until she meets Mr Right and gets married, that is.’

  Marmion smiled. ‘Has it never occurred to you that she might stand more of a chance of meeting the elusive Mr Right if she didn’t live under her parents’ roof? Think how awful it was when I courted you and had to be grilled by your parents every time I took you out.’ He put an arm around Ellen. ‘Life would have been a lot easier for both of us if you’d been in digs somewhere.’

  Ellen was dismissive. ‘That’s water under the bridge.’

  ‘Your mother was so reluctant to let you go. You hated it at the time, yet you’re behaving just like her now.’

  ‘That’s not true, Harvey.’

  ‘We must be more understanding.’

  ‘All I understand is that I’m losing a daughter.’

  ‘Alice will probably be within walking distance.’

  ‘It’s not the same.’

  ‘I may still be able to look after the garden, Mummy,’ said Alice. ‘Why not think of the benefits? You won’t have to cook for me or do my washing or change my bed. I’m going to lighten your load.’

  ‘That’s not how I see it. You’re running away from us. First, you defy us over joining the WEC, and now this.’ Ellen was close to tears. ‘Whatever next – that’s what I ask?’

  Alice continued to reassure her mother and Marmion added his own emollient comments but Ellen was in no mood to be pacified. For his part, the news had not come as such a shock. If anything, Marmion was surprised that Alice had stayed with them so long. He was glad that she felt ready to strike out on her own and could see the advantages for her. Ellen, however, could only see the disadvantages. Marmion steeled himself for a long discussion once they went to bed. His wife was not going to let the matter rest.

  Irene had volunteered to cook the meal and had timed it so that it was ready only minutes after her sister returned home. They ate in the kitchen and compared their respective days. Dorothy said nothing about her encounter with Ernie Gill, though it was very much on her mind. After they’d eaten and done the washing up, they spent an hour or so playing cards. Irene noticed the difference in her sister. There was a muffled excitability about Dorothy that was untypical. When the game reached a natural break, Irene became inquisitive.

  ‘There’s something you’re not telling me, Dot,’ she said.

  ‘What a funny thing to say!’

  ‘Am I right?’

  ‘No,’ said Dorothy. ‘You know me. I don’t keep secrets from you.’

  ‘Then why do you keep smiling?’

  ‘We had a good day at the shop, that’s all. It was the busiest afternoon for weeks.’

  ‘I’m glad to hear that.’

  ‘Let’s play another game. It’s your deal.’

  ‘I thought you’d had enough.’

  ‘I’m not stopping when I’m on a winning streak,’ said Dorothy.

  The cards were dealt and they picked them up. Irene could still see the smile hovering around her sister’s lips but she accepted the explanation given. She was soon absorbed in the game, especially as her luck improved markedly. The odd thing was that Dorothy didn’t seem to mind losing. That was unusual. She invariably bemoaned her fate if she was dealt a poor hand.

  While Irene was concentrating hard on the game, her sister was preoccupied. The meeting with Ernie Gill had left her in a state of quiet elation, and not simply because he’d paid her a compliment. He’d interested her. Dorothy felt that she’d been given a wrong impression about him. She surmised that something had happened between him and Irene to make her sister wish to keep him as no more than a friend. Her curiosity finally got the better of her.

  ‘When did you first meet Ernie Gill?’ she asked.

  ‘Oh, it was years ago, Dot. We met on deck. And no,’ said Irene, quickly, ‘it wasn’t the start of a shipboard romance. I was pushing a grumpy old lady in her bath chair at the time.’

  Dorothy shuffled the cards. ‘When did he propose to you?’

  ‘I’ve told you before. I try to forget that incident.’

  ‘But he was paying you a compliment, Irene.’

  ‘I suppose he was, looking back, and I must admit that I was amused by the coincidence.’

  ‘What coincidence?’ asked Dorothy starting to deal the cards.

  ‘Well, it turns out that his mother was called Irene as well.’

  Her sister gulped and her hands froze in mid-air. Gill had made a point of telling her that his mother’s name had been Dorothy. Her good opinion of the man began to crumble.

  ‘What did you just say, Irene?’

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  Given the problems they’d had with Ruth, her disappearance was bound to cause panic. Herbert Stone joined Miriam in a frantic search of the whole house. They even scoured the garden. Ruth was not there and neither was her handbag. More telling was the fact that the window of her bedroom had been left wide open. It looked as if she’d climbed onto the roof of the shed below and lowered herself to the ground. Miriam was overwhelmed with guilt. In treating her daughter as a prisoner, she feared she’d forced her into a daring escape bid. As ever, Stone was quick to apportion blame.

  ‘This is your fault, Mimi,’ he said.

  ‘I can’t watch her all the time, Herman.’

  ‘You should have been more vigilant.’

  ‘I thought that’s what I was being.’

  ‘Why didn’t you pick up the warning signs?’

  ‘There haven’t been any,’ said Miriam. ‘Ruth has been so dull and listless. It never crossed my mind that she could do anything as dangerous as climbing out of her room. What if she’d fallen?’

  ‘That would have served her right,’ he said under his breath.

  In the hope that his niece had not long left, he ran out of the house and looked up and down the road. He even went to the road at the back of the
property in case she’d left by means of the garden gate. It was all to no avail. By the time he got back to the front of the house, Miriam was standing in the drive. Stone was panting.

  ‘I can’t see her anywhere,’ he said.

  ‘Where on earth can she be?’

  ‘If I had my car, I could go and look for her. But it’s a complete wreck. And Jacob’s car is still in that garage near the shop.’ He scratched his head. ‘Could she be with a friend, perhaps?’

  ‘I don’t think so,’ said Miriam. ‘Since that awful night, she’s been afraid of meeting anybody. It’s suited her to be shut away in the house. At least, it did until today.’

  ‘When did you last see her?’

  ‘It was no more than half an hour ago.’

  ‘Then she can’t have got far,’ he said, looking up and down the road. ‘The trouble is we don’t know in which direction she went.’

  Miriam was tense. ‘You don’t think she’s going to … ?’

  ‘No, I don’t. If she was going to make another attempt, she’d hardly take her handbag with her. By the same token,’ he reasoned, ‘Ruth would take much more than a handbag if she was simply running away.’

  ‘Why would she do that, Herman?’ asked Miriam in disbelief. ‘We’re her family.’

  ‘People behave strangely under stress.’

  ‘Do you think she’s done this deliberately to hurt us?’

  ‘I don’t believe she knows what she’s doing, Mimi.’

  She held back tears. ‘We must tell the police.’

  ‘I’ve lost all faith in them,’ he said with a sneer.

  ‘We can’t let her roam about on her own. They need to start a search for her right away.’

  He gritted his teeth. ‘Leave it to me. I’ll speak to them.’

  They went back into the house. The telephone was in the hall. Stone was about to pick it up when a thought hit him. Miriam was now wringing her hands in anguish.

  ‘This is dreadful!’ she cried. ‘Haven’t we had enough pain to bear already? Why is Ruth doing this to us?’