‘Read it out,’ snarled the assassin. ‘Pick it up and read it out.’
Shaking all over, Denley picked up the letter and forced himself to look at it. His manner suddenly changed completely. Relief flooded through him.
‘I didn’t write this,’ he said.
‘Don’t lie to me,’ warned the assassin. ‘It has your name on it – Denley.’
‘Yes,’ interjected Peter, realising what must have happened, ‘but it may not be Mr Denley. Unless I’m mistaken, that letter was signed by his wife.’
‘It was,’ confirmed Denley. He opened a drawer. ‘I’ll show you. I have other letters from my wife.’ Pulling out a sheaf of correspondence, he picked out a letter. ‘Look at her signature. It’s identical to the one in your letter.’
Putting one pistol under his arm again, the man took the missive from him. It was the moment that Peter had been hoping for and he reacted quickly. While the assassin was momentarily distracted, he grabbed one of the bottles of wine and smashed it against the back of his head, causing the bottle to shatter and send wine and shards of glass everywhere. It also made the man drop the pistol under his arm and pull the trigger on the other one, firing into the sofa before releasing the weapon from his powerless fingers. Denley was aghast and shrunk back but Peter knew that the assassin was not finished yet. The man had been stunned but was still able to stagger. Ignoring the broken glass, Peter caught hold of him and flung him against a wall, taking all the breath out of him. Before the assassin could even begin to fight back, Peter felled him with an uppercut. He picked up the pistol that was still loaded and stood over him.
‘I owe you an apology, Mr Denley,’ he said.
‘No apology is needed. You just saved my life.’
‘After accusing you of something you didn’t do, I made a terrible mess of your carpet and ruined a bottle of your best wine.’
‘I’ll gladly give you a crate of that vintage, Mr Skillen.’
‘All that I crave is the chance to retrieve that bullet from your sofa. It’s an unusual memento,’ said Peter, ‘but – along with the reward money for capturing the assassin – it’s one that I’ll treasure.’
Paul, meanwhile, was back at the shooting gallery, regaling his friends with the story of how he’d arrested the man who’d been Scattergood’s assistant and exposed their fraudulent plan. Charlotte was delighted, Huckvale was amused and Ackford shook with laughter.
‘That’s wonderful news, Paul,’ he said. ‘Yeomans and Hale will have red faces for weeks.’
‘They weren’t the only dupes, Gully,’ said Paul. ‘The chief magistrate was also fooled. We have to take our hats off to Harry Scattergood. He made all three of them look stupid.’
‘But he makes his living as a thief,’ Huckvale pointed out. ‘Why did he turn himself into a gentleman?’
‘He thought there’d be more profit in it, Jem.’
‘Wait a moment,’ said Charlotte, thinking of the consequences of the deception. ‘Harry might have claimed the reward but this friend of his, Kinnaird, would have finished up at the gallows.’
‘They would have worked out how to avoid that fate,’ said Paul. ‘We all know that Harry is a master at escaping. He’ll have devised a way to whisk Kinnaird out of Newgate long before his appointment with the hangman. That’s the beauty of this situation. The Runners may have the satisfaction of locking up the two of them but how long will they stay behind bars?’
‘A couple of days at most,’ said Ackford. ‘Then Harry will get the pair of them out of their cells with those magic fingers of his. There’ll be another reward offered for his capture. You and Peter will have to nab him yet again.’
Kitty Denley was at first pleased when Peter arrived back at her house, then she saw the flecks of red on his face and the ugly wet patches on his clothing. She stared at him in disbelief.
‘What happened, Mr Skillen?’
‘A bottle of wine was smashed in your husband’s office,’ he explained. ‘Some of it went over me and a few pieces of glass hit me in the face.’
‘You need to see a doctor.’
‘I’m quite unharmed, I assure you. I just wanted to tell you what happened.’
‘Did you challenge him?’ she asked.
‘Yes, I did.’
‘What did he say?’
‘He wasn’t really in a position to say anything, Mrs Denley, because I’d knocked him to the floor.’
Kitty was astonished. ‘Did my husband attack you?’
‘No, he was cowering behind his desk. The person I’m talking about is the one hired to kill Sir Roger Mellanby. He was the man I overpowered before he could add your husband’s name to his list of victims. Don’t look so worried,’ he added as she backed away in horror. ‘Your husband survived unhurt. As for the man determined to kill him, I made sure that he was in safe custody before I came here.’
