The Enemy Within

by Edward Marston

  ‘Has there been any response to the press appeal?’ asked Marmion.

  ‘Not as yet,’ said Chatfield, ‘but these are early days. It’s a pity we had no photograph of the murder victim to display. A fairly basic description of him is not as eye-catching, even though I asked the press to give it prominence in their respective newspapers. Unfortunately, the description doesn’t match any of the missing persons already reported to us.’

  ‘Someone may turn up one day and give us his full name.’

  ‘What was he doing with Ben Croft’s papers?’ wondered Keedy.

  ‘I’ve been thinking about that,’ said Marmion, reflectively, ‘and it may be that he didn’t have those papers, after all.’

  ‘But they were found in the briefcase,’ said Chatfield.

  ‘That doesn’t mean they belonged to him, sir.’

  ‘Stop talking in riddles, Inspector.’

  ‘What if something was taken out of the briefcase and the papers were put in?’

  Chatfield laughed. ‘Can you think of a reason why anyone would do that?’

  ‘Oh yes, sir – it was done to cause confusion.’

  ‘It’s done that very effectively,’ said Keedy. ‘But how did the killer come to possess those papers in the first place?’

  ‘Perhaps they belonged to him, Sergeant.’

  ‘Are you saying that …?’

  ‘It merits consideration,’ suggested Marmion. ‘It’s evident that Ben Croft wanted to disappear. One way of doing that is to become someone else entirely. He could have killed the man known as David, stolen his papers from that briefcase and left his own in their place.’

  ‘That’s too far-fetched an idea,’ said Chatfield, peremptorily. He thought about it for a moment. ‘On the other hand …’

  There was nobody else to whom she could turn. Ellen Marmion was incensed. Her son’s behaviour had been inexcusable yet he refused to apologise for it. Nothing his mother had said to Paul could make him accept that what he’d done to Sally Redwood was truly appalling. He revelled in his dislike of the girl. When she heard the darts thudding into the board again, Ellen knew that he’d drawn another picture of her. As she sat on a bus that took her across the city, she wondered what they could do to make Paul treat people with more respect. If he started to behave towards her other friends as he had towards Sally Redwood, she’d become a social outcast.

  Ellen was so eager to see her daughter that she was halfway there before it occurred to her that Alice might not be at her flat that evening. It meant that the remainder of the journey was spent in a state of doubt and anxiety. Alighting in due course from the bus, she more or less ran to the house. To her relief, it was Alice who answered the doorbell and she fell into her daughter’s arms.

  ‘Whatever’s happened, Mummy?’

  ‘Can’t you guess?’

  ‘It’s not Paul again, is it?’

  ‘I’m afraid so.’

  ‘Come inside and tell me all about it.’

  Alice took her mother into the lounge that was shared by all four of the young women who rented a flat there. Nobody was allowed to entertain guests in their own rooms and male guests were forbidden after a certain time. The landlady’s attitude towards the opposite sex was clearly reflected in her choice of furniture. There was no sofa and the individual armchairs were set far apart. Ellen was more than ready to put up with her uncomfortable chair. Alice was there. That was all that mattered.

  ‘I went over to Stepney,’ said Ellen. ‘Your uncle and aunt send their love.’

  ‘Thank you. How are they?’

  ‘To be honest, they’re at sixes and sevens.’

  ‘I read about it in today’s paper,’ said Alice. ‘Uncle Raymond spends all his life coping with crises but this has to be the worst one so far.’

  ‘He and your aunt feel so guilty. They have a responsibility for those staying under their roof. Your Aunt Lily said that they’d let the man down.’

  ‘They mustn’t blame themselves.’

  ‘That’s what your father told them, apparently.’

  ‘Do they have any idea who the victim is?’

  ‘I don’t think so, Alice.’

  ‘Well, let’s leave them to get on with it, shall we? You didn’t come all this way to talk about the murder. Something else is preying on your mind.’

  ‘It is. Paul did something disgusting.’

