“I believe it’s meant to assist one inturning the envelope inside out.” Marc demonstrated his theory.
There on the underside of a front flap,unobservable under ordinary circumstances, was a rectangle ofscribbles: letters and numbers by the look of it.
“We may have found what we we’ve beensearching for,” Marc said.
Cobb leaned over, squinting in the dim light.“Not another code?” he sighed, recalling an earlierinvestigation.
“I don’t know. But let’s go some place wherewe can examine this properly and determine its significance.”
“How about a window-seat at The Cock andBull?”
***
“Still looks like hen-scratchin’ to me,” Cobb said,handing Duggan’s inside-out envelope back across the table andtaking a long pull on his ale.
“I’m not so sure,” Marc said. He hadscrutinized the note – if that’s what it was – for several minutesbefore sliding it across to Cobb. “The lettering is deliberatelyminiature but very precise.” He looked at it again.
PS – £10 – T10 – IT
AD – £2 – W93 – SH
HF – £3 – Th10 – CB
CC – £5 – F10 – T
TB – £2 – S93 – PB?
BL – £5 – W93? – SA?
“Let’s start with the assumption that Dugganwas not merely a blackmailer but a multiple blackmailer,” Marcsaid.
“Alright. Then what?”
“At the bottom of what is obviously a list ofsome kind, we find the initials BL.”
“Brodie Langford!”
“Has to be. And next to it a notation forfive pounds, the exact sum that Brodie was to bring to the alleyand leave in the ashcan.”
Cobb took back the note. “An’ the ‘W’ refersto Wednesday. But what in hell’s ‘93’?”
“Nine-thirty. The time of the deposit. Ibelieve the exact time was important because, as he did withBrodie, Duggan hid nearby until the coast was clear, then moved outto seize his prize and scuttle off.”
“So you figure none of these poor devils knewwho had got the goods on ‘em?”
“Probably not. They appear to have paid forhis anonymous silence.”
“An’ the last letters here could be theplace?”
“‘SA’ for Sailor’s Arms, in Brodie’s case.We’d have to guess at the others, but with Duggan dead, it hardlymatters.”
“What about the question-mark here at theend?”
“A good guess would be that Duggan had justtargeted Brodie and was setting him up for an initial payout.”
Cobb shook his head. “But cash like thatevery week? There’s five other names here! Duggan must’ve beenrollin’ in it!”
“And he’s been here since late summer,remember.”
“But how would a deadbeat like Duggan, livin’with the likes of Nestor Peck, ever get enough dirt on these richgents to wangle that kinda money outta them?”
“You’ve always maintained Nestor was the bestsnitch in the city.”
“I reckon it’s possible. No wonder Nestortook off. He must’ve been up to his gums in this business, thoughhe sure put on a good poor-man’s act last week in this veryroom.”
“You think he’s got the proceeds of Duggan’scrime?”
“You bet I do. An’ the toothless bugger’sprobably all the way to Buffalo by now, lookin’ to buy a set ofwooden teeth.”
“How about our trying to figure out who theothers on this list are?”
Cobb studied the list for a minute, thensmiled up at Marc, who was smiling back.
“Has to be the Shakespeareans, don’t it?”
“Yes. There’s no way it couldn’t be when eachset of initials matches five of the members: Brodie Langford,Andrew Dutton, Horace Fullarton, Cyrus Crenshaw and PeregrineShuttleworth.”
“That might explain how Duggan and Peck cameup with the dirt they needed. Nestor’s been workin’ at The Sailor’sArms since September, cleanin’ up an’ even helpin’ upstairssometimes. He’s got the ear of a jackrabbit when it comes toscuttlebutt.” He glanced again at the list. “But we got one leftover.”
“‘TB’ – Tobias Budge.”
Cobb whistled through the gaps in his teeth.“I wonder if he knew what Duggan was up to when he tossed him outlast week?”
“If he did, I doubt he would have tossed himout. Still, if Budge got to thinking things over, he could haveguessed who was trying to blackmail him. And the question-mark hereindicates perhaps that Budge, like Brodie, was a recenttarget.”
Cobb sat back and tried to absorb theunexpected flow of information. And while Cobb polished off his alein doing so, Marc stared out the window – thinking.
“You know what we have, Cobb?”
“A lot more’n we thought we would atbreakfast.”
“Indeed.”
“You plannin’ on summin’ up,count-seller?”
“I am, milord,” Marc smiled. “First, we’vegot a clear time-line. About nine-thirty Brodie leaves and sets thetrap for Duggan. He circles about and, at nine-forty-five or so, heand Duggan meet, and exchange insults. Brodie knocks himunconscious, checks to make sure he’s breathing, then runs north upthe alley and out to Peter Street, leaving his walking-stick whereit had fallen. Sometime between nine-forty-five andnine-fifty-five, the four remaining members of the club leaveindependently, passing the cloakroom window and exiting no morethan five yards from that ashcan – around the corner. In thewine-cellar for much of this time we have Tobias Budge, with awindow of his own and an exit to the alley through the baydoors.”
“Which means one of ‘em must’ve seen or heardsomethin’.”
“Oh, but I’m sure it was a lot more thanthat.”
“You’re not imp-lyin’ that – ”
“I am. We began the day hoping to identifyone or more eye-witnesses who could exonerate Brodie. But thesefive potential witnesses are now murder suspects.”
***
Cobb ordered another ale, and waited for the newlyminted barrister to continue.
“Let’s look at their behaviour in that light,then,” Marc said. “Dutton comes down first. I figure he’s a bitearly to have seen the encounter from the window, but let’s say ashe’s leaving the stairwell below, he hears Brodie shout as hesurprises Duggan. Or perhaps he even hears Duggan rummaging in theashcan and decides to peek around the corner.”
“In time to see Brodie coming down thealley?”
“Right. He hears enough to conclude that hereis the man blackmailing him also. Perhaps he’s thinking of rushingout and assisting – but Brodie knocks Duggan out and runs.”
“So Dutton decides to finish the job?”
“If he did, he likely waited until the othershad left.”
“Then I must’ve got there a minute or twoafter the clubbin’. I know the fella was still bleedin’ when Iarrived.”
“Fullarton leaves next. He could have been atthe window at the right moment to see the altercation, though hetold me he didn’t.”
“Killers’ve been known to lie.”
“Crenshaw leaves next. And if the encounteroccurred a minute or two later than we’re surmising, he too couldhave seen and heard it – and hid in the shadows until he could putan end to the vicious and prolonged blackmail.”
“Sir Party-grin likely left too lateto see anythin’ but Duggan lyin’ out cold on the ground.”
“Unless he followed Crenshaw out sooner thanMrs. Budge claims. But I agree that he is the least likelysuspect.”
“Still, he may’ve spotted Duggan earlier onin the month but was afraid to do anythin’ violent about it. Hehears Duggan groanin’ back there as he reaches the bottom of thestairs, goes back to take a look, spots the cane, recognizes thevillain, an’ before he knows it he’s done him in.”
Marc smiled. “You’re getting to be quite thehypothesizer, Constable Cobb.”
“I’ll take that as a condiment, major.Still, we can’t ferget tapster Budge peekin’ outta that cellarwindow.”
“I haven’t. And I wish I could go with you tohelp interrogate him, but I’ve got another important meeting.”
“If he’s hidin’ anythin’, I’ll weasel itoutta him.”
“I’m sure you will.”
Cobb drained his flagon. “I hate to say it,major, but we got a problem with these names.”