He turned to Solomon. “And you are?”
“Solomon Grey.” With a civil inclination of the head, Solomon presented the policeman with both the cards he’d had the forethought to bring with him. One displayed the headquarters address of his far-reaching and respected business empire. The other saidSilver & Grey.
“There’s two of you,” Drayman gasped from the ground, his fearful eyes darting from Solomon to David and back.
“This is my brother,” Solomon said. It gave him a little frisson of pleasure. “Mr. David Grey. He helped me apprehend Abel Drayman.”
The sergeant closed his mouth.
“What on earth,” asked the first constable hopelessly, “am I to do with all ofthemnow?”
The sergeant frowned at the now-subdued young men who were sheepishly trying on fallen hats and passing them to each other in search of their own. “They caused an obstruction and breach of the peace and stole two Black Marias.”
“And captured a murderer,” Constance pointed out, “thereby saving the life of my affianced husband, Mr. Grey, and hisbrother.” Clinging very tightly to Solomon’s hand, she bestowed her dazzling smile on the sergeant. “If I were you, I’d send them home to sober up. If you need them as witnesses for the court, you can reach them through Lord Rawleigh here.”
The sergeant swallowed. “Lord Rawleigh,” he repeated.
“That’s me,” Rawleigh said, beaming. “Been to a party, you know!”
The young men laughed, and one threw an arm around Rawleigh’s shoulders. “Come on, old fellow, time for bed!”
“What an excellent idea,” Solomon murmured.
*
It was ratherlater than they had intended the following day before Constance and Solomon managed to look at their potential new home. For one thing, their late and adventurous night meant they slept in, and for another, Inspector Omand had demanded statements of them.
Fortunately, he did not mention the presence of Solomon’s brother at the Crown and Anchor that night, and neither did they. Since Drayman had been charged with Herbert Chase’s murder, there was no point. They had the evidence of the watch and the weapon, and Solomon told Omand about Captain Blake, who would attest to the story of Chase and Drayman on theMary Anne, which provided the motive.
Solomon explained that he had sent a message to the address Omand had provided, in order to entice Drayman out of his lair.
“To the Crown and Anchor?” Omand said in disbelief. “Did you imagine that would be any safer?”
“Well, yes. By the time I arrived I imagined there would be a police presence, but no one at Scotland Yard would listen to Mrs. Silver’s pleas.”
“No one on duty at Scotland Yard had any reason to believe a woman alone after midnight in perfect health with such a wild tale,” Omand excused his colleagues. “The nearest police station would have been better.”
“I shall remember for next time,” Constance said gravely.
“Preferably without causing a riot of the rich and privileged,” Omand added severely.
And Constance wanted to laugh again. “It was hardly ariot, inspector! And I didn’t cause it. Your own constable did by arresting one of them. I merely helped move it on.”
“Yes, well,” Omand said hastily, “talking of moving on…”
There was only one nasty moment, just as they were about to leave Omand’s office.
“As a matter of interest,” the inspector said, “what wasyourinterest in this whole affair?”
Solomon smiled. “Merely a concerned client,” he said.
Their concerned client was still sound asleep in Solomon’s house on the Strand, as though a huge weight had suddenly been lifted from his mind.
“Is he going to stay?” Constance asked in the carriage, on their way to view the house.
“I don’t know. Neither does he. The legalities will have to be sorted out, of course, but he is owed half of the inheritance from my father, plus half of the income from the plantation, which is not huge unless you compare it with a seaman’s wages.”
“Will that make financial difficulties for you?”
