Andrew Pepper - The Detective Branch

‘I will not sit here and be publicly slandered by a man whose own reputation is so tarnished.’

‘Sit down, Benedict. No one is slandering anyone.’ Mayne stared at Pyke. ‘We do need to take the detective inspector’s concerns seriously. But that doesn’t mean we have to panic or announce our suspicions to the public at large. All we can do is make sure there are as many constables patrolling the streets as we can muster.’

‘And what exactly do we tell the men, Sir Richard?’ Wells said, with an air of contempt. Clearly he didn’t concur with this assessment of the situation, either.

‘I don’t know. That’s your job, Walter. Tell them to be on their guard.’ Mayne paused. ‘We’ll use reserves from the Executive Division to bolster our presence in Soho and St Giles.’

‘And in the meantime,’ Pierce said, looking over at Rowan, ‘the real murderer, Francis Hiley, slips through our net.’

Wells gave Pierce, and then Pyke, an uneasy look. ‘I agree that Hiley should remain our primary suspect.’

‘That remains to be seen,’ Pyke said, turning to Pierce for the first time. ‘But if, as the head of the former investigation, you have nothing to hide, then what’s the harm in having another look at it?’

Pierce didn’t rise to Pyke’s bait. ‘I stand by the decisions that were made during that investigation. We got the right man.’

‘Fine. Then you won’t mind us using the documents to establish whether or not Guppy’s murder is linked to the deaths of the two boys.’

‘Consult the documents, if you think it’s going to help,’ Mayne said, trying to smooth out the disagreement. ‘All we’re doing is taking the necessary precautions to preserve peace and order, as is our duty as police officers.’

‘I fancy Sir Richard’s right,’ Rowan agreed, unenthusiastically. ‘After all, prevention rather than detection has always been the watchword of this organisation.’

Since the two most senior men in the room had spoken, the discussion was effectively over. Rowan made his excuses to leave and was closely followed by Pierce and Wells.

‘You do realise, Detective Inspector, that I’ve nailed my colours to your particular mast,’ Mayne said to Pyke when they were alone.

‘And I’m grateful for your vote of confidence.’ Pyke paused. All of a sudden, he didn’t feel especially confident. Perhaps it was dawning on him what a risk he was taking.

‘Of course, I hope I’m wrong and nothing happens,’ Mayne continued.

‘Of course.’

‘But if it does… I want you to tread very carefully around this old investigation. At the time there was a lot riding on it.’

‘In what sense?’

‘The department you now head was established on the back of the hunt for that murderer.’

Pyke nodded; he’d already heard the same thing from Shaw.

‘I don’t need to tell you, Detective Inspector, that if you’re wrong about this, Pierce in particular will be quick to call for your blood.’

Wells was waiting for Pyke in the Detective Branch’s office. He told Pyke he’d already authorised an additional seventy-five men from the Executive Division to patrol the streets of St Giles and Soho.

‘That was very prompt of you, Walter,’ Pyke said, ushering Wells into his private office. ‘I’m gratified by your change of heart.’

‘I wouldn’t call it a change of heart, Pyke. To be perfectly honest, I still think Hiley killed Guppy.’

‘Then you’re just following orders?’

‘Not exactly.’ Wells sat down and waited for Pyke to do likewise. ‘Right or wrong, I arrived at the conclusion that arresting Francis Hiley would help me steal a march on my friend from Holborn Division. In the meantime, I’ve shut my eyes to other possibilities, including the admittedly fine detective work that you and your men have been carrying out.’ He paused and rubbed his chin. ‘The irony is, and I didn’t realise this until just now in the meeting, Pierce thinks as I do. Our positions are essentially the same; he also sees the arrest of Hiley as the best route to becoming assistant commissioner. Therefore the political advantage I can glean from this is limited.’

‘I did wonder for a moment whether you and Pierce had had some kind of rapprochement,’ Pyke said.

‘Far from it, Pyke. Far from it.’ Wells shook his head. ‘In fact, Pierce has been busy pointing out my relative inexperience to Mayne and Rowan and anyone else who’ll listen.’

Pyke had fully expected to have a row with Wells. Now he was thrown by Wells’s volte-face, even if it was motivated by self-interest.

‘When do you expect the post of assistant commissioner to be filled?’

‘Within the next few months. I’m told, unofficially of course, that Pierce is ahead of me at the moment.’

‘A lot can happen in a couple of months,’ Pyke said.

Wells nodded. ‘I won’t pretend I agree wholeheartedly with your assessment of the situation vis-a-vis Guppy’s murder but I do understand that I need to put some clear water between myself and Pierce.’

Pyke eyed him carefully but he was more predisposed to accept Wells’s explanation, now he had admitted his self-interest. ‘So what do you propose, Walter?’

‘I’m offering to support whatever approach you decide to take.’ He gave a forced smile. ‘I do still have some influence in the building.’

‘I don’t doubt it and I’m very grateful to you.’ They stared at one another across Pyke’s desk.

‘Good, I’m glad we’ve got that sorted out.’ Wells stood up suddenly. Then, almost as an afterthought, he said, ‘Actually there was something else I thought I should mention…’

‘Yes?’

‘It’s a little sensitive,’ Wells said, his expression serious. ‘And it involves our friend from Holborn’s plans for you…’

Pyke nodded and his entire face darkened, but he tried to make light of the situation. ‘Forgive me for not being too concerned. Pierce has been plotting my downfall since we were Bow Street Runners back in the twenties.’

‘But this time, I’m told, he seems to think he has the ways and means of fatally wounding you.’

‘Who told you this?’

‘I’m sorry, I can’t say. But I can assure you my informant is reliable.’ Wells paused, trying to gather his thoughts. ‘If there’s anything in your past that Pierce could use, anything he could exploit, my advice would be to bury it.’

‘Your informant couldn’t be more particular?’

‘I’m afraid not. But I’d say you should be extremely careful. Pierce can be a vindictive man and unfortunately he’s not stupid.’

After Wells had left, Pyke looked up at the cracked ceiling and the flaking plasterwork and contemplated what he’d just learned. Part of him wanted to catch Pierce in a deserted alleyway and beat him with a cudgel until the man’s skull split open, but he knew deep down that winning against a man like Pierce required more than menace or brute force.

There was nothing to be done except wait. Instead of patrolling the streets of Soho and St Giles, Pyke spent the rest of the morning and most of the afternoon re-reading the files, reports and route-papers relating to the investigation five years earlier. It didn’t take him long to realise that the process hadn’t been as thorough as Shaw and Pierce had intimated. Little was known about the victims, the two boys, apart from their age and criminal predilections. Johnny Gregg had been twelve and Stephen Clough eleven. No one, as far as Pyke could tell, had bothered to find out about their families, and it was the same with the alleged perpetrator, Morris Keate. According to the records, Keate had been a night-soil man who worked with three other men, but there was no indication that any of these men had been interviewed. Likewise, there were no further details about Keate’s mother and his siblings: two brothers and a sister. As Pyke leafed through the various pieces of paper, he wondered whether anyone had bothered to speak directly to the family. The Crown’s case against Keate seemed to rely on the fact that an item of clothing allegedly belonging to Gregg and a hammer with dried blood on it had been found in Keate’s tool-chest. The prosecuting lawyer had also tried to portray Keate as a religious madman, a Devil worshipper prone to violent outbursts. As far as Pyke could see, Keate himself had not been well represented and had offered little or no defence.