The Esther & Jack Enright Box Set

by David Field

  Jack checked his notebook, then peered down the front path at the number on the front door.

  ‘Number 64 — that seems to be the one.’

  ‘Right, follow me, constable.’

  They walked in file, Percy in the lead, down the front garden path that ran past a few winter-skeletal rose bushes on either side and reached the front door without challenge. Percy first examined its side frames, in case Helen had missed something significant, then rattled the handle below the keyhole. When that revealed nothing suspicious he peered carefully into the keyhole itself. With a sigh of satisfaction he then extracted a small eyeglass from his waistcoat pocket and peered in again. Finally, he gave a chuckle and produced a pocket knife from his jacket, which he inserted into the keyhole and twisted. Then he removed the knife and held it up in the air to reveal a minute particle of something white on its tip.

  ‘There we are, Jack my boy. Watch and learn. Putty, if I’m not much mistaken.’

  Just then the front door was opened from the inside and there stood Helen.

  ‘It’s customary to knock,’ she said, smiling. ‘I hope you like shepherd’s pie, otherwise I’ll be eating it for a week. Do come inside. I take it that you weren’t using that knife to replicate a break-in?’

  ‘Yes and no,’ Percy replied enigmatically. ‘Do you by any chance recall receiving a visit on a day prior to the break-in, by a man offering to clean your windows or fix your roof or something?’

  ‘Not that I can recall, why?’

  ‘It’s an old dodge,’ Percy advised her as he helped himself to a three day supply of shepherd’s pie. ‘First they ring the bell to see if anyone answers. If not, there’s a fair chance that nobody’s in, so then they break in.’

  ‘And if somebody is in?’ Helen enquired.

  ‘Then they just pretend to be seeking work as a gardener or something — and by the way, you should have dead-headed those roses once they stopped flowering.’

  ‘But my break-in occurred at night, when there was obviously somebody in,’ Helen objected.

  Percy nodded. ‘Precisely, since in your case the objective was to cause fear.’

  ‘It certainly achieved that. But how did the man gain entry?’

  ‘Sometime previously,’ Percy advised her with a self-satisfied smile. ‘This pie’s delicious, by the way. Mind you, I speak as a man whose wife’s cooking is fit only for prisoners on hard labour.’

  ‘You’ve completely lost me,’ Helen complained, ‘but thank you for the compliment about my cooking.’

  ‘Let me see if I can work it out for myself,’ Jack volunteered. ‘The man calls at a time when he knows you’re out, probably by keeping watch from the park across the road. Then he saunters up to your door armed with a handful of putty and pushes it into the keyhole while making a pretence of knocking. He then removes the putty, with a perfect profile of your keyhole, and gets a locksmith to cut a skeleton version that he can use again, at any time of day or night. Am I right, Detective Sergeant?’

  ‘In every detail, Detective Constable.’

  Helen shivered, despite the fire blazing in the hearth.

  ‘To think that it was that easy! And to think that he was able to creep around inside here while I was asleep — ugh!’

  She put down her fork and took a long draught of her wine. Percy reached across the table with a consoling hand on hers.

  ‘If it helps, I can almost guarantee that he won’t use it again, since it’s already served his purpose.’

  ‘But he could, if he wanted to, couldn’t he?’ Helen almost moaned. ‘I think it’s high time I moved in with Esther.’

  ‘I’m sure she’d be glad of the company,’ Jack agreed, ‘and I’d be happier in my own mind, knowing that she had company as well.’

  ‘Sorry to spoil this excellent lunch even more,’ Percy observed quietly, ‘but we can almost guarantee that he’s the same man who posed as Bert Freeman and that at some stage he performed the same trick on the front door of your Alliance premises. You’ll obviously need to have both locks changed and I’ll arrange for a firm of locksmiths trusted and employed by the Yard to do both jobs without delay.’

  ‘Presumably we can now start visiting all the dodgy locksmiths on our list, asking serious questions?’ Jack asked.

  ‘Do you know how many there are?’ Percy objected. ‘And what about the ones who aren’t on our list? All the failed blacksmiths, out of work welders and anyone else who can melt metal into a key?’

