The fellow snatched the envelope and began totear it open. Nestor glanced north to where Marc was hidden,expecting instant rescue. But the killer had ripped the sheet outof its envelope and was holding it up to the light.
“You bastard! This isn’t my note!”
A pair of hands seized Nestor by the throat,and began shaking him.
“Help! Help! I’m bein’ kilt!”
But Nestor was in no danger of beingmurdered. His attacker released him as suddenly as he had grabbedhim, and made a pass at the packet with the money in it. Nestor letgo without a struggle. With some of the banknotes spilling out, thekiller started back down the alley, picking up speed as he went.Cobb had already stepped out to block his path, and Marc could beheard sprinting hard a few yards behind him. Cobb planted his feet,stuck out his belly, and met the killer chest to chest. There was aresounding whump. Both men tumbled to the ground, winded. Cobb wasfirst to recover. He rolled over, sat up, and stared down at hisassailant, who lay on his back, fur cap askew, gasping for air.
“I don’t believe it!” Cobb cried.
And Marc, who arrived a second later, said,“I don’t believe it either.”
They were staring down into the anguishedface of Horace Fullarton.
NINETEEN
Magistrate James Thorpe was weaned away from hissecond glass of after-dinner port and brought to the policequarters, where he found Constable Cobb, Chief Sturges, MarcEdwards, and a gentleman with a story he was eager to tell. Minuteslater, a dishevelled Augustus French arrived and quickly set up hiswriting instruments. While Gussie took notes, Horace Fullartonunburdened himself of the guilt, remorse and self-loathing that hadfollowed upon his clubbing Albert Duggan to death in the alleybehind The Sailor’s Arms. And Magistrate Thorpe, who found acriminal’s heartfelt confession almost as satisfying as bringingdown the maximum sentence on a deserving head, was so pleased withwhat he heard (while remaining shocked that a “gentleman” couldstoop thus) that he was not tempted in the least to probe furtherinto details that might have proved awkward. For example, whatpeculiar circumstances could have brought a police constable andthe counsel for an accused murderer together to arrange anentrapment that involved the victim’s cousin (having fortuitouslyresurfaced), a curious extortion-note (possibly forged?), andintimate knowledge of a blackmail scheme requiring either insiderinformation or clairvoyance? Fullarton wished to speak only of thecrime itself, however, and he gave the magistrate and the Crown allthe detail they could have wished for.
Marc was not surprised at what he heard,having already worked out plausible scenarios for each of his“possibles.” Fullarton stated that he had left the club-meeting afew minutes after Dutton, glanced out the back window while puttingon his cloak, and saw Brodie accosting a stranger in the alley. Hedecided to intervene on behalf of his young friend, and ran downthe stairs. But by the time he had flung open the outside door andwheeled around into the shadows to enter the alley, what he nowheard, just a few yards away, brought him to a halt. Brodie wasaccusing the stranger of blackmailing him! For a moment hewas paralyzed – incredulous at what he was hearing and uncertain asto what he should do. If this were his blackmailer – andthis now seemed quite probable – then to intervene and help capturethe villain might expose the banker himself and the secret he wasdesperate to keep from his wife (one he was not even now preparedto divulge). On the other hand, helping to arrest the blackguardmight get the burden of extortion off both their backs. However,while he was trying to make up his mind, Brodie raised his rightarm and struck the blackmailer with his fist. The fellow reeledaway and slowly collapsed onto his back.
In shock at what he was witnessing (justminutes before, he and Brodie had been reading Shakespeare andenjoying themselves), Fullarton watched in silence as Brodie kneltdown and began to check for vital signs. Then, after an anxiousminute or so of indecision, his young friend had stood up, lookingdazed, picked up his hat, turned and fled. It was at this momentthat Fullarton claimed he decided to step into the alley andconfront the man who, he was sure now, had tormented his days andnights for almost two months and extorted several dozen pounds. Atthis point, however, he heard Crenshaw open the side door andscurry down towards Front Street. Crenshaw, as he had testified,must have seen Brodie hunched over the unconscious man, panicked,and run. If the man were badly hurt, Fullarton reasoned, Brodiecould be in serious trouble. But if he himself were now to step outinto the moonlit alley, it was likely that Sir Peregrine would spothim as he was leaving the meeting. Fullarton certainlydidn’t want further complications added to an already complicatedsituation. Seconds later, the baronet was indeed clattering downthe stairs. Had he been at the window in time to see Brodiefleeing? As it turned out, he had, but he too chose to scuttle awayto Front Street.
So Fullarton was at last alone with histormentor. He slipped into the alley and stood over Duggan just asthe fellow was beginning to stir. As Duggan teetered up onto hiselbows and opened his eyes, Fullarton remembered flinging a curseat him, but the blood was boiling in his brain, and he found ithard to think or breathe. Duggan recognized him instantly, swore anoath of his own, and then without warning grabbed a walking-sticklying next to him and swung it sharply against Fullarton’s leftshin. In a purely reflex action, Fullarton wrenched the weapon outof Duggan’s hand, and as the villain rolled away to avoid beinghit, Fullarton swung the walking-stick, knob-end first, and heardthe sickening “thuck” as it struck home. (Only later did he learnto his horror that he had used Brodie Langford’s easilydistinguished shillelagh.)
This bludgeoning was what Tobias Budge hadwitnessed on his second peek through the cellar-window. As Marc hadsurmised, Budge’s recollection of what he saw was accurateenough, but when he saw it had always been suspect. It musthave been closer to ten o’clock when he witnessed the actualclubbing because Sir Pergrine had already left and Brodie had fledthe scene. As well, Sir Peregrine had exaggerated his ownimportance by stretching out the time it took him to pack up hispapers and depart. He must have trailed Crenshaw by no more thantwo minutes. So it was Fullarton whom Budge had observed doing thedeed.
With the confession signed and notarized,Cobb was asked to take Fullarton over to the jail, wake up thewatch, and see that the wretched banker was incarcerated. As far asJames Thorpe was concerned, the case – tragic as it might be – wasnow closed. It was left to Marc to seek out Bernice Fullarton andbreak the news to her.
***
Brodie regained his freedom at ten-fifteen Mondaymorning. Horace Fullarton’s confession was presented to JusticePowell and the Crown’s prosecutor, and deemed to beincontrovertible (as it was uncoerced and consistent with the knownfacts). A charge of manslaughter would be laid against the banker,making the trial of Broderick Langford moot. Kingsley Thornton,swallowing his amazement, came over and shook hands with Marc.
“Welcome to the fraternity,” he said.
***
Robert Baldwin was elated, and doubly so. His goodfriend and legal protégé had somehow contrived to find “anotherway” of getting young Brodie acquitted (and nabbing yet anothermurderer in the process). Moreover, before Monday afternoon washalf over, the Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada passed theentire Union Bill, encumbered only by several harmless attachments,by a vote of forty-four to eleven. The merging of the two Canadasinto one dominion was now inevitable, and responsible governmentbecame a distinct possibility. To celebrate these achievements,Robert arranged for a late supper and an evening of music andentertainment at Baldwin House. As Dr. Baldwin had already planneda more formal political celebration out at Spadina, Robert was ableto invite a smaller and more intimate group of well-wishers to hisgathering: Clement Peachey and his wife, Francis and Mrs. Hincks,Marc and Beth, Horatio and Dora Cobb, Celia Langford and herheadmistress, Miss Tyson (a staunch Reformer), and, of course, theliberated hero and his companion, Diana Ramsay.