Edward Marston - Inspector Colbeck's Casebook

‘Jed is twelve or so and he’s the nasty one. Harry is a year or two younger and does what his brother tells him. They’re rotten to the core, Inspector.’

‘How did they break windows?’

‘Oh, they were very clever,’ said Rogers. ‘They did it from a distance so they could run away without being seen. They used catapults.’

The brothers lived with their widowed mother in a smallholding on the outskirts of the town. The detectives hired a trap to drive there. Leeming was shocked by what they’d discovered. He still found it beyond belief.

‘Can children of that age really be killers , sir?’

‘I’m afraid so, Victor.’

‘But they’re not much older than my two boys. David and Albert would never do anything like that.’

‘That’s because you’ve brought them up properly,’ said Colbeck. ‘Yet even at their age, they’re physically capable of murder. If you put a hammer or an axe in their hands, they’d be strong enough to knock someone out if not able to lift them up afterwards. In any case,’ he added, ‘we don’t know that murder was intended here. It’s conceivable that the guard was supposed to be wounded in payment for the hiding he gave the two boys. When he was hit hard, he died unexpectedly so that his killer had to drag his body beside that wagon. He and his brother — if they really are the culprits — then used their catapults to scare the bullocks into life.’

Leeming was saddened. ‘We’ve never arrested anyone so young before.’

‘Criminals have to answer for their crimes.’

When they reached the little cottage, they saw that it had an air of neglect about it. The fence outside it was also in need of repair. Chickens squawked and fled out of the way as the wheels of the trap rolled towards them. After giving Leeming his orders, Colbeck went to the front door and knocked. It was opened by a thin, hard-faced woman in her forties. She put her hand on her hips.

‘What do you want?’ she asked, pugnaciously.

‘Are you Mrs Lavery?’

‘Who wants to know?’

‘My name is Detective Inspector Colbeck and I’d like to speak to your sons, if I may. I will, of course, only do so with you there.’

Her truculence vanished at once and she became more respectful.

‘Don’t believe what people tell you about Jed and Harry,’ she said. ‘They’ve been wonderful to me since my husband died. Without them to help, this place would have been impossible to keep on. My sons are my salvation.’

Colbeck felt a fleeting sympathy for her. The loss of her husband had clearly thrown her into a dire predicament. It had also had a visible effect on her health. She was pale and utterly exhausted. Yet he couldn’t let compassion get in the way of duty.

‘Where are your sons now, Mrs Lavery?’

‘They’re feeding the horses,’ she replied.

‘Then I’d like to talk to them, please.’

She was defensive. ‘Is it about those windows that were smashed?’

‘Yes,’ he said. ‘In one way, I suppose that it is.’

‘It wasn’t them. I’d take my oath on it. Jed and Harry were here all the time.’

Colbeck pretended to accept her word. ‘I’m sure that they were.’

He was invited into the kitchen, a small, bare, cheerless place with a rickety table and whitewashed walls. The paved floor had undulations. An unpleasant smell hovered. She waved him to a chair but he preferred to stand. Because she went out for several minutes, Colbeck decided that she was rehearsing what she wanted her sons to say. When they came in with bowed heads, they looked meek and obedient. Jed Lavery was a wiry lad in rough clothes in desperate need of washing. Harry was shorter and even skinnier, wearing a pair of trousers that were too big for him and which had obviously been handed down to him by his brother. There were patches badly sewn on both knees.

Colbeck got both of them to sit down before he fired his question at them.

‘Which one of you has the catapult?’

Caught unawares by what amounted to an accusation, they looked guiltily at each other. It was their mother who provided the answer.

‘They both have one, Inspector. They use them to kill pigeons.’

‘I think they used them for something else today, Mrs Lavery.’ He stood over the two boys. ‘Isn’t that true?’

They avoided his searching eyes and were patently discomfited. For once in their lives, Jed and Harry were out of their depth. Defying the local police had been easy and they’d baited a railway guard without fear. Colbeck represented a different problem altogether. His status, height, authoritative manner and impeccable tailoring combined to unnerve them completely. He pressed home his advantage.

‘Now that we know you both have catapults,’ he said, quietly, ‘which one of you stole Mr Fullard’s watch?’

The sheer directness of the question made the pair of them twitch noticeably. Harry’s eyes flicked to and fro but it was his brother, Jed, who was under the most intense pressure. He began to fidget. After trying and failing to concoct a lie, Jed gave up and jumped to his feet. To his mother’s horror, he pushed Colbeck aside and ran to the back door, hurtling through it in a frantic bid to get away. All that he managed to do, however, was to bounce off the formidable frame of Victor Leeming who, at Colbeck’s suggestion, had worked his way round to the rear of the cottage so that he could block a potential escape route.

The force of the collision knocked something out of the boy’s pocket and it fell to the ground. Holding him firmly by his collar, Leeming bent down to retrieve a large pocket watch. He flicked it open to look at the dial.

‘I think your time is up, son,’ he said.

‘Why are we in such a rush, Inspector?’ asked Leeming in bewilderment.

‘We have a train to catch, Victor.’

‘Where are we going?’

‘Ravenglass.’

‘Is it far away?’

‘It’s far enough,’ said Colbeck. ‘That’s why I advised you to bring the change of clothing you keep at Scotland Yard.’

‘Estelle will worry when I don’t come home tonight.’

‘Madeleine will be anxious for the same reason. Since they were misguided enough to marry detectives, however, they must learn to expect sudden departures.’

‘We’ve never had one as sudden as this, Inspector.’

They were in a cab that was taking them to Euston station. All that Leeming could think about was being apart from his wife and two sons. Colbeck gave him a friendly pat on the knee.

‘I’m not that hard-hearted, Victor,’ he said. ‘I considered the ladies and sent word of our movements to Estelle and to Madeleine. They’ll still fret in our absence but at least they’ll know where we are.’

‘That’s more than I will, sir. Where is Ravenglass?’

‘It’s in the county of Cumberland.’

‘That’s way up north!’ protested Leeming.

‘Your knowledge of geography cannot be faulted.’

‘What did the telegraph say?’

‘It merely said that a crisis had occurred. We are responding to it.’

‘Why does it always have to be us?’

‘A challenge has been set,’ explained Colbeck. ‘We must not shirk it simply because we enjoy the comforts of home life. Ravenglass needs our help.’

‘What sort of place is it?’

‘It’s a very small one. We are escaping the bedlam here and going to the coast where the air will be clean, and where fresh fish will be served to delight the palate.’

‘I’d still rather stay here.’

‘Even if it means that a killer goes unpunished?’

Leeming frowned. ‘I thought the superintendent said something about a burning railway carriage.’