Edward Marston - Blood on the line

Madeleine kept repeating the questions until a head peeped around the door of the kitchen. Gideon Little gave a hopeful smile.

‘Is there any chance of another slice of that cake, please?’

The haul was astounding. Oxley may have escaped but he’d left his luggage behind him. In a room at police headquarters, Colbeck and Leeming had been assisted by Matt Riley as they went through the respective cabin trunks and valises belonging to Oxley and Irene. Booty of all types came to light. They laid it out on a table.

‘I’ll wager that some of this belonged to other passengers on the Arethusa,’ said Colbeck, dangling a gold watch. ‘This is the sixth one I’ve found. Nobody needs that many watches unless they’re planning to sell them to a pawnbroker.’

‘Look at this,’ said Leeming, extracting some jewellery from the lining of a trunk. ‘What a clever hiding place!’

‘Some of this property can be returned to its rightful owners,’ announced Riley. ‘I’ll have an advertisement put in the newspapers. If people can prove that it’s theirs, they deserve it back.’

‘You have to be careful, Captain. Whenever we advertise lost property, we always get lots of false claimants.’

‘It’s the same here, Sergeant. We once recovered six pairs of expensive dancing pumps. The first man through the door swore blind that they were his and begged us to hand them over.’

‘And did you?’

‘Oh, no,’ replied Riley, chortling. ‘We figured he might be lying when we noticed he only had one leg.’

When everything was arranged on the table, Colbeck did a quick estimate of its value and realised that, if this reflected their lifestyle, Oxley and Irene had a sizeable amount of capital at their disposal. It was no wonder that they could afford the luxuries of life. Irene was in a police cell at the other end of the corridor but Oxley remained at liberty. News of his escape had been carried in all the newspapers. A manhunt was taking place in New York. Riley was confident that his men would find the fugitive but Leeming was less optimistic.

‘He’s like a will-o’-the-wisp,’ he said.

‘We’ll catch him,’ insisted Riley.

‘He could be in another city now, if not in another state.’

‘No, Victor,’ said Colbeck after consideration, ‘I’m certain that Oxley is still in New York.’

‘What makes you say that, sir?’

‘I don’t think he’d desert his accomplice. After all, Irene Adnam was the person who rescued him from that train. He owes her a great deal. Even someone as ruthless as Oxley wouldn’t be able to walk away from that kind of obligation. He’ll be determined to free her.’

‘There’s no hope in hell of that while she’s here,’ said Riley. ‘At all times, there’ll be at least twenty men between him and the cell she’s being held in. Oxley is helpless against the New York Police Department.’

‘Then we have to make it easier for him, Captain.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘We need to bait a trap. We’ll never catch him otherwise. He’s far too slippery. Since we can’t get to him,’ said Colbeck, stroking his chin meditatively, ‘we have to devise a way to bring him to us.’

‘You have an idea,’ said Leeming, approvingly. ‘I know that tone of voice, Inspector.’

‘It might work and it might not.’

‘What’s the plan?’ asked Riley.

‘You’re going to get your wish, after all,’ said Colbeck, an arm around Leeming. ‘You were eager to recruit Victor so I’m going to let you have him.’

‘I don’t want to join the police here!’ protested Leeming.

Colbeck smiled enigmatically. ‘Wait until you hear the conditions of service,’ he said, ‘and you may change your mind.’

Oxley had escaped from the Arethusa without any difficulty. In his stolen clothing, he’d merged with the other crew members and helped to carry the luggage down the gangplank. It was placed on the pier so that porters could load it on to handcarts. Oxley had simply mingled with the crowd and, as it drifted away, he went with it. Posing as one of the porters, he got through customs without even being challenged. Once clear of the harbour, he hailed a cab and headed for one of the hotels recommended by Herschel Finn. Since he could hardly book in to such a respectable establishment looking like a sailor on low pay, he first found a menswear shop and transformed his appearance. When he stepped into the street, he looked like a gentleman again.

Forced to leave his luggage behind, he still had three assets. He had an appreciable amount of money and he possessed a gun. His greatest asset, however, was his acute sense of danger. Having lived off his wits all his life, he felt able to cope with anything. Since the hotel would be suspicious if he arrived with no luggage, he bought himself a valise and filled it with the items he might need during his stay. Then he took a room and stayed in it for the best part of a day. To keep track of the search for him that was taking place, he had a copy of the newspaper sent up to his room. The description of him contained details of clothing that he’d now discarded. The police were looking for a sailor from a British ship and not the beau he’d now become.

Having got free himself, his only concern now was to rescue Irene. The newspaper reported that she was in police custody but he had no chance of reaching her there. He had to be patient. Frustrating as it was, there was no alternative. On the third day, he felt the first flicker of an opportunity. There was a report in the newspaper that Irene Adnam was to appear at the courthouse the following day to face extradition proceedings. Oxley was reassured. It looked as if they’d given up hope of capturing him and were intending to return to England with their prisoner. It was unlike Colbeck to abandon a hunt but even he would have to accept the impossibility of finding a fugitive in a country as vast as America. The inspector was a realist. He would not spend time indefinitely chasing moonbeams.

Oxley’s chance had come. Planning could begin.

‘Your father was very proud of you, Miss Adnam,’ said Colbeck.

‘I’d rather not talk about him,’ she snapped. ‘He means nothing to me now.’

‘He must have meant something or you wouldn’t have given him so much money. You wouldn’t even have told him that you were leaving the country. Against all the odds, you have a conscience.’

‘Father belongs in my past.’

‘He was proud of you until he discovered the truth. It’s amazing what knowing the full facts about a person can do,’ said Colbeck. ‘It helps you to see them in the round.’

Seated opposite each other at a table, they were alone in a small, locked room adjacent to the cells at police headquarters. It was the first time that Colbeck had been able to question her on his own. After the crisis of her arrest, Irene had regained her composure. Now that he was so close to her, he could see that she did not resemble Helen Millington to any degree. Colbeck was grateful for that. She had similar features but their arrangement was quite different. Above all, she lacked Helen’s bloom and innocence. Irene had a doll-like beauty that caught the eye. Helen’s beauty could reach into a man’s soul.

‘Do you know why I asked to speak to you?’ he enquired.

‘You just want to gloat, Inspector.’

‘Why should I want to do that?’

‘It’s because you finally caught me,’ she said, ‘though exactly how you did it, I still don’t know. You can do as you wish with me,’ she went on with an attempt at defiance. ‘Jerry escaped. That’s a great consolation. You’ll never get anywhere near Jerry.’

‘That’s palpably untrue, Miss Adnam. We got very close to him on the Arethusa. By the way, do you know how he managed to elude us on the ship?’