‘Wasn’t Hugh arrested as well?’
‘There was no point. He had nothing to do with the murder – though I hardly need to tell you that, do I? You only sent me there to shift any suspicion away from yourself. Unfortunately, your plan failed.’
‘What plan?’ she asked, desperately trying to regain her composure.
‘The one you devised to blame someone else for your crime.’
‘I don’t understand a word that you’re saying, Mr Skillen.’
‘Then perhaps you should look at your own words instead.’
Taking out the letter that the assassin had been carrying, he held it in front of her so that she could read her own writing. Kitty let out a cry of anguish and put her hands to her face. Peter waited until she’d got over the initial shock and slowly lowered her hands. She tried to muster some dignity.
‘That letter was not written by me,’ she claimed.
‘Your husband swore that it had been.’
‘Exactly – he knows my hand well enough to copy it.’
‘You’ve been found out, Mrs Denley. Blatant lies are no use to you any more. Your husband had good reason to despise Sir Roger, but you were the one with the real urge to have him killed.’
‘That’s not true – I loved him!’
‘Unfortunately, he didn’t return that love.’
‘Yes, he did,’ she cried. There was a long pause before she spoke again. ‘For a while, anyway – then things changed.’
‘He promised to marry you, didn’t he?’ said Peter. ‘It’s the only thing that could have made you leave your husband and face public censure as a result. You were counting on the fact that Sir Roger’s wife would soon die and that – after you’d secured a divorce – you would eventually become the second Lady Mellanby.’ He saw her blanch. ‘I’ve been to the family home in Nottinghamshire. I don’t mean this unkindly, Mrs Denley, but I don’t think that Sir Roger felt for one second that you might belong there. It was a cruel promise. He lied to you.’
‘That’s why he deserved to die,’ she cried, abandoning her vain attempt at innocence. ‘He deceived me and that was not the only example of it. Because I was married, it was not easy to arrange a rendezvous with him. What I didn’t know at the time was that if I was unavailable, he’d find someone else to share his bed. His preference was for actresses, the younger the better. Sir Roger was an ogre.’
‘Is that why you had him killed outside the Covent Garden Theatre?’
‘Yes, it is. He was besotted with someone named Hannah Granville,’ she said with distaste. ‘She was appearing in a play there. When he returned to London, I knew that the first place he’d go to was that theatre. After the performance, he’d rush around to the stage door with her other “admirers” – for want of a better word – and offer her the blandishments he once whispered into my ear.’
‘You must have felt utterly wronged,’ said Peter.
‘I was in pain, Mr Skillen, absolute agony.’
‘Having someone shot dead is not an acceptable way to deal with your suffering.’
She bared her teeth. ‘I got what I wa
nted.’
‘Then you must now let the law take its course.’
Kitty Denley sagged. When she realised what lay in store for her, she began to tremble. The deep satisfaction she’d felt at the death of her former lover had now been replaced by naked fear. Peter took a firm hold on her arm.
‘You’ll have to come with me,’ he said.
‘Must I?’ she pleaded. ‘Don’t you have any pity for me?’
‘None at all, I fear.’
‘But I was the victim.’
‘That thought should console you as you walk to the gallows.’
Holding her tight, he marched her to the front door.
Paul rode back home to pass on the good news. When he entered the house, he noticed a difference but was unable to decide what it was. He was welcomed by Hannah with a warm embrace.
‘What’s happened?’ he asked.
‘Dorothea has gone. I was glad that we could help her but there is a sense of release now that she’s departed.’
‘Why did she leave?’
‘She’s gone back home, Paul. She felt that the best thing for her was a break from acting and has withdrawn from the production of Measure for Measure. It was a bold decision − and a wise one, in my view.’
‘As long as she’s in London, she’ll be brooding about Orsino Price.’
‘He won’t dominate her mind quite so much in Lincolnshire. When she feels ready to come back, I promised Dorothea that I’d speak to some theatre managers on her behalf. She’s too good an actress to lose from the profession. But what’s been happening?’ she went on, appraising him. ‘You seem to be in a happy mood.’
‘I’m in an exultant mood, Hannah. I made an important arrest today.’
He told her about the way that he’d been involved in the chase after Kinnaird and how he’d helped to expose Scattergood’s fraudulent scheme. His major news, however, concerned his brother.
‘Peter did even better than me,’ he freely acknowledged. ‘He not only met and overpowered the assassin, he also arrested the person who hired him.’
‘Was it one of those politicians?’
