Sally Spencer - Blackstone and the New World

And in the terms of this interrogation, that was all to the good, because it meant he could hold the fact back — like a reserve cavalry unit — until he needed it to break down her defences.

‘You continued to see her after you both left the orphanage, didn’t you?’ he asked.

‘Yes. Jenny used to come and visit me on my half-day off.’

‘Didn’t you ever go and visit her on your half-day off?’

‘No.’

‘Why not?’

‘Because. .’

‘Yes?’

‘Because I didn’t, that’s all.’

‘Surely it would have better for you to have visited her,’ Blackstone persisted. ‘When she came to see you, you both had to walk the streets — which must have been cold in winter. But if you’d gone to the O’Briens’ apartment, I’m sure Mrs O’Brien would have allowed you to use one of the parlours.’

‘I. . didn’t have as much time off as Jenny did,’ Nancy said. ‘If I’d had to travel across the city to see her, I’d have had to start back almost as soon as I’d arrived. That’s why she came to me instead.’

It was a good lie — an intelligent lie, even — but it was still a lie.

‘When did you meet Eddie Toscanini?’ Blackstone asked.

Nancy gave him a hard stare. ‘I never said Toscanini was Eddie’s second name.’

‘No, you didn’t, did you?’ Blackstone agreed. ‘But I still want an answer to my question. When did you first meet him?’

‘It was a few months ago now. When Jenny and me were out on one of our walks.’

‘How did it happen?’

‘He wasn’t looking where he was going, and he accidentally bumped into us. He said he was very sorry for being so careless, and offered to buy us both a coffee to make up for it.’

But had that “bumping into them” been accidental at all, Blackstone wondered.

Or, because of who Jenny worked for, had they been carefully targeted?

‘So he offered to buy you a coffee, and you said yes?’

‘Of course we did. Neither of us had ever been into a real coffee house before. It was very exciting.’

‘And you kept on seeing him?’

‘Yes, every time we went out, Eddie joined us.’

‘And you became his girlfriend?’

‘Sort of. He couldn’t romance me, ’cos Jenny was always with us, an’ even if she hadn’t been, you need a bit of privacy for romance.’

‘Then in what way would you say that you — rather than Jenny — could have been called Eddie’s girlfriend?’

‘When we had drinks, he paid for both of us, and once he hired skates so we could both go ice skating in Central Park. But when he brought little presents, they were only for me.’

‘And what did you do for him in return?’

‘Nothing. Not then. But I’m paying for that now, because now he treats me worse than a slave.’

‘So why don’t you leave him?’

Nancy laughed bitterly. ‘Leave him? And where would I go, if I did?’

‘Mr Boone would find you a position if I asked him to,’ Blackstone said. ‘Not in the van Horne household, obviously, but somewhere very like it.’

‘And would you do that for me ?’ Nancy asked, her voice suddenly thick with wonder and hope.

‘That depends,’ Blackstone said.

‘On what?’

‘Before I help you, you have to help me.’

‘All right.’

‘And you can start by telling me the truth.’

‘I have been telling you the truth.’

‘No, you haven’t. When I asked you what you did for Eddie in the days when he used to buy you drinks and take you ice skating, you said that you did nothing at all.’

‘And that was true !’ Nancy protested. ‘I was a scullery maid with no money of my own, so I couldn’t buy him anything in return. I couldn’t even let him have his way with me then, because we were always in public places. So what could I have done for him back then?’

‘I’ll tell you what you could have done,’ Blackstone said. ‘You could have persuaded Jenny to look through her master’s private papers, and then passed the information on to Eddie. And not only is that what you could have done, it’s what you did do.’

‘You’re mad,’ Nancy said, with so much conviction that — but for the way the evidence was pointing — Blackstone would almost have believed her.

‘So you deny you ever did that?’ he asked.

‘Course I deny it. I’d never have asked Jenny to do anything that might make her lose her job, and even if I had, she’d never have agreed.’

She was mounting a very good defence for herself, Blackstone thought, but the moment he released his cavalry, that defence would collapse in complete and utter confusion.

‘Jenny’s dead,’ he said, making no effort to soften the blow. ‘She’s dead — and it’s partly your fault.’

Nancy blanched.

‘Oh my God,’ she moaned.

And then she picked up the glass of gin from the table and knocked it back in a single gulp.

Blackstone waited patiently for her to speak again, because he was certain that when she did, she would tell him all he wanted to know.

But Nancy did not spout out a confession which would show that he’d been right all along.

Instead, she said, ‘It was suicide, wasn’t it?’

‘Yes,’ Blackstone agreed. ‘But how did you-?’

‘Then you’re right in what you said,’ Nancy interrupted him. ‘It is partly my fault.’

‘Why? Because it was you who persuaded her to betray her master to Eddie Toscanini?’

‘No, I told you, I never did that.’

‘Then why is it your fault?’

‘Because I didn’t push her enough. I should have tried harder to make her see. .’

‘Make her see what?’

‘Nothing.’

‘ Make her see what ?’ Blackstone repeated.

‘I’m not sayin’ any more,’ Nancy said firmly, crossing her arms. ‘You can do what you like to me. You can arrest me. You can beat me up. But I’m not sayin’ any more.

‘Why?’

‘Because poor little Jenny’s dead, and now she should be allowed to rest in peace.’

‘And how will your telling me the truth stop her doing that?’

‘Are you arresting me?’ Nancy asked, avoiding the question.

‘No.’

‘Then I’m going home.’

‘It’s still not too late to tell me the truth,’ Blackstone said. ‘And if you do, I promise that I’ll rescue you from all this.’

‘I want to go home,’ Nancy repeated.

‘Then I’ll escort you to your door.’

‘There’s no need.’

‘I think there is,’ Blackstone said. ‘You’ve had a shock, and that can do funny things to people.’

And besides that, he added silently to himself, I need to know where you live.

There were three policemen standing on the sidewalk outside Mrs de Courcey’s establishment. Two of them were patrolmen in uniform — and they were looking very bored. The third was wearing a straw boater and white bow tie — and he was looking exhausted.

Blackstone walked over to the policeman who looked exhausted.

‘You urgently need a couple of hours sleep, Alex,’ he said.

‘Can’t leave now,’ Meade said, slightly slurring his words. ‘Don’t trust that bastard O’Shaugnessy. If I go, he’ll renege on the deal.’

‘I’ll take your place,’ Blackstone told him.

‘That’d. . that’d be a waste of your time,’ Meade replied, clearly having trouble keeping track of his argument. ‘You’re the senior detective. . the experienced detective. You have more important things to do than keep watch on a brothel.’

But was that true? Blackstone wondered.