by Emily Organ
Chapter 46
James asked the cab driver to wait in Cadogan Square as we called at the Colehills’ house. The maid answered and told us that neither Mary nor Sebastian was at home.
“May I ask for their whereabouts?” asked James. “I need to speak to Mrs Colehill about some urgent police business.”
“Mr Colehill is at Drury Lane, sir, and Mrs Colehill is at a society meetin'.”
“The West London Women’s Society?” I asked.
“Yes ma’am, that’s the one.”
I gave James a questioning look. We both knew that Eliza wasn’t at the meeting, and would have been had the society been scheduled to meet.
Could Mary have lied to the maid about her whereabouts?
I remained silent, not wishing to arouse the maid’s suspicion.
“Thank you for your time,” said James. “We will go and visit Mr Colehill at Drury Lane.”
“Why are we going to see Sebastian?” I whispered to James as we descended the steps and the maid closed the door behind us.
“We’re not. I didn’t want the maid telling anyone where we’re going.”
“Where are we going?”
“The King Henry pub on Mile End Road, please, driver!” he called out. “As quick as you can!”
We leapt into the cab and the horse trotted on.
“Taylor’s house?” I asked.
“Do you remember me telling Mary yesterday that Annie was returning home from hospital?”
A sickening sense of dread stirred in my stomach. “You think Mary has gone after her?”
“I don’t know, but I’m worried that Annie isn’t safe.”
“Hopefully Taylor is with her now that he’s been released.”
“Hopefully, but I want to be sure that she has someone there to protect her. Until we have found Mary, I will request that someone from H Division is at the Taylor home to guard her.”
The cab made its way around Belgrave Square, with its impressive stuccoed townhouses and its trees dripping with rain.
James checked his pocket watch and tutted. “It is going to take us some time to reach Mile End. I can only hope Mary doesn’t reach it before us.”
“Do you really think she could be the murderer? I can’t imagine her doing such a terrible thing. She is so mild-mannered.”
“She is either mild-mannered or a talented actress. I fear that she is the latter, and that she has been one step ahead of us the entire time.”
“You think she framed Taylor?”
“Yes, she sent him the locket, didn’t she? And she instructed him to be in Highgate Cemetery at the time of the murder. Presumably, she was hoping someone would see him there and suspect that he was behind Lizzie’s murder.”
“She achieved that.”
“She did. Rather clumsily, perhaps, but she had us fooled for a while.”
“And what of the young man witnessed at the scene of both shootings? The man who was at the cemetery and the hotel?”
“I feel certain that she will lead us to him.”
We exited the cab outside The King Henry pub and ran up the steps to Mr Taylor’s house.
James knocked at the door while the rain drummed on the glass porch over our heads. The maid answered and I was relieved to hear that both Annie and Mr Taylor were at home.
“This is good news,” said James as we passed the large stuffed bear in the hallway. “Once I am satisfied that Annie and Mr Taylor are well, I will ask H Division to mind them.”
“I wonder where Mary is,” I whispered.
“Not you again!” Mr Taylor barked at James as we were shown into the drawing room. “You’ve only just let me go! Can’t you leave a man in peace?”
He stood on the hearthrug smoking a cigar, while Annie rested on the red velour settee. She returned my smile.
“Please be assured that you are no longer a suspect, Mr Taylor,” said James. “We are here because we are concerned for Annie’s safety.”
Annie frowned.
“Don’t worry. You’re safe now the inspector’s here, Annie,” I explained. “We are concerned because the person who shot you has yet to be caught.”
“He’s hardly going to shoot her in my home, is he?” said Taylor. “What nonsense.”
“We are close to catching the culprit,” said James. “I will ask my colleagues in Stepney to look after you until the individual is caught.”
“It could be weeks, even months, until you catch the man,” said Mr Taylor. “I don’t want bobbies hanging around here until the Yard finally gets its act together. We want to be left in peace now, do you hear? My priority is to ensure that Annie recovers well enough to be able to perform again. That is all that matters, isn’t it, Annie?”
But Annie didn’t reply. Instead, her wide eyes were fixed on the doorway behind us.
I spun around to see the maid standing as still as a statue, her face white. A revolver had been pressed up against her temple by a young man in a tweed cap and a dark suit. He had a pale moustache and stared back at me with cold, empty eyes.
As I studied his face, I noticed there was something soft about his features.
He was either extremely youthful or he wasn’t a man at all.
It was then that I realised he was in fact a woman.
And the woman was Mary Colehill.
Chapter 47
Mary’s fair hair was tucked up inside the cap and the brim had been pulled down low over her eyes. Her moustache looked convincing enough.
Perhaps she had made it with her own hair, I thought.
With her square jaw and dark, baggy suit, she was passable as a slim-built young man. I was afraid to make any sudden movements and I sensed that James felt the same way. He stood still and silent next to me, presumably thinking up a plan to manage the situation.
“Mary?” I ventured.
She glared back at me and pressed the gun harder still against the maid’s head. The poor maid’s eyes and mouth were open wide in terror.
“Come here, Annie,” said Mary.