‘No, it wasn’t. In fact, it wasn’t a man at all. It was Mrs Denley. She’s very resourceful. Having been seduced by Sir Roger Mellanby with the promise of one day becoming his wife, she found out that she was not the only woman in London familiar with his bed. What galled her most, Peter said, was that her rivals were all much younger than her. You can imagine how she felt,’ he continued. ‘What are those lines from one of Congreve’s plays? Heav’n has no rage, like love to hatred turn’d/Nor Hell a fury, like a woman scorn’d − I couldn’t have put it better myself.’
‘So the Radical Dandy was simply a philanderer?’
‘No, Hannah, give the man his due. What happened in his private life doesn’t invalidate his achievements in the political sphere. He gave a voice to people who are unjustly denied one, and will always be remembered for that. When he stood up to speak, he was utterly fearless.’
‘I wish that I could be like that,’ she said.
‘And so you shall.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘You’re the finest actress of your generation and you live with someone who adores you. I’m not letting you be at the beck and call of a fat, ugly, lascivious man who thinks that he can compel you to do anything he wants.’
‘But I’ve already accepted his invitation.’
‘You were forced into doing so, Hannah. That’s deplorable.’
‘Well, I can’t get out of it now.’
‘Oh yes, you can,’ insisted Paul. ‘Show your mettle. Dorothea may have pulled out of Measure for Measure but you haven’t. When rehearsals start on Monday, you will be Isabella. Send a letter to Brighton Pavilion to explain that you’re unable to go there. I’ll deliver it by hand and offer that petition to the Prince Regent at the same time. Both documents will give him a profound shock.’
She was baffled. ‘Why am I unable to be there in person?’
‘I told you. You’re Isabella now.’
‘So?’
‘It would be improper. You are about to become a novice in a nunnery.’
Hugging each other, the two of them laughed happily.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Edward Marston has written well over a hundred books, including some non-fiction. He is best known for his hugely successful Railway Detective series and he also writes the Bow Street Rivals series featuring twin detectives set during the Regency, as well as the Home Front Detective series.
edwardmarston.com
By Edward Marston
The Railway Detective series
The Railway Detective • The Excursion Train
The Railway Viaduct • The Iron Horse
Murder on the Brighton Express • The Silver Locomotive Mystery
Railway to the Grave • Blood on the Line
The Stationmaster’s Farewell • Peril on the Royal Train
A Ticket to Oblivion • Timetable of Death
Signal for Vengeance • The Circus Train Conspiracy
A Christmas Railway Mystery • Points of Danger
Fear on the Phantom Special • Slaughter in the Sapperton Tunnel
Inspector Colbeck’s Casebook
The Home Front Detective series
A Bespoke Murder • Instrument of Slaughter
Five Dead Canaries • Deeds of Darkness
Dance of Death • The Enemy Within
Under Attack • The Unseen Hand
The Bow Street Rivals series
Shadow of the Hangman • Steps to the Gallows
Date with the Executioner • Fugitive from the Grave
Rage of the Assassin
The Domesday series
The Wolves of Savernake • The Ravens of Blackwater
The Dragons of Archenfield • The Lions of the North
The Serpents of Harbledown • The Stallions of Woodstock
The Hawks of Delamere • The Wildcats of Exeter
The Foxes of Warwick •The Owls of Gloucester
The Elephants of Norwich
The Restoration series
The King’s Evil • The Amorous Nightingale
The Repentant Rake • The Frost Fair
The Parliament House • The Painted Lady
The Bracewell mysteries
The Queen’s Head • The Merry Devils
The Trip to Jerusalem • The Nine Giants
The Mad Courtesan • The Silent Woman
The Roaring Boy • The Laughing Hangman
The Fair Maid of Bohemia • The Wanton Angel
The Devil’s Apprentice • The Bawdy Basket
The Vagabond Clown • The Counterfeit Crank
The Malevolent Comedy • The Princess of Denmark
The Captain Rawson series
Soldier of Fortune • Drums of War • Fire and Sword
Under Siege • A Very Murdering Battle
COPYRIGHT
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First published in Great Britain by Allison & Busby in 2020.
This ebook edition published in Great Britain by Allison & Busby in 2020.
Copyright © 2020 by Edward Marston
The moral right of the author is hereby asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All characters and events in this publication, other than those clearly in the public domain, are fictitious and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent buyer.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 978-0-7490-2286-0
Rage of the Assassin Page 28
