‘I feel so sorry for the poor girl,’ she said.
‘That’s why I want you to speak to her.’
‘Me?’
‘There’s only so much I can do, Madeleine,’ he explained. ‘As a detective from Scotland Yard, I must be very intimidating to her. I never felt that I reached Bonny Rimmer, and once she knew the hideous truth about how Feeny died she could not even speak. I left her in a complete daze.’
‘What do you think I can do, Robert?’
‘I felt that she knew more than she actually told me – not because she was deliberately holding anything back but because she was overwhelmed by the situation. Bonny is young and vulnerable. She could simply not cope with the information that the lad she loved had been killed.’
‘Very few women could,’ said Madeleine, ‘especially when they discovered that he’d been beheaded. It must have been horrifying for her. I’m surprised she didn’t faint.’
‘She came very close to it.’
‘I can see why you want me to speak to her instead.’
‘You’re a woman – that gives you an immediate advantage over me. You can draw her out more easily. Do nothing for a day or so. Bonny needs time to grieve and to get over the initial shock.’
‘And then?’
‘Go to the Shepherd and Shepherdess and meet her. Talk to the girl about her friendship with John Feeny. How close were they – did they ever think of marriage? Without realising it,’ said Colbeck, ‘Bonny Rimmer knows things that could be useful to me. I’d hoped you’d be talking to the woman who owned that hatbox but she’s yet to be identified. It may be more helpful if you spoke to Bonny.’
‘I’ll try, Robert.’
‘Thank you.’
As he leant across to kiss her again, they heard the scrape of a key in the lock and moved guiltily apart. They got to their feet. The door suddenly opened and Caleb Andrews darted in to escape the rain that was now falling outside. He closed the door behind him.
‘It’s teeming down out there,’ he said.
‘I managed to miss it,’ said Colbeck. ‘I hope it clears up before Derby Week begins.’
‘Why?’ asked Madeleine.
‘I can see you know nothing about horseracing, Maddy,’ said Andrews. ‘Heavy rain can affect the result of a race. Some horses prefer a hard, dry course. Others do best when the going is soft. If it rains on the morning of the Derby, the betting odds will change.’
‘True,’ agreed Colbeck. ‘Odysseus might drop back and Limerick Lad might replace him as favourite. Brian Dowd told me that his colt liked a soft, damp surface. They have a fair bit of rain in Ireland, by all accounts, so Limerick Lad is used to it.’
‘I’m going to bet on an outsider,’ said Andrews. ‘That way, if I do win, I’ll get a decent return on my money.’
‘Which horse have you picked?’ asked Madeleine.
‘Princess of Fire – the name reminded me of you, Maddy. When you’re in a good mood, you’re my very own princess. And when you’re not, it’s like being in the middle of a fiery furnace.’
‘That’s a terrible thing to say,’ she protested over his laughter.
‘Your father is only teasing,’ said Colbeck.
‘I’m the most tolerant daughter in the world.’
‘You are at that,’ said Andrews, giving her a kiss of appeasement and soaking her dress in the process. ‘I’m sorry, Maddy. I’ll get out of these wet things before I have supper.’
‘What are the odds on this Princess of Fire?’
‘20–1.’
‘Good luck!’ said Colbeck ‘Who owns the horse, Mr Andrews?’
‘A man with an eye for fillies – he has two of them in the race.’
‘Hamilton Fido?’
‘Yes, Inspector,’ replied Andrews. ‘My reasoning is this, see. No bookmaker would enter a horse unless it had a fair chance of winning. I reckon that he’s made sure all the attention has gone on Merry Legs when, in fact, the filly he expects to romp home is Princess of Fire.’
It was her second unexpected visitor that day and Kitty Lavender was torn between pleasure and discomfort. While she was glad to see Hamilton Fido again, she was unsettled by the fact that he had caught her unawares. She was grateful that she was wearing a necklace he had given her. Inviting him into her drawing room, she received a kiss.
‘I didn’t think to see you for a couple of days,’ she said.
‘Is that a complaint, Kitty?’
‘No, no, of course not.’
‘Are your feathers still ruffled?’ he said, caressing her shoulders and arms. ‘When you came to my office, you were very upset.’
‘I had good reason to be, Hamilton.’
‘Well, you seem much calmer now, I’m glad to say. And I kept my promise, Kitty. I found out the name of the murder victim even though the police still haven’t released it to the press.’
She braced herself. ‘Whose head was it?’
‘John Feeny’s.’
‘And who is he?’
‘He was a groom at my stables,’ said Fido, ‘though, in my opinion, he should never have been employed there. Feeny used to work for Brian Dowd. I think he was sent to England as a spy.’
‘Who killed him?’
‘That’s what I came to talk to you about. The man in charge of the investigation is Inspector Colbeck.’
‘Yes – I saw his name in the newspapers.’
‘His nickname is the Railway Detective but he knows a lot about the Turf as well,’ conceded the bookmaker. ‘He also knows how to pick up a scent and that’s where you come in, Kitty.’
‘I don’t follow.’
‘Colbeck discovered that we stayed at the Wyvern Hotel.’
Kitty was scandalised. ‘How on earth did he do that?’
‘I wish I knew. The hotel was your recommendation.’
‘I’d heard it was very discreet,’ she said, not wishing to admit that she’d been there before. ‘A woman friend of mine spoke well of it.’
‘You can tell your friend that she was wrong. They let us down badly. Inspector Colbeck came out to the stables this afternoon to question me about our stay there. I must confess that it gave me a bit of a jolt, Kitty. He knew far too much. What he really wanted to find out was your name.’
‘She started. ‘My name?’
‘It was your hatbox.’
‘What difference does that make?’
‘Colbeck thought there might be significance in the fact. The only way he can be certain is to talk to you in person.’
‘Did you give him my name?’ said Kitty anxiously.
‘You know me better than that,’ he soothed, taking her hands and kissing both of them. ‘I refused to tell him, Kitty. The problem is that that could be construed as holding back evidence. If he wants to, Inspector Colbeck could make life very difficult for me at a time when I need to concentrate all my energies on Derby Week.’
‘There’s nothing I can tell him, Hamilton. My hatbox was stolen. That’s the beginning and the end of it.’
‘He won’t be satisfied until he’s heard that from your own lips.’
‘I don’t want to talk to any detective.’
‘It could save me a lot of embarrassment, Kitty. When he saw that I’d never reveal your name, Colbeck suggested a compromise. He said that you could come forward of your own accord and that the meeting with him would be in the strictest privacy.’
‘No,’ she said, turning away. ‘I want no part of this.’
‘Not even to help me?’
‘I don’t wish for any dealings with the police.’
‘To give him his due, Colbeck seems very trustworthy.’
‘I don’t care what he is.’