  ‘Sounds pretty hopeless,’ Helen agreed. ‘Let’s hope that Esther’s having more success than on her previous enquiries.’

  ‘Why can’t you tell me now?’ Jack pouted as he and Esther sat side by side on the train rattling east along the London, Tilbury and Essex line from Fenchurch Street for their customary Sunday dinner in Barking.

  ‘Because I want Uncle Percy to hear it as well and you have a memory like a colander sometimes. Tell me how you went at Helen’s house yesterday — did she eat Uncle Percy?’

  ‘Not quite, but of course I was there as the representative of his conscience. I dread to think what might have transpired if I hadn’t — she’s a very attractive lady and fifteen or more years younger than him.’

  ‘You think of her as very attractive?’

  Jack grinned as he kissed her cheek. ‘Did I make you jealous just then?’

  ‘Yes, of course, but it gave me another thought,’ Esther mused. ‘Supposing this isn’t about the Alliance at all, but is some sort of revenge from that union type whose attentions she rejected?’

  ‘That’s a bit of a long shot, isn’t it?’

  ‘Maybe, but let’s not discount it. So did you find out how that dreadful man got into Helen’s house?’

  ‘Of course — the oldest trick in the book,’ Jack breezed back in Uncle Percy’s own words, hoping to make himself sound more experienced. ‘A piece of putty in the keyhole that makes an impression of the key which can be used as the template for an extra one.’

  ‘Is it really that simple?’

  ‘Yes, and by the way, you can expect some locksmiths to appear at your Alliance office in the next few days to change your locks.’

  ‘You mean that the same trick was performed on our front door?’

  ‘Almost certainly.’

  ‘Oh God!’ Esther reacted as the colour drained from her face.

  Jack looked anxiously across at her. ‘Are you about to faint or something? Shall I open a window?’

  ‘In this weather? No, I’ll be alright. It’s just that ... .well ...’

  ‘Well what?’

  ‘I was followed back to the Alliance yesterday by Bert Freeman. He didn’t try to force his way in or anything, but he’s worked out that I live there and if you tell me he’s got a spare key...’

  ‘Right, that’s it!’ Jack insisted. ‘You’ll have to accept Mother’s well-meaning offer to move in with her.’

  ‘And endure this awful train journey every day? Today we’ve got a compartment to ourselves, but I could almost guarantee that on working days it’ll be full of smelly workmen. And the journey takes the best part of an hour. There are two alternatives.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘Well, first of all, Lucy very kindly offered to let me stay with her. That wouldn’t be ideal, for either of us, but at least I’d be both safe and nearer to work. The second alternative is that you get a move on with decorating our future home, so that I can move in there well before the wedding.’

  ‘I just remembered something,’ Jack advised her. ‘Helen’s terrified of remaining in her house, now that she knows about the spare key, so she’ll probably ask to move in with you at the Alliance.’

  ‘Better than nothing, I suppose. But two women against a brute the size of Freeman? Or are you just trying to get out of starting the decorating?’

  ‘First thing tomorrow I’ll go shopping for wallpaper and paste,’ Jack assured her.

  Esther was waiting near the front door to head Percy off even be
fore Alice had taken his hat and coat down to the hall cupboard.

  ‘Thank God you didn’t bring Aunt Beattie!’ she whispered hoarsely.

  ‘Oh come on, she’s not that bad!’ Percy joked with a smile.

  ‘No, but she keeps you indoors with her and we need to talk urgently, and preferably before Jack’s mother orders us to eat. Let’s hide on the back lawn and leave Jack to keep Constance occupied.’

  ‘So what’s so damned urgent?’ Percy demanded, slightly irritated at having to bypass the compulsory pre-lunch sherry course.

  ‘I think I’ve found Bert Freeman!’

  Percy’s eyebrows shot up. ‘Where is he and what makes you so certain?’

  ‘Wapping, where he’s living most of the time with one of his victims and a former member of the Alliance. I think he used the fear he’d induced in her to play the part of the big brave protector, since she’s only a young girl with a baby and quite pretty in her own way.’