  She went on to describe the incident at the jeweller’s shop and how shocked she was when she found the naked picture of Sally Redwood in her son’s room. Ellen was grateful that neither Sally nor her mother knew about the dartboard. Unable to sit still, Alice leapt up when her mother finally stopped speaking.

  ‘Come on,’ she said. ‘We’ll both go back and take him on right now.’

  ‘No, Alice, that’s not the answer.’

  ‘Then what is?’

  ‘I really don’t know. I just needed to tell someone to get it off my chest.’

  ‘I’ve said it before, Mummy. The fact is that Paul needs professional help that we can’t give him.’

  ‘He refuses to go to the doctor.’

  ‘Then we must get the doctor to come to him. Otherwise, he’ll go on losing your friends for you and making your life a misery.’

  ‘He enjoyed it,’ said Ellen, helplessly. ‘When I asked him why he persecuted Sally, he grinned at me and said that he enjoyed it.’

  ‘That’s perverse.’

  ‘It’s something far worse than that, Alice. He just has no sympathy for other people and that includes the family. Uncle Raymond and Auntie Lily have a murder to contend with but he shows no real interest in them. For all he cares, they could be complete strangers. Whenever I try to talk to him,’ Ellen bewailed, ‘he seems to look straight through me. It’s a most cruel twist of fate. I’ve got the most wonderful daughter in the world and a son that I loathe more and more each day.’

  She got up to embrace Alice impulsively. Both of them were crying this time.

  ‘It wasn’t him.’

  ‘How do you know?’

  ‘Felix wouldn’t lie to me. He knew I’d have broken his neck.’

  ‘Where did you see him?’

  ‘I caught him in his car,’ said Hubbard, ‘which was very handy. He was able to drive me to his office, get the key to this place, then bring me here. I’d put the fear of death in him so he’d do anything to oblige. That’s why I got him to drop off this address for you at the Dun Cow.’

  ‘Someone shoved an envelope across the counter to me.’

  ‘Felix would have paid a stranger to do that.’

  ‘Aren’t you afraid?’

  ‘No, Maisie.’

  ‘The same thing might happen again,’ she said. ‘If Sergeant Keedy has a list of all the available properties, he might go around each of them again.’

  ‘This house isn’t on the market yet, so nobody knows where it is. The other one was bigger and better,’ he said, kissing her, ‘but anywhere is special when I’ve got you beside me.’

  They were in a small, furnished house at the end of a terrace. Neither of them was impressed by the taste of the previous occupants but they were ready to endure the hideous patterned wallpaper and the garish curtains. Because it was a temporary stay, they would even put up with the ugly mock-leather furniture and the fading carpet. Maisie had been summoned from the pub for the night. Hubbard was pleased to see that she’d decided to support rather than desert him. For her part, she had lingering doubts about Felix Browne. The first thing she did on arrival was to check all possible exits.

  ‘Relax, Maisie,’ he said, pouring her a glass of whisky. ‘We’re safe.’

  ‘How long will that last?’

  ‘It’ll last as long as I need it to.’

  ‘But that could be ages, Wally.’

  ‘We don’t know that.’

  ‘You haven’t a clue where Croft is.’

  ‘Neither have the coppers, from what I can gather,’ he said, handing her the drink and pouring one fo
r himself. ‘If they can’t find him, they can’t protect him, can they?’

  ‘Where will you start the search?’

  ‘I’ll have another crack at his wife. She needs to be squeezed a little harder.’

  ‘Won’t she get in touch with Inspector Marmion?’

  ‘I frightened her too much.’

  ‘What about that tart of Croft’s?’

  ‘Which one?’ he asked with a laugh. ‘There’s a lot to choose from.’

  ‘You got her name from his wife.’

  ‘Forget her. She told me all she knew, which was next to nothing. Croft had his money’s worth then got rid of Helen Graydon. He’s found someone else. It’s what he does. He’s probably bouncing up and down on top of her right now.’

  She sipped her drink and studied him for a moment. He blew her a kiss.

  ‘I’m worried, Wally.’

  He chuckled. ‘Tell me something new.’

