Andrew Pepper - The Detective Branch

‘Jesus Christ,’ Pyke said, repeating himself. ‘Did the Peelers ask you questions?’

‘Some, but truth be told, they weren’t much interested. Especially when it became clear we weren’t going to put Morris into the noose for ’em.’

‘But it must have been awful.’ Pyke shook his head. ‘For you and for his family.’

‘At the time they were very close knit, they all doted on Morris. To be honest, I didn’t always like the way they treated him, as if he was a lame dog that needed taking care of. But they loved him, would’ve done anything for him. It hit them terribly hard. Especially the mother. At the time she would’ve been quite devout. I’d say that’s where Morris got some of his beliefs from.’

‘I guess it must’ve shaken them badly. These things always do. You’re never quite the same afterwards.’

Matthew took another swig from the gin bottle. ‘Morris was the oldest, and the only one fathered by her first husband. That’s why he called himself Keate and the rest of them were Gibb.’

Pyke felt a bolt of excitement shoot up his spine. Gibb. It had been the name of the third man who’d been killed in the Shorts Garden robbery.

Wanting to prod him gently in the right direction, Pyke said, ‘Something like this happens, the whole family can fall apart.’

‘Too true in this case, Doc.’ Matthew stood up and went to pat his horse. ‘Morris had two stepbrothers and a stepsister. One of them, Johnny, was a bad lot, always getting drunk and fighting. I don’t know what happened to him. The other, Luke, joined the army. This would have been before Morris was arrested, though. I remember noticing him at Morris’s trial, in his uniform.’

‘Luke Gibb?’ Pyke said, as though he recognised the name.

Matthew came back and sat on the damp straw. ‘Dragoons, I think; I remember him telling me he was based somewhere in Cambridgeshire. Morris was always so proud of him.’

‘And what became of the others? The mother and the daughter?’

This was a more direct question but Matthew was sufficiently lubricated by the gin, so he didn’t seem to mind. ‘Last I heard, the mother had gone a little crazy. The sister was an interesting fish. I always thought she was the good-looking one in the family. An artist of some kind. But she was troubled, just like Morris and the mother. She talked about having these strange visions.’

Pyke felt his stomach somersault. Good looking. Strange visions. An artist. He had to pretend everything was fine. ‘I think I remember reading about it, now you mention it. You know, the murders, the trial. Was the sister involved?’

‘Who, Kate?’ Matthew screwed up his face. ‘ Nah, not her.’

Instinctively Pyke gave a sigh of relief, although he knew the fact that Keate’s half-sister was called Kate didn’t prove a thing. He took the bottle, had one final drink and handed it back to Matthew. The cheap gin scalded his throat. ‘Be hard, I reckon, for them to stay in the area,’ he said. ‘Everyone pointing their fingers at you.’

‘The mother stayed, I know that much. But I haven’t seen her for a couple of years.’

‘And the beautiful half-sister?’ This time Pyke tried to keep his tone light.

Matthew looked at him and grinned. ‘Don’t go asking me, Doc. My Laura would have my guts on a plate if she heard me talking about another woman.’ He stood up and yawned. ‘I’m for bed, anyhow. I’ll see you tonight at eleven.’

Pyke nodded. He now had all the information he was going to get — at least out of Matthew and the crew. A part of him felt sad that he wouldn’t be there in the evening, that they would think badly of him — especially Matthew.

At his lodging house, Pyke took off his clothes in the yard and, in spite of the freezing temperature, scrubbed himself down with soap and cold water. He had done little to his appearance apart from grow a beard and dress in a manner that befitted his status as night-soil man, but, by and large, people had left him alone. In the days just after his escape from Bow Street, when no one seemed to know whether he was dead or alive, he had expected to be recognised at every street corner, but he had forgotten how easy it was to lose oneself in the flotsam and jetsam of everyday life. Still, he didn’t take unnecessary risks; he avoided constables walking their beats and he had tried to contact Felix only once since the incident in the courtroom.

Pyke had made a point of seeing Felix as soon as possible, going almost directly from Bow Street to St Matthew’s. Still, their reunion had not been a good one. Initially the lad had thrown his arms around Pyke and wept, relieved that he was alive and hadn’t, in fact, been shot. But quickly this relief had turned into anger that Pyke hadn’t told him of his plan in advance, that he had allowed him to think he was dead. He’d been to every hospital in the city, Felix said, and each one he’d entered, he’d expected to be told that Pyke hadn’t made it. Pyke had tried to explain: he told Felix that in time the police would come and question him and if they had an inkling that he knew in advance about the escape bid, he could be arrested. He tried to explain that he’d kept Felix in the dark in order to protect him. At the time, Felix hadn’t been ready or willing to accept this and their meeting had ended acrimoniously. Since then Pyke had been back to the church twice, but on each occasion there were too many police constables watching the place, so he couldn’t run the risk of trying to speak to his son. He had seen the lad, though, and knew he was safe; and when this whole thing was resolved, if it was ever resolved, Pyke knew he would owe an enormous debt of gratitude to Martin Jakes.

He was equally indebted to Jack Whicher, who met him every morning in the middle of Golden Square. Maybe Whicher felt he had to make amends for what he had done, or maybe he simply believed Pyke was innocent and therefore deserving of his help. In any case, Whicher was there on the same bench every morning at eight, and he kept Pyke informed about both the investigation and the status of the manhunt to find him.

The fact that Pyke’s escape had taken place under the noses of two of the city’s most senior officers was, apparently, the most galling thing, especially for the men involved. They, in turn, had tried to shift the blame: who, they demanded to know, had been the constable who’d carried one end of the stretcher? Who had authorised the removal of the irons? And why hadn’t anyone else insisted on accompanying Pyke to the hospital? Whicher, who had been on the scene and, unbeknownst to Wells and Pierce, had known some of Pyke’s plan, had attracted a fair amount of ire, but no one had yet accused him of actively conspiring to aid the escape bid. Most embarrassing of all, the authorities had let the gunman — one of Rafferty’s men — do what he’d done in front of everyone and then allowed him to slip through their fingers. For this, Wells, Pierce and the whole police force had been ridiculed in the newspapers and scandal sheets.

Today Whicher had arrived slightly before him and was drinking a cup of hot chocolate. Pyke sat down next to him and said, ‘You remember the third man who was shot in the robbery in the summer?’

‘Gibb, wasn’t it?’

‘Keate’s mother and siblings are called Gibb. Keate was the result of an earlier marriage. One of the half-brothers, Johnny, was our victim.’

‘So what do you think it means?’

‘Well, first of all I think he was there in Cullen’s shop to try to sell the Saviour’s Cross to this Harry Dove. Cullen was there to broker the deal.’

‘So it was Johnny Gibb who stole the cross from the archdeacon’s safe?’

‘I think so.’

Whicher took a sip of his hot chocolate. ‘How does any of this relate to what happened to Keate — and Guppy?’