Chapter 23 #2
“Not quite long enough,” put in Webster. “Dr. Macleod was due to go on leave tomorrow.”
“Thank you, that’s another piece of the puzzle.
Macleod told my wife he hadn’t given the order for Rumford’s release from the hospital, which the Sister confirmed.
He could hardly have kept him in bed indefinitely.
We assume he intended him to stay another day, but Rumford left under his own steam. ”
“With disastrous result,” said Carradine. “If you ask me, Duggan’s men are a trifle overeager.”
“They did hope to prevent murder,” Alec pointed out. “How many shots did they fire?”
“Four. Two each from two sentries. Three hit Rumford.”
“Will he live?”
“Yes. He’ll stand trial as soon as he’s recovered.”
“And I have to find a new Yeoman Gaoler as well as a Chief Warder. We’ll need two new men on the strength, too.”
“There are plenty of candidates, sir,” said Webster, waving a list.
“Do you expect to arrest any more of my fellows, Fletcher?” the general asked with a touch of sarcasm.
“I doubt it, sir.”
“Good. Well, you and Mrs. Fletcher have cleared that one up nicely. Unfortunately, as far as I can see, it doesn’t help with Crabtree’s murder, does it?”
“No,” Alec admitted with a sigh. “It doesn’t.”
When Alec returned to the room set aside for the detectives at the Guard House, Piper jumped up, waving a piece of folded paper.
“A note from Mrs. Fletcher, Chief,” he announced. “The sergeant of the guard gave it to us when we arrived,” said Tom.
“We’ve been dying to read it.”
“But it’s addressed to you.”
“What do you bet she’s solved Crabtree’s murder?”
“The pair of you sound more and more like Brenda and Fay Carradine!” Alec unfolded the note and read it. “Great Scott!”
“What does it say, Chief?”
Alec sat down, flattening the sheet of paper on the table. “She wonders whether we’re aware of the bridge between St. Thomas’s Tower, the residence of the Keeper of the Regalia, and the Wakefield Tower, where the Crown Jewels are kept. She’s seen Sir Patrick Heald use it.”
“What did I say?” crowed Piper. “She’s done it again!”
“Now wait a minute, laddie,” Tom cautioned. “No jumping to conclusions. But I must say, Chief, this looks like the breach in the walls we’ve been looking for. Heald was one of the names Rumford gave us, the only one we haven’t talked to yet.”
“It’s been niggling at the back of my mind,” said Alec: “Why hasn’t Heald made more of a fuss about missing that important engagement of his? General Carradine didn’t mention just now that Heald had been pestering him again. Yet he’s a member of the Royal Household, an eminent and influential man.”
“He could have raised a real stink.” Tom stroked his moustache. “Or just walked out.”
Piper’s eyes gleamed with excitement. “He didn’t want to draw attention to himself!”
“You could have it, laddie.”
“There’s a P.S.,” said Alec. He picked up Daisy’s note. “ ‘According to the Res. Gov., his money is his wife’s.’ ”
“Then whatever shenanigans Rumford was blackmailing him for,” Tom said, “he’d be desperate to keep it from Lady Heald. But at the same time, as long as she didn’t know, he’d have plenty of money to keep paying Rumford.”
“Until,” Alec theorized, “Rumford’s final demand was just too much to manage without going to her, cap in hand.”
“And he couldn’t do that, Chief, without telling her what it was for.”
“All right, it all holds together. Let’s just take a dekko at the plan of the Tower.”
Piper produced a plan in an instant.
Alec put his fingertip on St. Thomas’s Tower. “Here’s the Keeper’s residence. And here’s the Wakefield Tower. These dotted lines represent the bridge.”
“No wonder we didn’t tumble to it,” said Tom in disgust. “I thought it was just another archway.”
“It’s no excuse. We’ve all seen the damn thing, coming and going.
Here’s the door to the ground floor of the Wakefield Tower—labelled ‘Entrance to Jewel House’—just opposite the end of the Guard House.
All he’d have to do is come out here, cross the slope, and go up the shortcut steps, the fog hiding him from the Guard House sentry. ”
“What about the partizan?” Piper asked. “Where did he get that?”
“From Yeoman Warder Parkinson.” Alec smiled at their puzzlement.
“Parkinson asked my advice. He’d been on duty in the Wakefield Tower this week and left his partizan there overnight.
He wanted it for patrolling. The tower was locked.
He hoped I could help him retrieve it, but I said he’d have to approach the proper authorities.
Tom, find Parkinson and ask if he managed to get into the Wakefield Tower and whether he found his partizan there. ”
“Doubt it, Chief.”
“So do I. If he didn’t, bring him to meet me there. I’m going to see what the Governor can tell me about Lady Heald’s character. Ernie, you keep an eye on the Keeper’s residence and make sure our bird doesn’t get the wind up and flit before we’re ready for him.”
“Unobtrusively, Chief, or d’you want him to know about it?”
“ ‘Unobtrusively,’ is it, laddie? I’d better watch out or you’ll be using words I don’t know myself.”
“Be as obtrusive as you like. If we’ve got it right, he’s already in a blue funk, and a bit more pressure before we strike can’t hurt. Post a couple of yeomen at the Wakefield Tower entrance, just in case. Let’s go.”