A True and Faithful Brother

by Linda Stratmann

  ‘Did you not travel to the tavern together?’

  ‘We did, but he took a walk around outside first. He wanted to look at some properties. I would have gone with him but for a touch of inner discomfort.’

  ‘Might he have suspected that you had gone to look out of the window – perhaps used it to signal to an accomplice outside?’

  ‘It was not a pleasant look he gave me, that much I can say. I put it down to dyspepsia at the time. I offered him a lozenge but he wouldn’t take it.’

  ‘If he was outside the tavern he might have seen someone at the back window, and suspected it was you. Which leads to the question – if it wasn’t you, then who was it? The stairs were not restricted to employees. Anyone who used the corridor could have known about them.’

  Frances recalled her conversation with the charlady and the subsequent one with Mr Neilson. Events had driven those thoughts from her mind, but they had just resurfaced. ‘There is something you could do for me. The Director of Ceremonies for Mulberry Lodge —’

  ‘Mr Pollard, yes.’

  ‘When you arrived for the last meeting was he already there? Had he already checked the Lodge room?’

  ‘I don’t think so. We arrived early because Lancelot wanted to look over some properties first. Then he had some business to discuss with Mr Neilson.’

  ‘Ask Mr Pollard if he remembers that meeting. When he went to get the key to the Lodge room from the office, was Mr Dobree there?’

  ‘Very well, I will ask him. Is the subject of their conversation important?’

  ‘No. But I had assumed that your father-in-law didn’t know where the key to the Lodge was concealed. He knew it was kept in the office, but he didn’t know its new hiding place, and he didn’t want to attract suspicion by asking directly, but he did know that Mr Pollard would come and get it to check that all was in order before the meeting. All he had to do was engage Mr Neilson in conversation and wait for Mr Pollard to arrive. Then he would see where it was kept.’

  ‘How astute! I will go and ask Pollard about it at once!’ Salter, looking more energised now that he could make himself useful, rose to his feet. He paused, facing her and she could see that his lips were trembling with emotion. ‘I promise I will do everything in my power to help you.’

  It was in that moment that Frances at last recognised something of him in her own character; a natural sympathy, an earnest desire to do good. There was an awkward pause, then he asked permission to take her hand and she agreed. He begged to be allowed to embrace her as a father, and she agreed to that, too. She rose, and for a few seconds he held her in his arms in a way that William Doughty never had, very gently, very lightly, then he drew back a little, and pressed his fingertips to her cheek. She could see that he was afraid for her, afraid that this was not only the first time but also the last that he might be able to do so.

  Frances was left to herself. Sharrock arrived for a brief visit and told her that she would be taken to Marylebone at ten the next morning for the preliminary hearing. Mr Bramley was going to try and obtain an adjournment on the grounds that there was additional evidence to be gathered. It was a depressing prospect but there was nothing Frances could do. A plate of bread and dripping and some hot tea were brought, and this was very comforting. She wrapped herself in the blanket and the quilt that Sarah had provided, and was able to imagine that she was quite warm. Lying on the hard bench she dared not even try to sleep, she needed every moment of time to try to piece together the train of events.

  Lancelot Dobree had been led to believe by the vengeful Marsden that his son-in-law was involved in the local robberies. Not wanting to alert the police or reveal his concerns to anyone else without proof, Dobree had decided to look into it himself. While looking around the exterior of the lodging house he had seen something that struck him as suspicious. Someone had stood at the tavern window, acting as lookout or signalling to an associate. Vernon Salter’s sojourn in the gentleman’s convenience had led Dobree to the conclusion that it was his son-in-law at the window. He had confirmed the view himself by ascending the back stairs and looking out. His conversation with the charlady had revealed that secret gatherings were taking place in the yard of the empty house at the same time as Lodge meetings.

  But why, Frances wondered, was this activity taking place only during the Lodge meetings? What was special about those times? What was preventing the criminals from simply meeting in the house after dark? That was an important question that would need further thought. But it did mean that if Dobree wanted to find out about what was happening in the lodging house he would have to keep watch at the time when the Lodges met.

  Regarding his own Lodge, the Mulberry, Dobree could hardly risk being seen about the tavern and then fail to go to the meeting. That didn’t apply to the Literati; however, it so happened that the next meeting of the Literati was one to which he was invited as a guest. Then he realised his chance, because the ceremony to which he had been invited was a raising. At a raising he could, at a time when anyone would have thought he was secure in the Lodge room, slip out unnoticed under cover of darkness to look out of the window, but it must be done without noise. Few keys are noiseless, but he could overcome that difficulty by making sure that the door was unlocked before the meeting began.

  To do so he needed the key to the back door of the Lodge room. The keys had once hung on a board on the office wall, but no longer. Not wanting to ask, he had taken steps to find out where the key was kept. When Pollard came to get the key to the front door of the Lodge room Dobree would have seen him take it from the box.

  On the day of the Literati meeting, Dobree must have waited until Mr Chappell had checked that the Lodge room was secure. He then took the back door key, slipped upstairs, unlocked the back door and returned to the lounge bar. His absence must have been assumed to be occasioned by a visit to the gentleman’s convenience. Only Dobree would have known the back door was unlocked. Then, in the dark, he would have been able to slip out without making a sound.