  ‘I’ll need more than that, I’m afraid,’ Percy said, frowning.

  ‘Well, try this for size,’ Esther persevered. ‘We got the usual resignation letter from this girl — her name’s Tilly Chalmers, by the way — but I discovered while talking to her that she’s illiterate, so somebody must have written that letter for her. I checked when I got back to the office and her letter’s in the same capital letters, written with the same sort of pencil and containing the same spelling mistakes, as at least two of the threatening notes that the worst victims received.’

  ‘That sounds more encouraging,’ Percy conceded.

  ‘This man that Tilly’s living with — she called him Wally, which is presumably short for Walter — is skilled at working with wood. And when I was leaving Tilly’s, Bert Freeman turned up out of nowhere, followed me home and conveniently confirmed that the lodging house I’d been visiting was the home of his lady friend. How about all that, then?’

  ‘I’m very impressed. But I’m a bit concerned about Freeman following you home. If he realises that you’re living there...’

  ‘Yes, I know,’ Esther interrupted. ‘Jack told me all about the spare key that Freeman may have made.’

  ‘And what was Jack’s response to all your other news?’

  ‘I haven’t told him yet. Plenty of time for that. But I don’t get to see you as often as I do him.’

  ‘That’s about to change,’ Percy assured her. ‘We need to put the buckles on Freeman without delay and I’ll be the one who organises that. But first you’ll need to point him out, since neither Jack nor I know what he looks like.’

  ‘You want me to lure him out into the open?’

  ‘Well, I wasn’t exactly suggesting that you place an advertisement in the newspaper. We’ll talk over the details after dinner. Right now we’ve both earned a sherry, before Constance hides the bottle from the cook. But well done, young lady — you’re a credit to the Scotland Yard that you’re not even a member of.’

  ‘It sounds incredibly risky,’ Jack objected almost two hours later, when Esther and Percy brought him up to speed on the rear lawn, after they had all been granted leave from the dinner table at which Percy had threatened to light up his pipe.

  ‘What’s so risky about it, with you and a couple of other plain-clothes types walking a few paces behind her?’ Percy enquired of Jack. ‘As soon as she picks him out, we can pounce.’

  ‘Don’t you want to know where he lives first?’ Esther asked and Percy agreed that this would be preferable. When Jack asked why, Percy fixed him with one of his withering looks.

  ‘Ask the other detective in the family,’ he replied with a nod towards Esther, who obliged without the need for any further encouragement from Jack.

  ‘Evidence. If he’s who we think he is, his room will contain things like putty, spare keys, warning notices he hasn’t yet delivered, and so on.’

  ‘Not to mention enough ladies’ underwear to stock a draper’s shop,’ Percy added.

  ‘So you’re proposing that Esther parade up and down the street in Wapping where he lives — an area of London with a crime rate almost as bad as Whitechapel — in the hope that she’ll spot Freeman?’ Jack asked, far from impressed by the suggestion.

  ‘Do you think you could locate him faster through criminal records?’ Percy challenged him.

  Jack shook his head.

  ‘At least we know his name’s Walter, so on Monday I can narrow down my searches. But I’m still not happy using Esther as a magnet.’

  ‘Get off your protective high horse, Jack,’ Esther sniffed. ‘I want to do it, and it’s the best bit of luck we’ve had since we started all this.’

  ‘You really should consider joining the Yard when that proposal finally goes through to appoint female officers,’ Percy said admiringly.

  ‘If she lives that long,’ Jack muttered. ‘But back me up on this point, Uncle Percy — Esther ought not to be living there all alone any more, now that Freeman knows she’s vulnerable.’

  ‘She won’t be alone, if Helen keeps to her intention of moving in with her, will she?’ Percy countered. ‘And once we buckle Freeman, that’ll be it — final whistle blown and danger removed from our midst.’

  ‘Think it through,’ Jack argued. ‘The ultimate target is Helen and her union. Freeman’s probably already fulfilled his function and been paid off. The Alliance shows no sign of closing yet, so what comes next? An attack on Helen’s life? A fire bomb through the window? I don’t want Esther exposed to any danger.’

