Edward Marston - Ticket to Oblivion

‘Yes,’ replied her husband. ‘I’ve just spoken to the booking clerk. It looks as if they’re travelling as two couples. The names of Mr and Mrs Terence Whiteside were in the book alongside those of Mr and Mrs Manus Cullen. From the point of view of the ladies, I fear, they’re very much unholy alliances.’

The wind stiffened and the waves continued to lash the quayside, prompting the apprehensive Leeming into a whole series of protests. Madeleine’s qualms were stilled now that she was holding her husband’s arm. She began to see the voyage as an adventure. When their vessel finally arrived and unloaded its passengers, they joined the long queue that filed aboard. None of them looked over their shoulder to see the last passenger step out of the shadows in order to join the ship.

Alban Kee was determined not to miss out on the chase.

Win Eagleton knew how to choose her moment. She busied herself in the kitchen until all her chores had been done, then she went in search of him. Vernon Tolley was leaning against the carriage, pressing tobacco into his clay pipe before he lit it. He puffed hard for a few seconds. The horses stood between the shafts in readiness for instant departure, should they be called upon. Nobody else was about as Win padded across the courtyard. Wrapped up in thought, the coachman was completely unaware of her approach. It was only when she stood directly in front of him that he knew that she was there.

‘I know what you’re thinking,’ she said with a sympathetic smile.

‘Do you?’

‘Yes, Vernon, you’re thinking about that hat in the Mickleton Tunnel.’

‘That wasn’t on my mind at all, Win,’ he said. ‘I was just wondering when Sir Marcus would need me again. I was told to stand by.’

‘Where is he going?’

‘He may not be going anywhere. The situation seems to change by the hour.’

‘You know about Mr Tunnadine, don’t you?’ she said in a whisper. ‘They were overheard talking about it at breakfast. What an awful thing to happen to him! He was shot dead. The wedding will not take place now, but then,’ she added, slyly, ‘I don’t suppose that it would ever have done so.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘Well, they’re not coming back, are they?’

‘Don’t say that, Win!’ he protested.

‘It’s no good pretending.’

‘That’s not what I’m doing.’

‘Both of them disappear, Rhoda’s hat is found in a tunnel and a man is murdered in cold blood. If that doesn’t convince you, what will?’

‘I’m busy,’ he said, moving away. ‘You’ll have to excuse me.’

She followed him across the yard. ‘But you’re only waiting for Sir Marcus.’

‘I’d prefer to do it alone.’

‘Why are you always avoiding me?’

He stopped and faced her. ‘I’m not avoiding you, Win. I just want to be left on my own. I have things to think about.’

‘But that’s why I came, Vernon. I hate to see you moping.’

‘I’m not moping.’

‘Yes, you are and you’ve been doing it for days. I simply want to help you.’

‘You can do that best by letting me get on with my job.’

‘Smoking a pipe and resting against the carriage — what kind of work is that?’

‘I may be needed at any moment.’

‘It’s not only Sir Marcus who needs you,’ she said, softly. ‘We all do, Vernon. Everyone in the kitchen is worried about you. We know what Rhoda meant to you and we’re so sorry that she’ll never …’ Feigning grief, she used the back of her hand to wipe away a tear. ‘I loved her as well. That’s why I’m in mourning, too.’

‘Rhoda is not dead,’ he insisted.

‘No, no, of course not,’ she said, hurriedly. ‘She’s still alive and so is Miss Imogen. They’ll come back very soon and we’ll all be happy. It’s wrong to let the waiting get us down. We must be patient. However,’ she added, ‘we have to be ready just in case anything does go wrong.’ She inhaled deeply. ‘I’ve always loved the smell of your tobacco. Whenever you light that pipe, I like to be near you.’

After a last puff, he tapped the pipe against his heel and the tobacco spilt onto the ground. He put the pipe in his pocket and looked her in the eye.

‘Yes,’ he said with slow deliberation, ‘there is a chance that Rhoda may never come back. There is a chance that something bad has happened to them. I accept that. If that’s the way it is, then I know exactly what I’d do.’

‘What’s that, Vernon?’

‘I’d leave Burnhope Manor and look for work elsewhere. I’d move far away, Win. There’s nothing to keep me here.’

Stung by the rebuff, she turned on her heel and scuttled back to the kitchen.

Tolley was glad to have shaken her off. Alone at last, he sighed deeply.

‘Where are you, Rhoda?’ he pleaded. ‘Where are you?’

Rhoda Wills took the warning seriously. She’d crossed the Irish Sea with a large number of passengers but she’d been told what would happen if she tried to shout for help. Cullen never left her side. When he sat beside her, she could feel the pistol beneath his coat. It had already accounted for Tunnadine. If she disobeyed orders, Rhoda knew that she could be the next victim. At any other time, a visit to Dublin would have excited her but she left the vessel with dread in her heart. What caused her most anxiety was that she and Imogen were kept apart. Cullen hustled her into a cab and they were taken to a nearby hotel with the luggage. When he booked two rooms, her hopes rose slightly. She was to be reunited with Imogen, after all. They could offer each other solace.

Instead, she was conducted to a room at the top of the hotel and pushed into it by Cullen. The first thing he did was to drag her across to the window.

‘The most beautiful city in the world is out there, Rhoda,’ he said, beaming, ‘but don’t even think of exploring it by trying to run away again. It’s a very long way down to the ground, as you can see. You’d be dead as soon as you hit the pavement.’

‘Where are the others?’

‘You just worry about yourself.’

‘I want to know where Miss Imogen is.’

‘She disappeared the moment we boarded the vessel,’ he said with a smile. ‘She’s Mrs Whiteside now and she’ll soon be entertaining her husband in the room next door. You’ll stay here until your own husband is ready for you.’ He bared his teeth. ‘Goodbye, Mrs Cullen.’

‘Stay away from me,’ she cried.

‘Now that’s not the way to start our honeymoon, is it?’ he taunted.

After letting himself out, he locked the door behind him. Rhoda could hear his laughter echoing along the corridor. She went back to the window and looked down. Cullen was right. There was no escape. Rhoda was trapped.

Miraculously, the swell seemed to drop, the wind lost its bite and the vessel was able to sail on an even keel. Though the sea was by no means calm, it no longer rocked their steam packet so violently. Even someone as unsettled as Victor Leeming felt the urge to go up on deck and sample the fresh air. Colbeck and Madeleine were already there, standing in the stern and watching the posse of gulls that had trailed them from Holyhead. Momentarily, they felt as if they were setting off on a holiday but the sensation then vanished. They were in pursuit of two dangerous men and that ruled out any possibility of leisure or enjoyment.

‘What are Irish railways like?’ she asked.

‘You may well have the chance to find out, Madeleine.’

‘You travelled on them before, didn’t you?’

‘Yes,’ he said. ‘The system is nowhere near as complex as the one we know but, then again, it’s not so absurdly cluttered. While we have far too many railway companies, Ireland has too few, but that will change in time.’