“No!” said Mr Taylor from behind me.
Mary gave him a cold glance, and from the corner of my eye I noticed Annie stand up and walk towards Mary. I also noticed James slowly moving his hand beneath his jacket, to where I knew his revolver sat in its holster.
My heart pounded in my ears.
The maid cried out as Mary suddenly pushed her away and grabbed hold of Annie. She moved the gun so that it was pressed up against Annie’s head and the maid cowered by the tiger skin rug.
I was wary that anything I said might make matters worse, but I felt I had to try and calm the situation. “Mary, please don’t do this. Annie hasn’t done anything to hurt you. Please leave her alone. Can’t you see that she has already suffered enough?”
“What do you know about suffering, Penny?” asked Mary.
Annie’s face remained calm and expressionless. I was impressed by her bravery. I decided it was best to keep Mary talking as a way of distracting her while James hopefully found his gun.
“I don’t know a lot about suffering, Mary, but I know what you must have been through. I cannot imagine what it must have been like to find out about Sebastian and Lizzie. You didn’t deserve that; you have a lovely family What Lizzie and Sebastian did was wrong.”
“She was your friend.”
“She may have been, but I still believe she was wrong. In fact, she kept the affair so well-hidden that I didn’t know about it while she was alive.”
“My husband and children are the most important things in my life,” said Mary, her voice cracking slightly. “I do whatever I can to protect what we have. I tried to warn you that this would happen, but you ignored me. How many letters did I need to send to convince you to stay away?”
“I didn’t know whether to take the threats seriously or not.”
She laughed. “Do you need any more convincing now?”
“Mary, please don’t do this. You have too much to lose.”
/> Mary glanced at James, then her arm moved and a sudden shot made Annie scream. I leapt back, startled.
“James!” I cried out. He lay on the floor, on his left side. I knelt down beside him.
“I’m all right,” he said through clenched teeth.
He gripped his arm with his hand and I could see a dark patch of blood begin to spread across the sleeve of his jacket.
“She shot you?”
“Yes, in the arm, but I’m all right.” He kept moving his eyes to his left shoulder and I saw that he was lying on top of his revolver. He looked up at me, wide-eyed, and I understood from his glance that he wanted me to pick up the gun.
“Move away from him!” said Mary. “On your feet!”
“He needs a doctor.”
Mary pointed her gun at me. “Get up!”
I grabbed the revolver and stood up, pointing the barrel at Mary. The gun felt cold and heavy in my shaking hands.
Mary gave me a half smile and pointed her gun back towards Annie’s head. “I can kill her with just one shot.”
I wondered why she was hesitating. Perhaps she wasn’t quite callous enough to shoot someone at such close range.
I glanced over at Taylor and the maid, and it was then that I remembered the shotgun above the case containing the stuffed otter. I was sure that Taylor had already stepped back so that he was closer to it.
With James injured, Taylor had become our only hope. I needed him to get hold of his shotgun and help save Annie. I had never fired a gun before and I had little confidence in my ability to do anything with the weapon I now held.
“Please let Annie go,” I said to Mary. “Think of Sebastian. Think of your children.”
Mary’s eyes grew watery. “Sebastian doesn’t know that I found out about his affair with that whore. He thinks I’m his little woman, caring for his children and waiting patiently for him to come home every evening. He has no knowledge of the many times I followed him or how frequently I read his letters from that insufferable woman. She thought she could take him away from me. He wouldn’t go, of course; he would never leave me.”
“So why do this?” I asked. “Why kill Lizzie?”
“My husband is now one of the most successful theatre proprietors in the country. What would happen to him if people discovered the truth? Lizzie had been a thorn in my side for so long. I knew my family could never live in peace until she was gone. In everyone else’s mind she had drowned, so what harm could I do in killing a woman who was believed to be dead and buried?”
“Let Annie go,” I said.
“Sebastian’s daughter with that woman? For as long as she is alive, I am reminded of his betrayal.”
“That’s enough, Mary!” said Taylor, grabbing his shotgun off the wall as I had hoped he would. He pointed it at Mary. “Do what the woman says and let Annie go. This was not part of the agreement.”
“Agreement? What agreement?” I asked.
“Let Annie go,” said Taylor. “Now!”
He took a step towards Mary and she lowered her gun. Annie moved away from her.
Then Taylor swung his shotgun round and pointed it at me.
“What are you doing?” I asked. I was still pointing my gun at Mary. “Mr Taylor, what was the agreement?”
“The agreement,” he replied, “was that we would kill Lizzie. Do you want to know how Mary found out about their affair? I told her. I knew about them before the boat sank, and I found out that Lizzie was still alive when I followed Annie one day. I couldn’t understand who she kept meeting in Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens. To think that my own wife pretended to me that she had drowned! Just so she could carry on with that man. There is no greater deceit than that, is there, Miss Green? You must know how it feels. She deceived you too. But I confronted her that night in Highgate Cemetery. Both Mary and I were there. We sent her a message and pretended it was from Sebastian asking to meet him there. And the fool turned up! She would have done anything for him. We told her what we thought of her, didn’t we, Mary? She tried to apologise, but her words meant nothing to me by then. I no longer cared.”
