Fortunately, the inspector was alone. He looked up when the constable tapped on the door and then opened it, his quick glance becoming an expression of dismay.
“You,” Inspector McGregor growled at me. “What do you—? Thank you, Constable. Please go.”
The constable sent me a surreptitious grin and disappeared, clicking the door closed behind him.
“I am busy, Mrs.Holloway. I have a murder to solve.”
“Did Mr.Monaghan insist you look into that one?” I seated myself on a hard wooden chair without waiting to be invited. “He is one Milton Howard, former secretary to Lord Peyton of Belgrave Square. He was either dismissed or decided to flee. I would keep my eye on Lord Peyton’s very large manservant, Inspector. However, that is not what I’ve come about.”
“No?” Inspector McGregor regarded me with his usual irritation. His pale hair was slicked back from a forehead gleaming with sweat, and his equally pale mustache flickered as his lips twitched. “What is it? Tell me and depart.”
“I have no other information, but I wish to ask you a question.” I leaned forward, lowering my voice in case any of the constables had lingered to listen outside the door. “What can you tell me about Scotland Yard’s branch of secret police? This is what Mr.Monaghan truly runs, is it not? And he has made Mr.McAdam be part of it, hasn’t he?”
14
Inspector McGregor went so still for so long I wondered if he’d ceased breathing.
I’d expected him to launch himself to his feet snarling at me to leave off asking ridiculous questions and depart his presence, but instead he merely stared at me, color suffusing his face.
“So I am right,” I said softly. “Thereisa department of secret police, and that makes you very unhappy.”
Inspector McGregor’s face reddened still more, revealing his distress well. “Did McAdam tell you that? Damn the man.”
“Mr.McAdam never breathed a word,” I said in truth. “He would not breach a trust, not even to his closest friends. I have simply drawn the conclusion.”
From the relieved flicker in his eyes, Inspector McGregor believed me, but his ire remained high. “Never, ever speak of this, Mrs.Holloway. Not to me, not to McAdam, and not, for the love of God, to Monaghan.”
“A man you dislike intensely,” I said. “What has he done that is so unpardonable? Mr.McAdam implied that he was worse than the most dangerous criminal in London.”
“He killed people,” Inspector McGregor said bluntly. “Assassinated them, I mean. Instead of hanging for it, CID decided they needed his insight into criminal activity, and he walked free. That is not a secret. Everyone knows it.”
I might have guessed something of the sort, with Monaghan’s cold gaze and complete lack of compassion, but I shivered.
“That was long ago, was it not?” I asked in a faint voice.
“Does it matter?” Inspector McGregor snapped. “Yes, it was many years ago, and for a long time now, Monaghan has helped the police bring down dangerous men, so I suppose he has paid his dues. He hunts villains with the ruthlessness with which he must have hunted his targets.”
“He puts Mr.McAdam in perilous situations because of it,” I stated. Daniel had asked me not to discuss his current assignment with Inspector McGregor, but that was before a man had been murdered. I doubted Inspector McGregor would rush from this room to tell tales about me to Mr.Monaghan.
“I know,” McGregor snapped. “I understand your concern, Mrs.Holloway, because I share it. But there is damn-all I can do.” He cleared his throat. “Pardon my language.”
“Think nothing of it, Inspector. Is there no one higher up than Mr.Monaghan? Surely he answers to someone. I am not averse to him stopping people who set off bombs in public places, but I wish he would not throw Daniel in front of them to do it. Daniel has proved to be a good detective, has he not? Surely he could be employed elsewhere.”
McGregor listened to all of this with a scowl, and not because of anger at me. “I agree with you, but Monaghan has McAdam tethered. McAdam is not even a proper member ofthe police. He’s considered more of an adjunct detective, meaning he answers to Monaghan alone. He can ask for assistance from any department, but those departments are not obligated to render it.”
I recalled that when I’d gone with Daniel to the bridge on the Tamar between Devon and Cornwall, uniformed and plainclothes policemen had rallied around him, obeying his commands. I wondered now whether Monaghan had ordered them to be there or whether Daniel had compelled them himself.
I felt cold. “You mean, if he runs into trouble, he might be completely on his own.”
“That is the truth of it, Mrs.Holloway. The reason McAdam has received help in the past is because the rest of Scotland Yard respects him as much as they fear Monaghan. However, if Monaghan instructs them not to assist McAdam, then they won’t.”
A wave of fury washed away my chill. “That is unfair.”
McGregor’s voice went hard. “It is how the ambitious, or those who simply want to keep their jobs—including me—remain employed.”
“Daniel has been placed in great peril, but if Monaghan tells you not to help him, you will refuse?” I demanded.
“I did not sayIwouldn’t help,” Inspector McGregor said. “If I could cause Monaghan’s downfall, I would, though I doubt I can do anything about that. But I’ll tell him to go to the devil if he endangers McAdam too much. I share your distaste for him sacrificing others for his cause.”
