Andrew Pepper - The Detective Branch

‘Please don’t misunderstand me,’ he said, after he had given Pyke his impression of Guppy. ‘I was shocked, horrified even, when I first heard the news and I’m desperately sorry he’s dead. His wife, Matilda, is a fine woman. She’ll take this very badly.’

‘But you didn’t like him as a man?’

‘It’s not that I liked or disliked him.’ Jakes loosened his collar. ‘It’s just… how can I put it? St Botolph’s is one of the wealthiest parish churches in the whole city. I would guess it raises in excess of two thousand a year from the rate alone. Now, I know a healthy proportion of that goes towards maintaining the rectory and its grounds…’

‘But you just get the crumbs from the table?’

Jakes winced slightly. ‘I don’t know how knowledgeable you are about parish arrangements. St Botolph’s is our mother parish; all of the rate goes there. To make ends meet, we have to rely on what we can earn from funerals and marriages.’

‘St Botolph’s gets the oysters, you get the shells.’

Jakes smiled at Pyke’s analogy. ‘We try to do as much charitable work with the poor as we can. Offer them food, hot soup in the winter. Coal and firewood if we can afford it.’

‘But you could do more if you were given more.’

‘ So much more,’ Jakes said, emphasising each syllable.

Pyke glanced around the cramped, dusty room and thought about the accommodation at the rectory attached to St Botolph’s. It was easy to see why Jakes might be frustrated with the situation.

‘I was told you recommended an odd-job man to Guppy.’ Pyke waited, and studied the vicar’s reaction. ‘A former felon, by the name of Francis Hiley. Is that correct?’

‘It is, indeed.’ Jakes’s expression was earnest. ‘Can I enquire why you’re asking about Francis? Has something happened to him?’

‘Not as such. But it would seem that he packed up and left just before or after Guppy was murdered.’

‘Ah, I see.’ Jakes’s expression darkened. ‘And everyone at St Botolph’s believes Francis killed the rector.’

‘Is that such an unreasonable conclusion to reach? Given Hiley’s sudden flight?’

‘No, I suppose not,’ Jakes said, sighing. ‘It’s true that Francis is a deeply troubled man. Nonetheless, I don’t doubt that some people have been more than forthcoming about his past.’

Pyke couldn’t help but smile at Jakes’s insightful reading of the situation. ‘I was told he served time in Coldbath Fields.’

Jakes nodded. ‘I first made his acquaintance when I moved here from St Luke’s, Berwick Street. He was a bright lad, and always showed a keen interest in the Bible, but he was let down by his temper. He found out that his wife had been unfaithful to him; they fought and she fell down the stairs. The jury returned a verdict of unlawful manslaughter but when it came to his trial, the magistrate was lenient. Francis hadn’t contested the charges and anyone could see how distraught he was. He liked a drink but that doesn’t make him a bad man, does it? I enjoy a tipple every now and again myself. So I spoke up for him at the trial and the magistrate gave him two years. After Francis had served his sentence, he came here and offered to help out, in return for his room and board. I had to go to Guppy to gain his consent and initially he was hostile. He warned me about the dangers of consorting with hardened criminals.

‘In the end, and after a great deal of posturing, Guppy gave me his consent. I offered Francis a bed in this house but he insisted on sleeping in the church. And he proved to be a useful man to have around. I’m not as young as I used to be, and he would fetch and carry things for me; mend what needed to be mended. And when I did my rounds, I felt safer when Francis was with me. As you might expect, the church is not universally liked in a district like this one. In the past, I’ve been pushed to the ground and spat on, but with Francis at my side, no one bothered me. You see, he was big, a physical man. Folk around here respect that more than the word of God.’

‘So how did Hiley come to work for Guppy?’

Jakes adjusted his position in his armchair. ‘About seven or eight months ago, Guppy came to see me here at St Matthew’s, which was a rare enough occurrence, as he would usually summon me to St Botolph’s. I could tell something had upset him but he refused to take me into his confidence. For him, that would’ve been an admission of weakness. But he’d heard all about Francis; the fact that people in the parish respected him on account of his size and physical presence. He told me he needed someone to keep an eye on the church and he offered to take Francis off my hands; that was the phrase he used. He even promised to pay him a wage.’

Pyke tried to weigh this up against the sense he’d got from the churchwarden and the rectory servants that Francis Hiley had been an unwanted presence at St Botolph’s and that he’d been spoiled or indulged by an overly generous rector. He put this view to Jakes.

‘As I said earlier, life at St Botolph’s is comfortable, respectable. Francis comes from rough stock. It’s no surprise that most people there would have taken against him or been suspicious of him.’

Pyke rubbed his chin and nodded. ‘And how did this arrangement work out? Was Hiley happy with it? Was Guppy?’

‘Guppy never complained, at least not to me.’

‘But Hiley did?’

Jakes sighed. ‘Guppy promised to feed him and pay him a wage but more often than not Francis would turn up here hungry and looking for food.’

‘You’re saying that Guppy didn’t honour his commitment?’

‘Francis was grateful for the work and even more grateful for the chance to atone for his sins. He never criticised Guppy directly.’

Pyke was about to ask another question when a younger woman put her head around the door. Honey-coloured hair surrounded her pale, pinched face. She wasn’t unattractive, he decided, but there was something unsettling about her. Perhaps it was just that she was so thin. She was introduced to Pyke as Kitty, but Jakes made a point of describing her as his ward. It made Pyke wonder whether Jakes was married or not.

‘Can I fetch you anything, sir?’ She bowed her head, avoiding Pyke’s eyes. He put her age at twenty-five or thereabouts.

‘Martin, my dear. Please call me Martin.’ He offered Pyke an apologetic smile. ‘Perhaps you can tell Inspector Pyke here about the goings on at the rectory. He’s investigating the murder. You’re friendly with some of the girls who work there, aren’t you?’

Kitty reddened and she tucked her blonde hair behind her ears.

‘Please, my dear.’ Jakes hesitated. ‘If you know something that could help the inspector, it is your responsibility to tell him.’

‘No one liked him at the house,’ she said, eventually. ‘None of the servants, at least. He was a tyrant, so he was.’

‘That may be so, Kitty, but surely you can’t be suggesting that someone might’ve killed him for that reason alone?’

Kitty shrugged. ‘I didn’t say that, did I? I just don’t think anyone there will be weeping into their pillows.’

She excused herself and Pyke turned back to face Jakes. ‘Do you know where I might find Hiley?’

‘So you can throw him to the wolves?’

‘So I can talk to him and determine whether or not he is implicated in what happened.’

Eventually Jakes said, ‘Francis’s mother and father both died in the cholera outbreak in the early thirties.’

Pyke stood up and pulled on his greatcoat. ‘And what if Hiley came here to see you or tried to make contact with you?’

Jakes was frowning, apparently not grasping the nuance of his question, so Pyke added, ‘Would you pass this information on to me?’