  ‘Neither does Esther,’ the object of his concerns replied, ‘and the most immediate risk of that will be if we don’t go back in there and appear to be interested in all the latest gossip from the St Margaret’s Ladies Guild. Stifle the yawns and no more talk of protecting Esther from her inexplicable desire to save other women from being terrorised in their own homes.’

  Chapter Twenty

  The next week passed uneventfully on all fronts. Jack had the Tuesday and Wednesday off, due to the routine switch in duty rosters, and Helen was more than happy for Esther to take a break from the paperwork, being well aware that she was always on top of it anyway, so they were free to make a start on decorating. Their first port of call was a hardware store in Clerkenwell High Street, where they bought a large tin of white oil-based paint, several different size brushes, a scrubbing brush, a bucket and a collection of cleaning cloths. Then it was back to their intended matrimonial home with light hearts and, shortly afterwards in what would one day be their kitchen, stomachs full of the bread and cheese, washed down with bottled ginger beer, that they’d brought in with them.

  Jack lay back contentedly on the bare boards but Esther was back on her feet.

  ‘Now, let’s heat up some water and get on with scrubbing and washing down the doors. Good thing the lady who died here left us the gas stove.’

  ‘She won’t be needing it anyway,’ Jack called out. ‘Where do you want to start?’

  ‘In here,’ she shouted through from another room. ‘It’ll be our bedroom. If I’m going to move in before the wedding I’ll need this room ready, if nothing else.’

  ‘You’re still determined to live in the Alliance building in the meantime?’

  ‘Of course. The rat we’re planning to catch trades on fear and if I move out I’m only letting him succeed with me in the same way that he succeeded with all those other women. I can do better than that.’

  Jack put his arm over her shoulder, then let it drift downwards as he reached round and kissed her on the lips.

  ‘I’m so frightened of losing you, Esther. The sooner you move in here, the happier I’ll be.’

  ‘And the sooner we get this room ready, the sooner I can move in. So stop wasting time and pick up that scrubbing brush!’

  ‘How are the home decorations going?’ Helen enquired over morning tea on the Thursday.

  Esther smiled at the memory. ‘They’d progress a lot faster if Jack would concentrate on the decorating, if you get my meaning.’

  ‘Indee
d I do.’ Helen grinned. ‘I haven’t always been without an admirer, you know. And there are times that I wish I’d not rejected so many of them when it came to a marriage proposal. I collected four over the years, but something always held me back from making a commitment.’

  ‘When I see the conditions that some of our members are living in after making just such a commitment, it almost puts me off. But somehow with Jack, it feels right, and I can’t imagine life without him, so I suppose I’ll have to look forward to children and domestic duties one day not too far in the future.’

  ‘There are days I’d gladly welcome that,’ Helen said. ‘Particularly at the moment, when living alone in a rambling three storey house gets a bit creepy, knowing that Freeman’s out there with a spare key.’

  ‘Jack said that you were thinking of moving in here. You can have my room, if you like and I’ll take the room on the top floor that I used to occupy when Isaac and his wife adopted me.’

  ‘That’s very generous of you and I probably will, as soon as I can sell the house in Hackney. I’ll have to soon to finance the Alliance, although we don’t seem to have had any more cancelled memberships this week.’

  ‘Jack and Uncle Percy seem to think that Freeman’s completed his dirty work, but my worry is that since it’s obviously failed, whoever’s behind all this will try something worse.’

  ‘If they’re right about that,’ Helen said with a frown, ‘then why are you still going ahead with that rather dangerous scheme to trap Freeman and bring him to justice?’

  ‘From my point of view,’ Esther replied as her chin rose in a sign of aggression, ‘I want him to answer for all those women he’s frightened. But Percy and Jack want to get information from him regarding who’s been paying him to do it. As you know, they suspect George Manners.’

  Helen laughed lightly and shook her head.

  ‘Believe me, George Manners wouldn’t say “boo” to a goose. He’s just about the wettest type of man you could imagine and the least likely to be at the head of a group of tough working types. Anyway, you may not have to place yourself in danger in order to identify Bert Freeman as the one who’s been doing all these terrible things.’