Andrew Pepper - The Last Days of Newgate

Peel was much as he remembered: tall, elegantly dressed, with a long angular face and reddish hair.

‘I think Fitzroy has already told you of my regrets at not being able to do more for you. It was with a heavy heart that I permitted your execution to proceed.’

‘What about the man who was hanged for the St Giles murders? Was it with a heavy heart that you permitted his execution to proceed?’

For a moment, Peel seemed flummoxed. Then irritation and anger appeared to take over. He stared at Pyke and asked, ‘Do you think I am immoral?’

‘I think you are a politician. The two are perhaps not unrelated.’ Pyke sighed, not really wanting to further provoke the man.

This seemed to irritate Peel. ‘Servants of the state who are responsible for enforcing the law are justified in taking certain actions only if, as a whole, they result in greater freedom and happiness for the state’s citizens.’

‘I’m sure the top brass who dispatched troops to quell the working poor at Peterloo said much the same thing as they quaffed their cognac.’

Peel was outraged. Springing to his feet, he spluttered, ‘Take that remark back, sir.’

‘Perhaps it was just tea they quaffed.’

Tilling shot him a hard stare. ‘I’m sure Pyke didn’t mean his flippancy to cause serious offence.’

Peel sat down, a little sheepish at his outburst. ‘Well.’

‘What I’m suggesting is that when virtue is defined by its consequences, it is possible good intentions can be hijacked for other purposes.’ Pyke shrugged, as though the matter were of no consequence.

Peel nodded, calmer now. ‘Nonetheless we have to make decisions — difficult decisions, sometimes — because we feel that they are in the best interests of the majority.’ He paused. ‘I’m sure you have been compelled to make such decisions too.’

‘But if the innocent are slaughtered and the guilty go unpunished only because it better serves the greater good, is that morally acceptable?’ Pyke said, surprised he had proposed this argument.

‘But morality and real politics are sometimes strange bedfellows.’ Peel shook his head. ‘As a follower of Machiavelli, I would have thought you might be sympathetic to this dilemma.’

Pyke nodded amiably. ‘I am well aware that people such as yourself have to make difficult decisions at every turn, but my point is simply that the very nature of those decisions makes it difficult for you to be wholly good.’

‘Are you suggesting that I am somehow not good?’ This time, Peel seemed puzzled more than angry.

‘Neither good nor bad,’ Pyke smiled. ‘Like me.’

‘I would hope and pray I am nothing like you,’ Peel said coldly.

‘No.’ Pyke was suddenly weary of the sound of his own voice. ‘You are much more powerful.’

‘And now you want me to use my power to grant you clemency?’

‘Yes,’ Pyke said, folding his arms.

The ginger cat strolled into the room and curled itself around Peel’s leg. Tilling went to shoo the cat from the room but Peel shoved it away with the end of his boot. The cat scurried over to where Pyke was standing. Pyke bent over to stroke it. The cat arched itself around his leg and began to purr.

‘I know what you intend to ask me but I am afraid nothing can be done in this instance.’ Peel’s smile had no warmth. ‘Given the extent of your own lawlessness and the rather odd and disrespectful manner in which you conducted yourself at your trial, I am not in a position to grant you a pardon.’

‘I’m sorry about that, because it will force me to place the contents of this document in the public domain.’ He reached into his jacket pocket and produced an envelope.

Peel’s eyes narrowed. ‘And what, pray, is this document?’ Pyke removed the first page from the envelope. ‘It’s an affidavit sworn by Andrew Magennis, the father of Davy Magennis, before a solicitor in Armagh.’ He passed it to Peel. ‘In it, he describes how Tilling rode to Armagh in person in order to recruit Davy into the Irish Constabulary.’

‘So?’

Pyke felt the coldness of Peel’s stare. ‘On subsequent pages, he recounts a confession Davy made to him shortly before he took his own life. Davy admits to having murdered his brother, his brother’s mistress and baby.’

‘May I see the rest of it?’

‘Not at this juncture. What would be the point? I have no promise of goodwill on your part.’

Peel glanced nervously at Tilling. ‘If it could be proven this man was responsible for the murders. .’

Pyke nodded, as though giving this notion serious consideration. ‘I’m still not minded to let you see the rest of the affidavit. I would, though, like to make you aware of a man called Simon Hunter, a rector from a church in Mullabrack, County Armagh. Hunter also heard Davy’s confession and said that, if he was instructed to give evidence in court and was placed under oath, then he would corroborate this assertion.’

‘That Magennis committed the St Giles murders?’ Tilling sounded sceptical.

Pyke nodded.

‘Then why not let us see the rest of this affidavit?’

‘I might do, but not before I have received an official pardon from the Home Office.’ This time he looked at Peel.

‘You will not receive any such pardon without revealing the contents of that document.’

Pyke shrugged. ‘Then I shall take my chances with the press.’

‘This is most vexing. Most vexing indeed.’ Peel was scowling. His face had reddened. ‘It is even more vexing in the light of the robbery and unwanted disturbances on land owned by Lord Edmonton.’

‘I had no hand in the Shoreditch robbery,’ Pyke said.

‘For some reason, I find that difficult to believe,’ Tilling responded.

Pyke shrugged. ‘If someone were to steal the crown jewels from the Tower, I would no doubt be blamed for that, too.’ Pyke walked over to the bay window and looked out at the view over Hampstead Heath. ‘But the disturbances on Edmonton’s land are a different matter. What if I could arrange for them to cease?’

‘And how could you manage that?’ Peel demanded.

‘The point surely is, if I could manage it, and in light of the damage I could potentially cause you by revealing that you knowingly executed the wrong man for the St Giles murders, then wouldn’t it seem appropriate to come to some kind of arrangement with me?’

Peel still seemed unconvinced. ‘You have the ear of this particular mob?’

‘I think it is fair to assume that Pyke has played some role in fermenting and channelling their unhappiness,’ Tilling said, arching his eyebrows.

‘I don’t have any control over their righteous anger, but at present their grievances are limited in scope. I could perhaps broker an agreement to ensure fairer conditions of service and a slightly improved wage.’

A long time ago, Pyke might have comforted himself with the notion that he was not, nor had ever been, part of the system of rule and law enforcement that he occasionally served, but his belief in his own independence had long since been eroded.

Peel frowned. ‘But surely that would mean having to negotiate a deal with Edmonton, wouldn’t it? And from what I hear, you would be unlikely to elicit a favourable response from him.’

‘Leave Edmonton to me,’ Pyke said, walking over to the fireplace. ‘But if I can placate the mob, with or without Edmonton’s assistance, would I be right to think that we have an agreement?’

Peel glanced at Tilling. ‘I have given no such assurance.’

‘But you will.’ Pyke smiled amiably. ‘Because you don’t have a choice.’

Tilling looked at Peel, and then at Pyke, and shrugged. ‘Pyke would seem to be holding a strong hand.’

Peel’s face reddened further.