  ‘I feel that they’re closing in on you.’

  ‘No, they’d never think of looking here.’

  ‘What if they start following Felix?’

  ‘They’ve already tried that. He led them in circles then shook them off.’

  She held his arm. ‘Did you mean what you said?’

  ‘It depends what it was, darling.’

  ‘You told me that … well, we could make a go of it.’

  ‘Yes, Maisie, and we will one day.’

  ‘Why not make a start tomorrow? No, listen to me,’ she went on quickly, silencing his attempted interruption with a hand. ‘You’ve got money and I’ve got my savings. We could disappear from London tomorrow without telling a soul – not even Felix. I can find work as a barmaid somewhere and you can stay out of sight until they get fed up with hunting you. I know Birmingham well. Years ago, I used to stay with an aunt there. Manchester’s even better, farther away from here. What do you think?’

  ‘Ben Croft comes first.’

  ‘Let’s at least go away for a few weeks,’ she urged. ‘Then you can come back and start afresh.’

  ‘I’m not leaving London until I’ve got him, Maisie.’ He drained his glass in one long gulp. ‘That’s it. No more argument.’

  She choked back a reply. He was in charge.

  It was late evening but they were still at work, going over existing evidence and trying to decide where to look for more. Both were showing early signs of fatigue. Marmion could feel a yawn threatening and Keedy was troubled by an aching back, made all the more painful by the fact that he realised there was no hope at all of seeing Alice for some while.

  ‘You were in the Civil Service at one point, weren’t you?’ said Keedy.

  ‘I often wish that I still was, Joe.’

  ‘Do you miss it that much?’

  ‘Oh, no,’ said Marmion, ‘it was dull and repetitious. I was only on the lowest grade. But I always knew when I’d start and when I’d finish. Even though the pay was poor, there was a reassuring safety in being a civil servant. Why do you ask?’

  ‘I was thinking of Croft’s father,’ said Keedy. ‘What grade was he?’

  ‘I’ve no idea.’

  ‘Don’t you think it might be worth finding out?’

  ‘Why?’ He saw the expression on the sergeant’s face. ‘Thank heavens that one of us is awake. You’re right, Joe. I should find out. Mrs Croft told us her father-in-law’s name, didn’t she? What was it?’

  ‘Edwin – Edwin Croft.’

  ‘It was the mention of a German wife that interested me. If I’d married a German girl, the first thing I’d do would be to learn her language.’

  ‘I’d make sure that I didn’t learn it,’ said Keedy, grinning. ‘That way, I wouldn’t understand a single word when she started swearing at me.’

  ‘A civil servant fluent in German could be very useful during a war, Joe.’

  ‘I was thinking the same thing.’

  ‘Not that we were fighting the Kaiser when Edwin Croft was still employed. But language skills of any kind are important in the defence of the realm. You never know which country is going to fall out with us next.’

  ‘Do you think that something of his father rubbed off on Ben Croft?’

  ‘I’m certain that something of his mother did. According to his wife, he spoke faultless German. At a time like this, that could be a real asset.’

  ‘It would account for the fact that Croft has somehow vanished. How can we find out, do you think?’

  ‘I’m sure that Chat is already making enquiries along those lines,’ said Marmion. ‘He pounced on the fact that Croft had German connections like a dog spotting a juicy bone. I could see his mind clanking away.’

  ‘Will he get anywhere, Harv?’

  ‘If he doesn’t, it won’t be for lack of effort. I know we laugh at Chat but he sticks at something when he gets his teeth into it. Meanwhile, I’ll start looking into Edwin Croft’s career in the Civil Service.’

  ‘It might just be the answer,’ said Keedy, shaking off his weariness. ‘If Ben Croft is working as a spy, we might find out what’s really happening.’ He was dubious. ‘I don’t know, though. Would a seasoned lady-killer like him be employed as a secret agent?’

  ‘I don’t see why not, Joe. I have a different problem.’

  ‘What is it?’

  ‘Croft could well be a spy,’ said Marmion, thoughtfully, ‘but …’

  ‘Well?’

