‘That he is always on hand, or connected, to events,’ said Dora. ‘Plus he makes my blood run cold. I was on my own with him today and he is one unstable young man; he thinks the poet Wordsworth is his daddy.’
‘You suspect him and you were on your own with him? Dora!’
‘I was distracting him while Jacob searched where he was staying.’
‘Sandys, you shouldn’t have left her alone with someone you thought a killer?’ This was a sensitive area for Alex who had lost Anthony, Dora’s brother, because Anthony had thought it safe enough to meet a killer on his own.
‘I make my own decisions, Alex,’ said Dora firmly. ‘To be fair to Jacob, we did not know of the attack on Wright at the time we took that one. We might’ve thought differently had we known.’
Jacob agreed with Alex that, especially with hindsight, they should’ve swapped roles, but it was pointless arguing about something that had happened. ‘Tell us what brought you here. Does it fit with what we’ve been describing?’
‘It does. My friend in the River Police and I were following up the shepherd’s crook because it stood out as the strangest part of the crime. It seemed to us that anyone carrying such an object would be noticed unless they were accompanied by a herd of sheep– hardly this season’s fashion accessory.’
Jacob felt a pang of satisfaction that the team had been functioning well in their absence. The pang felt a little like guilt. He should learn to trust their intelligence and not assume they needed him to do their thinking for them. ‘I’m glad you did that. You got a result?’
‘From one of the boatmen my friend knows. He said he was waiting to pick up a fare from just below London Bridge when he saw a man crossing the bridge with a bundle tied to the end of a shepherd’s crook. He didn’t think much of it, assuming the man was on his way to the docks to take passage abroad, going to try his luck at his trade in the colonies. He only remembered because the man looked a little too finely dressed to be an ordinary shepherd, more like a tradesman of means than a farmworker.’
‘Did he describe the man?’
‘In his twenties. Fair hair. Medium frame. Straw hat. He couldn’t remember anything distinct about him, merely that he seemed ordinary and had a brown jacket with brass buttons. I thought of you as we questioned him. We could do with a sketch of this fellow.’
‘A young man disguising the crook as a way of carrying his bundle– that makes sense. I’d wondered how he’d managed to cross London with that in hand.’
‘There’s more. The man came down the steps to where our boatman was waiting to ask the way to the Tower.’
‘Which is right near Billingsgate.’ Now it made perfect sense.
‘The boatman offered to take him, but the man claimed not to have the coin to spare. He got directions for free because our informant said he felt sorry for him. The man said he had to hurry– our boatman assumed that was to make his ship in time– and he left.’
‘Anything else?’
‘The man spoke with what the Londoner considered a “funny accent”. When we pressed, he said it sounded like he was from “up north” but not Scotland. He was quite sure of that because his wife’s sister married a Scot. I thought this detail interesting enough to hurry to join up with you and see what you made of it. If the killer is from these parts, it stood to reason he might be back here now, and you might not be aware of the danger when you went asking questions. I wished I could recall my letter, but it was too late.’
That implied Alex had come to save them. He’d worried he’d sent them into a deadly situation and thought the best way to protect them– Dora especially, whom he looked on as a sister– was to come himself.
Dora reached out and squeezed Alex’s forearm. ‘Thank you.’
‘But it appears I should’ve stayed away. You were already aware you were dealing with a volatile person. Killing because they think some poem is giving them instructions? That is the stuff of Bedlam.’ He turned to Jacob. ‘And I should’ve said already, I’m sorry to hear about your father. I knew you were likely to be at Levens so when I learned of the stranger with the crook, I feared that might’ve taken you away from Dora– and I hated to think of her investigating this on her own.’
‘It did take me away for a few days,’ acknowledged Jacob. ‘And though, as it turns out, we didn’t need you to warn us, we are glad you are here now.’
‘It is particularly helpful that we have someone on our team whom no one here recognises as anything to do with us. We might need you to keep an eye on some people who would notice if we were too often in their path,’ added Dora.
‘And then there’s the government man, Moss. While we’ve decided to trust him, I’d prefer to have someone on our side that he doesn’t know about.’
‘Don’t worry– I’ll happily keep well away from the government. What do we do next?’
‘We need to get to the truth about Knotte,’ said Dora. ‘Jacob, I’ve been thinking. I suspect he’s the sort who might’ve written it all down if we know where he has left his writings. I’m guessing there wasn’t anything incriminating at the cottage?’
She was right. Knotte’s vanity and his mania could mean he’d done just that. ‘Only a few jottings.’
‘He might carry a commonplace book with him for his notes, but he also mentioned he had a volume’s worth of poetry out with publishers. There must be an original manuscript somewhere here. He wouldn’t send off every copy he owned.’
‘Then search where he lives,’ said Alex.
‘We would but the problem is he’s homeless, going from lodging to lodging, staying with friends, staying where no one will notice he’s moved in.’
‘Now there’s an idea.’ Jacob got up and went to the window. ‘What about his family’s cottage? It’s not lived in– or not that I’ve noticed. He knows it better than anyone else in the valley. Would he not go back there if he needed a place to leave his private papers?’