“But you couldn’t bring yourself to shoot her, could you?” said Mary. “That was left to me.” Her face was so contorted that I no longer recognised her, especially when she was dressed in men’s clothing.
“But the locket,” I said. “Why did Mary frame you with the locket?”
“I wanted it to look as though I’d been framed. I knew I would be one of the main suspects from the start, so if I could show that I was being framed the detectives hopefully wouldn’t delve any deeper. Which they didn’t. It all worked extremely well until Mary took matters into her own hands. It seems that killing Lizzie wasn’t enough for her; she wanted Annie dead too. Now, Annie may not be my daughter, but I’ve been a father to her since she was a young girl. I love her as if she were my own.”
Mary raised her gun again and pointed it at Taylor.
“Do you see what I mean, Miss Green?” he said. “This woman likes to take matters into her own hands.”
He turned his shotgun on Mary. “Annie, get out of the room!” he shouted.
Mr Taylor and Mary were holding each other at gunpoint and I felt terrified of the outcome.
Who was to shoot first?
I felt relieved that Annie was leaving the room and would not witness any bloodshed. The revolver was still in my shaking hand, but I felt unsure what to do with it. I glanced over at James and he gestured to me to pass him the gun, even though he was still lying on the ground. I knew he was a far better shot than I, but he was injured.
Would he be able to fire the gun accurately?
Whatever decision I made would be risky. I stooped to one side and slid the gun across the floor to him.
“Stop!” Mary cried out.
I looked up and saw the barrel of her gun trained on me.
I tried to cover myself with my arms, but the shots rang out.
Chapter 48
“Welcome back!”
Mr Sherman and the entire staff at the Morning Express were gathered in the news room. They broke out into hearty applause as I stepped through the door and I felt my face flush hot.
I had never seen Mr Sherman grin before, and even Miss Welton had a smile on her face. Among the staff, I saw Edgar, Frederick and even the compositors and printers from downstairs, as well as some of the messenger boys.
“Let me help you with your coat, Miss Green,” said Mr Sherman, stepping forward. I allowed him to help me. It wasn’t easy with my arm in a sling, and the injury was still painful when I moved too much.
Mary had managed to fire at me and Mr Taylor before James had shot her in the leg and disarmed her. Mr Taylor had died of his injuries at the Royal London Hospital. His shotgun had later been found to be empty of ammunition. Thankfully, Annie was unharmed and James’ wound was not too serious.
Only one of Mary’s bullets had hit me. It had travelled through my right forearm, which I had been holding across my chest, and had been halted by the boning of my corset. My ribs had been bruised, but were thankfully undamaged. The injury to my arm had required surgery and I wondered whether I would ever be able to use it properly again.
“The return of Miss Green calls for a celebratory drink!” said Mr Sherman. “This bottle of champagne has been given to us by our fine proprietor, Mr Conway!”
He set about opening it while I walked over to my desk and sat down.
“Are you sure you are ready to return to work?” asked Edgar with a look of concern on his face.
“I think so. I had to; I felt that I was losing my mind sitting about in my lodgings doing nothing. My sister visited me every day and that made it even worse.”
Edgar laughed. “It’s terrible bad luck, though, isn’t it?” he said.
“What is?”
“You could have at least asked her to shoot you in your left arm. You’re a writer and now you can’t write!”
“But at least I am alive.” I smiled. “All is not
lost. I am going to try typewriting.”
“Really? On Miss Welton’s machine?”
“Yes, I can type with my left hand.”
“You are very determined. I think that if I were shot in the arm I would sit at home, enjoying plenty of rest and waiting to make a full recovery.”
“I can imagine you doing just that.”
We both smiled.
“To Miss Green! And her health!” Mr Sherman held his glass high.
“To Miss Green!” my colleagues echoed.
Feeling embarrassed by the attention, I reached out for my glass and took a sip of champagne.
“And the Colehill woman will hang!” someone cried out.
I felt pleased that justice would finally be served for Lizzie and Annie, but I couldn’t stop thinking about the Colehill children. Although their mother had committed a dreadful crime, it didn’t seem fair that they should lose her.
“I hear that Sebastian Colehill wants to have her death sentence commuted to life imprisonment instead,” said Frederick. “He is encouraging his wife to confess and repent, in the hope that it will save her. I should think he’s also hoping a lot of the blame will be pinned on Taylor for encouraging her to do such awful things.”
“Sebastian may feel partially responsible,” I said. “He could never have known that his wife was capable of murder, but he may be questioning the way he treated her. I hope she receives a life sentence rather than the death sentence for the sake of her family.”
“I propose another toast,” said Mr Sherman. “Let us drink to the satisfactory ending of this entire affair!”
Everyone raised their glasses in celebration. I took a sip of my drink and wondered how poor Annie must be feeling.
Although Lizzie’s murderers had been found, there seemed little to celebrate.
Chapter 49
The full report on the underground railway bombings had been given to the Home Secretary by Colonel Majendie and Captain Cundill. I sat in the reading room and perused a copy of it.