  But, thought Frances, there was no reason for him to relock the door behind him after making his exit. Far from it, as to do so would have risked making a noise, and he was probably intending to return as soon as he had looked out of the window. From his point of view the best time to relock the door and put the key back was just after the meeting, but by then he had already vanished. When and by whom the door had been relocked and the key returned to its proper place was another puzzle.

  What had Dobree seen when he looked out of the window? Transactions in stolen goods? A meeting of a criminal gang? Whatever it was, he might well have decided to go downstairs and investigate, and this had led to his death. Had the door to the alley been open or shut? And if open, who had opened it?

  Frances wondered if the mysterious Cullum had been present, but doubted it. Cullum, she had been told, was a man who paid others to do his nefarious work for him. Dobree, interrupting the thieves, had met his death probably in the alley and his body carried quickly into the yard. But why had this been done? Why had he not simply been left in the alley to be found, appearing to have been killed by a street robber?

  Frances had some of the answers but was missing something vital that would tie all the facts together.

  CHAPTER FORTY-SIX

  She slept little that night. Her mind would not allow her to rest, going over all she knew repeatedly and without respite. A glimmer of inspiration did appear, and then, finally, she sank into an exhausted sleep. She awoke with Sarah shaking her by the shoulder.

  ‘What time is it?’

  ‘Seven.’

  ‘They’re taking me to Marylebone at ten.’

  ‘I hope not.’

  ‘Did you find the hammer?’

  ‘No, but we found a witness. Mr Garton’s brought her in, she’s with Sharrock now.’

  ‘She saw what happened?’

  ‘No, but she did see something. She’s a maidservant from up the road. About half an hour before you came home she s
aw two men in the street arguing. One of them had bruises on his face.’

  Frances sat up, as wide awake as it was possible for her to be. ‘Abbott!’

  ‘We think so.’

  ‘Who was the other one?’

  ‘She doesn’t know. Only saw his back and can’t even say if he was young or old. Can’t remember how he was dressed.’

  ‘What were they arguing about?’

  ‘It sounded like Abbott was being ordered to do something he didn’t want to do. But he was told that he had to, “after your part in that business at the Duke’s”. She remembered that very clearly, seeing as how it involved a Duke.’

  Frances rubbed the stiffness from her shoulders. ‘Not a Duke, of course, the Duke of Sussex. The tavern. So Harry Abbott was there that night.’ This was the first indication that there was a direct link between the Portobello Hotel and the tavern, and it meant that Harry Abbott had been involved in the death of Lancelot Dobree. Either he had killed him or had helped to conceal the body. It was clear now that Abbott was one small part of a gang operating in West London which stole goods that were taken to a central place, the abandoned lodging house. Abbott’s role was to hand over the pickings from the hotel, which explained how the ring had got there, and being a small item, it could have been overlooked in its hiding place. He had, however, unwisely done his own deals in stolen goods, such as the watch. He had been cheating a brutal and unforgiving man, and was badly beaten when found out, then ordered to dispose of Frances as a penance and proof of his loyalty. ‘It’s a pity she didn’t see the other man. He could have been anyone familiar with the tavern, either customer or staff.’

  At that moment Vernon Salter hurried in to see Frances and was admitted by the constable. ‘I asked Pollard. He says yes, he went in to get the key and Lancelot Dobree was in the office talking to Neilson.’

  ‘So that was how he knew where it was hidden,’ said Frances. ‘I thought as much.’

  ‘Do you think he unlocked the back door then locked it when he went out and put the key back?’

  ‘He had no reason to lock it. He meant to return after a few minutes. He would have kept the key so he could lock the door later.’

  ‘Then it would have been found on his body or amongst his things. If the killer found the key on the body he would just have thrown it away. How would he have known what it was for?’

  ‘You’re right,’ said Frances. ‘How would he have known?’ There was a long silence. ‘Only someone who went to that box for the keys and was familiar with them and how they were labelled would have known it was a tavern key. In fact, now I think about it, how did your father-in-law guess which was the right one? Someone must have taken it from his body, recognised it, and come in and locked the door and put the key back, so it looked as if it had never been missing. As if the murdered man had never gone out through that door and looked out of the window and seen what was happening in the yard. It means that someone connected with the tavern is involved with the criminals and wanted to keep that fact well hidden.’

  At least one of the gang, Frances reasoned, had to be a member of the tavern staff, and not only that but someone who lived on the premises. That was the reason the gang meetings took place at the time of the Lodge meetings. If anyone had crept about during the night the guard dog, Wellington, would have raised the alarm. At other times of the day, the criminal could never be sure that the eagle eye of Mr Neilson would not discover him. There was only one time when it was absolutely certain that Mr Neilson would not move from his post, and that was when he acted as Tyler for the Mulberry and Literati Lodges. And now Frances thought about it, there was one person she had spoken to who had referred to the Duke of Sussex Tavern as ‘the Duke’s’.

