“Not for ages,” she was saying. “Must’ve been months ago. Or was it…?”
Drayman dropped down and used his knife to ease up the floorboard, trying not to make any sound louder than Rossie could talk over.
“Wait, no, I tell a lie!” she exclaimed. “I saw him just a week ago. Or was it two? Hey, Mags! When was it Abel turned up here, middle of the night, drunk as a wheelbarrow? Was it last Tuesday? Or the one before?”
“Abel who?” came the muffled answer from another room across the passage.
Drayman grinned as he set the plank aside and loaded up his pockets with what he’d hidden in the floor cavity—a fair bit of money and a few pieces of gold jewelry. He thought briefly of leaving Chase’s gold watch. It might get the rozzers off his back by setting them on Rosie instead. But when it came down to it, the watchwassolid gold, and he needed it. He crammed that into his pocket as well and crept over to the window.
“Anyway, I told him to bugger off, he can’t come round here bothering me in that state and expect to stay here for free. Free! I asks you now, inspector, is that fair or reasonable? No, it ain’t, so I told him not to come back.”
There was another peeler waiting outside the building, his back to the wall, looking for a fight. Drayman wasn’t ready to give him one. To the side of the window frame was a narrow, secret door that opened to the next room. Drayman took it and closed it behind him.
One of the whores was snoring her head off on the bed. Drayman ignored her and crept toward the door. On the hook there hung a dirty white cap and a moth-eaten velvet cloak. Grinning, Drayman crammed the cap on his head, swung the cloak about his shoulders, and left the room. The door to Rosie’s outer room stood open to the passage. He could still hear the peeler asking questions as he strolled along the passage away from him, swinging his hips as he went.
Then he bolted down the stairs and left by the secret back entrance, avoiding all the traps set for the unwary and unknowing, where he hung the cloak and cap on a spike. From there, it was easy to escape into the dank warren of narrow allies and steps and passages where the rozzers would never find him.
On the other hand, he had to consider how they’d got onto him in the first place. He’d been lying low, on account of theChase trouble nine years ago, and used a different name until he’d actually seen Chase, most definitely alive, and knew it was all for nothing.
The bastards had sent him off on that vile ship without pay or even the spices he’d taken as his share of Chase’s loot. And they’d behaved as if they were doing him a favor! He’d been afraid to go home, even missed the death of his old mum. Chase and Captain Blake had fooled him.
There was no point in getting angry about that again. He’d seen to Chase this time, all right. And relieved him of all he was carrying. He had the feeling that was how the rozzers knew his name. Because there had been another man from theMary Anneat the Crown and Anchor that night.
Johnny, who’d not been right in the head. Or he was delirious with fever. Drayman hadn’t really cared which at the time, but he’d clocked Johnny in the Crown and Anchor. He’d seen him look in a puzzled sort of a way at Chase too, though he’d paid no attention to Drayman.
But later, when he’d been going through Chase’s pockets, it was Johnny who’d come out and seen him. He’d shouted and the peelers had come running, and both Johnny and Drayman had it away on their toes in opposite directions.
They must have caught Johnny, who’d have bought his own life with Drayman’s name.
In which case, Johnny was the only proof they had. Drayman would be happy enough to do away with him too. If he could find him.
Chapter Eighteen
The Reverend LukeRaeburn was quite pleased with his sermon. Several of his flock looked suitably chastened, which had to be good for many reasons. Abigail, his wife, wore an expression of approval. On top of which, Mrs. Silver and Mr. Grey, who’d had the discourtesy to arrive late and now stood at the back of the church with the tail end of the laborers in their Sunday best, were watching the congregation as well as listening. Their attention was diverted, for now, but it was time to end this before they got to the truth and turned the whole community upside down.
Having blessed his flock, he made his stately way down the aisle, aware of the respectful gaze of everyone he passed. He was not being arrogant to believe he had done good work in Sutton May. As he reached the door, which the verger opened for him, he glimpsed Mrs. Silver again, still watching him with an expression that drowned his self-satisfaction in unease.
It was as if she could not look away and yet she was thinking of something else entirely—stricken, yet busy in her mind.
Had he misjudged? Sometimes, he got carried away by his own oratory and said more than he had planned to. To him, such moments came from God, and he delighted in them. But had God made him speak words that defeated his main objective?
In the cold, fresh air of the porch, he recalled his own words while he prepared to greet his departing parishioners. He could find nothing that betrayed the truth. No, there had been noletters for more than a week, and now there would be no more at all. Dr. Chadwick’s investigators would have to give up and go home, and Luke and everyone else could move forward.
Bother Chadwick!He had told the doctor not to drag strangers into this…
Miss Mortimer and Miss Jenson made their slow way out of the church, escorted by young Peregrine. Smiling, Luke shook hands with them all and exchanged a word with each before they moved on either to churchyard gossip or to their carriage, according to their various moods. Luke greeted the rest of his congregation by name, exchanging a word with each. He knew them all so well now, it was almost mechanical, yet his interest was always genuine as he asked after various ailments and family members, troubles and joys in their lives. They were his flock and he would always look after them.
As well as his family.
Abigail and the children had stopped just inside the door, where Mrs. Silver and Mr. Grey were lingering as though determined to be the last to leave, as they had been to arrive. Abigail, bless her, ushered the strangers out before her. She had never been immune to a handsome man, and she had certainly noticed Grey, who was certainlydifferentfrom anyone else she knew.
As a young man, her “noticing” of other males had made Luke unbecomingly jealous. Older and wiser now, he accepted it as part ofher. After all, she only ever looked.
He took Mrs. Silver’s hand. “How lovely to see you this morning. I’m only sorry you could not find a place to sit.”
“Oh, we were happy to stand, and we learned much from your service. I wonder if we might speak in private?”
His heart jolted. He reminded himself that they were curious people, were employed to be so, and that he should not be surprised. It did not mean his sermon hadn’t worked. It justmeant they would finish investigating every avenue before they left. Hopefully tomorrow or the day after.