  ‘Which side is he on?’

  At the end of a long and taxing day, Raymond and Lily Marmion were finally able to relax and speak to each other properly for the first time.

  ‘It’s ridiculous,’ he complained. ‘We’ve been under the same roof yet I’ve hardly seen you.’

  ‘We both had other things to do, Raymond. You spent all that time with your brother while I had other duties. Oh, and there was Ellen’s visit, of course.’

  ‘I wish I’d had more time to talk to her.’

  ‘She really came to pour her heart out about Paul.’

  ‘I know. We only exchanged a few words but I could see how agitated she was. The problem seems to be escalating.’

  ‘Paul used to be such a nice, friendly boy.’

  ‘That was before they put a rifle in his hands and taught him how to kill,’ said Raymond, darkly. ‘The war has transformed people like Paul. They’ve come back with a burning resentment and lash out when you least expect it. You’d think he’d calm down as time went on but the opposite has happened.’

  ‘Yes, Ellen told me everything. She fears the worst.’

  ‘You mean that …?’

  ‘I do, Raymond. She’s afraid that he might have to be locked up in a mental hospital eventually. That’s how bad he is.’

  ‘I do hope it never comes to that.’

  After discussing Ellen’s worries, they turned to their own. Raymond had news.

  ‘Less than half an hour ago, I had a call from the local police station,’ he told her. ‘They found the uniform that was “borrowed” from our bandsman.’

  ‘Where was it?’

  ‘It had been stuffed in a garden shed a few hundred yards from here. The killer had used it as his changing room, apparently. I’m glad we’ve got it back. Replacing it would have been expensive.’

  ‘Will the bandsman still want to wear it?’ asked Lily.

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘It was used as a disguise by the killer.’

  ‘That wouldn’t worry him, Lily. In cold weather like this, the bandsman will just be delighted to get it back again.’

  ‘It’s a shame he didn’t get a good look at his attacker.’

  ‘He was able to give Harvey some useful information. For instance, he was only hit hard enough to make him lose consciousness briefly. Then he was put carefully on a thick pile of straw. It was almost as if his attacker was trying to make him comfortable.’

  ‘The man was a killer, Raymond.’

  ‘A killer with a conscience, it seems.’

  ‘There’s no such thing.’ />
  ‘I disagree.’

  ‘If he’d had a conscience, he couldn’t possibly have committed a murder.’

  ‘Harvey told me, privately, that it might be something else.’

  ‘What did he mean?’

  ‘Well, he was struck by how quick and professional the man had been. He was in and out of here in a matter of minutes and none of us was ever aware of him. It was no random killing. David was carefully targeted.’

  ‘A murder is a murder, Raymond.’

  ‘Harvey mentioned another word to me.’

  ‘What was it?’

  ‘Assassination.’

  Marmion was driven home from Scotland Yard through a blanket of darkness. No street lamps were alight and blinds were drawn in every house. Zeppelin raids were still a constant threat so all kinds of cautionary measures had been enforced. It was almost midnight when Marmion was dropped off outside his house. Hoping that his wife would be fast asleep in bed, he let himself in as quietly as possible but Ellen nevertheless heard him. She hurried out of the living room in her dressing gown and slippers and threw her arms around him.

  ‘What a lovely welcome!’ he said. ‘But you should be in bed, Ellen.’ When she pulled her head back, he saw the distress in her face. ‘Oh, no,’ he sighed, ‘not again, surely.’

  ‘I’m afraid so.’

  ‘What’s he done this time?’

  ‘It’s late,’ she said, ‘and we’re both tired. I’ll tell you in the morning.’

  ‘No, no, I want to hear it now.’

  ‘But you’ve had such a hard day, Harvey. It’s unfair on you.’

  ‘This is important.’

  He took her into the living room and they sat down side by side on the sofa. Fighting off fatigue, she told him about the way that Paul had frightened Sally Redwood at the jeweller’s shop and how the girl’s mother had come to the house in a temper and abruptly severed her friendship with Ellen.