  That person had taken the key from the body and returned indoors and as it chanced, this was during the time when Mr Fiske had been declaiming his address and ringing the bell. The opportunity was seized; the key was quickly turned in the lock and then replaced in its box. It thus appeared that the door had been locked all along.

  The other items that linked the body with the tavern were the identifying possessions from the body, the regalia and gentleman’s ring, which were so distinctive that the killer dared not try and dispose of them, also Dobree’s pocketbook, cards and other items. These were removed from the body, which was then concealed. His house keys, with the identifying fob stamped ‘Mulberry House’ were later used in an attempt to burgle his home. If the lodging house had remained empty as seemed likely in view of its poor showing on the property market, then the rats would have disposed of both flesh and clothing within days. The killer must have hoped that the body would be quickly reduced to a skeleton impossible to identify. Many a tramp had crawled into an outhouse on a wintry night and not lived to see the morning. The murderer, however, could not have known that Dobree’s club foot would give away his identity.

  Neither, Frances reasoned, would the murderer have known that Dobree was interested in buying the lodging house, a piece of information that would have prompted an early search. The actual killer, she felt sure, was a very small fish, no more than the paid acolyte of another, a man who controlled and gave orders and made sure to know all there was to know; Mr Cullum. Did Cullum know about Dobree’s interest in the property? Was there a professional connection or had he simply been lunching in the tavern and overheard Munro discussing it with his friend Mr Weber? Once he had found out about the murder he would have given orders for the body to be quickly spirited away. It was only Frances’ early intervention that had prevented it.

  The murder of Munro, which had followed soon after, was no chance. Cullum must have been rattled by the unplanned murder of Dobree. The fact that one of his agents had twice been sent to enquire about the lodging house to make sure it was still unsold was now looking extremely suspicious, especially as it was clear that Munro could identify him. The young property agent, with information that could lead to the controlling man, was a danger to be eliminated.

  But who was Cullum? She felt his presence, his influence in everything. She knew his age, but men could look younger or older than the calendar said, and there were many men who fitted that picture. He had been a skilled silversmith, but no one she knew of that age practised that trade. Cullum himself had wanted to give up the toil of silversmithing and make an easier fortune by dealing in stolen goods. He was left handed, but so were many men. He had been wounded in a shooting, but for all she knew he had made a complete recovery with only a scar not readily visible. That incident, an altercation between thieves and killers, would have been kept secret from the law. The only man who might know something was Mr Capper, Cullum’s brother-in-law, and he was too afraid to speak out.

  There was one undeniable connection between Cullum and the tavern, the estranged son, who had not seen his father since he was a small child, or so he claimed. Had John Capper been sought out by his father and drawn into his schemes, and if so had Cullum revealed his true identity?

  Frances realised she had been deep in thought for several minutes, Sarah and Salter standing silently by afraid to interrupt. ‘I need my breakfast,’ she said, ‘and I need to speak to Inspector Sharrock as soon as he is finished talking to the maid. And I must see Mr Bramley, although I expect he will be here this morning in any case.’

  Half an hour later Frances was able to see Sharrock, and he listened quietly as she explained her theories. ‘During the Lodge meeting when Mr Dobree went missing most of the staff were on view in the bar, there are many witnesses to that, although I believe the manager Mr MacNulty divided his attention between the two bars and was not under continuous observation. Then there are Mr Capper and Mr Spevin. I suggest that all three are brought here for questioning as soon as possible. And could you bring the box of keys from the tavern’s office?’

  Sharrock glanced at his watch. ‘No time to waste.’

  ‘I really ought to be present when they are questioned.’

  ‘That’s a hard request. You’re d
ue at Marylebone this morning. There’s a van waiting.’

  ‘There has to be some way of delaying my being taken away.’

  He considered the problem. ‘I’ll have a word with Mr Bramley and we’ll see what can be done.’

  Mr Bramley arrived at about the same time as the three staff from the tavern. MacNulty looked deeply insulted, Capper frightened and Spevin sullen. Bramley and Sharrock were in conference for several minutes, and then Bramley went to see Frances.

  ‘Am I to go now?’ she asked.

  ‘Not in your state of health,’ he said. ‘I will go to Marylebone and inform the magistrates of your sudden collapse. You will need rest before you can appear in court.’

  ‘Thank you,’ she said, with some relief.

  Soon afterwards Frances was brought to the interview room, where Sharrock and a constable were about to speak to MacNulty. The key box was on the table. Sharrock opened the box, took out the key labelled ‘I.L.B.’ and put it on the desk. ‘Now then, Mr MacNulty, can you tell us what door is opened by that key?’ Frances glanced into the box and saw that the key to the front of the Lodge room was on the far right of the row of keys, and the hook where the back door key had been was beside it. Once Mr Pollard had taken the key to open the front door of the Lodge room it would have been simple for Dobree to guess which was the one he sought.

  MacNulty glanced at the wooden label. ‘It’s the back door of the Lodge room,’ he said.

  ‘And supposing a stranger was to find that key – would he know that?’

  ‘Of course not!’

  ‘So who else other than yourself would know?’